<p>Comparisons?</p>
<p>D accepted to both.</p>
<p>This is a case of reach vs safety, unless one of the schools is giving you a lot more financial aid than the other or your D has a strong favoring on one of them, go with the obvious. A reach school is a reach school for a reason</p>
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<p>Penn >>> Nova</p>
<p>Ignore the above two and go to Nova! It’s far better than Penn in every aspect! (Plus I have a friend on Penn’s waitlist.) lol. j/k. </p>
<p>Penn is, after all, an Ivy. And it was founded by the First American Ben Franklin. I think everyona agrees that Penn is absolutely the better option.</p>
<p>I can’t believe someone posted a thread like this.</p>
<p>I concede the academic reputation of Penn is far greater than that of Villanova, but I am also certain that my D would succeed at both places and have many post-graduate options.</p>
<p>So I am interested in quality of life issues like housing, dining, safety, who teaches the classes, how hard it is to get into the desired classes, school spirit, friendliness of student body, Greek life, student union facilities, athletics, college balkanization, etc.</p>
<p>On these issues, I don’t think the comparison is so one-sided. We realize we SHOULD prefer Penn, but we are looking for some reinforcement.</p>
<p>I am a proud Penn grad , but come from a long line of Villanovans and am the father of a very happy D who is a freshman at Villanova. Aside from the obvious reputational difference (great vs very good) differences are 1) the environment - urban vs suburban -but I have always loved Penn campus feel 2) academic atmosphere - I see Villanova as more nuturing, Penn as more driven (I realize that is a gross generalization) 3) student body - Villanova is pretty homogeneous - smart, nice kids with a lot of the same family backgrounds, interests, big into community service. Penn, as you know, is far more eclectic, but still pretty grounded kids for the most part. 4) school spirit - ah for the glory days of Penn basketball when the Palestra rocked - but its getting better. Villanova kids on the other still live and die by Nova basketball - great spirit.</p>