<p>From what I've heard, the people at some Ivy League schools are extremely competitive and you're basically on your own--but is it like that at Penn? As in study groups, etc? I'm applying ED and was just wondering.</p>
<p>Penn is huge, and it is full of highly intelligent people (well, mostly). As such, people are always very competitive, but I have found that the competition isn’t peers as much as it is oneself.</p>
<p>Almost every introductory course has some kind of curve - if it isn’t an explicit bell curve, it is a grade scale designed to get a fair spread of grades between A and C. Wharton employs a strict bell curve for its core classes (30-30-30-10 A-B-C-D), and Wharton also has courses that require you to collaborate while still rating your peers. While many would believe that these systems encourage unhealthy competition, the reality is quite the opposite. You find that when working in groups, you are motivated to do well not only in the eyes of your professor/TA but also in the eyes of your peers, since they too have an impact on your score.</p>
<p>For the most part, however, I find Penn to be more collaborative than competitive. When i was applying for jobs, I was competing against my peers for interviews and offers, yet I was offered advice by more than a dozen of my “competitors” … they would review my resume and cover letter, help prepare for interviews and advise on recruiting best practices. </p>
<p>When you remove academics and job prospects, I really didn’t see anything that would qualify as unhealthy competition.</p>
<p>All that said, Penn is huge, and that means you will inevitably find vindictive people who will do whatever it takes to get ahead. It’s just that the number of people who are like that is minuscule. When I think about it, that was really one of the things I loved about Penn! Comparatively, my friends who went to Chicago found it perfectly normal to cloister themselves in the library on weekends so they could beat their peers’ grades, and they developed the idea that not only was this mindset normal, but that it was also healthy and expected. Eek!</p>