My S was unable to make Quaker Days due to distance. Please share impressions, and any important facts you might have learned and are willing to share.
Specifically wondering what you learned about housing options and selection, and what you may have learned about how registration for classes will work. Lastly, if you attended Wharton presentation, anything noteworthy.
Thanks so much
Nobody on the forum went to Quaker days?!
Hard to believe…Still would like to hear impressions
I didn’t attend Quaker Days this past week, but I went to ConnectED Students Day back in February and could share my thoughts on housing options, dining, class registration, etc. if you would like.
@violinvirtuoso3, Yes please do share.
This is just a quick summary of the information that I can remember from ConnectED Quaker Day
Housing – once the enrollment deposit has been paid the portal to select housing should become available. Students pick the dorm and room type that they want (for example, Ware – single or Riepe – double). Students number their preferences 1-6 and we receive our dorm assignments on June 9th.
Dorm Specifics
The Quad (Fisher-Hassenfeld, Ware, and Riepe) – all freshman
This is where the majority of freshman will live – it’s known for having a very social atmosphere and is a great opportunity for freshmen to get to know each other. I’ve been told that room size varies widely depending on the room, but they are a decent size overall (the Quad has doubles/singles, community style bathrooms). Also, located down the street from Wawa for late night snack runs. I believe that most people who live in the Quad eat at Commons – I could be wrong.
*I’ve been told that rats and cockroaches are a problem in the Quad, but I don’t know if this is accurate (some current Penn students might be able to confirm/deny this). In fact, at the information session for housing when the director of housing asked the audience if we had heard any rumors about housing at Penn someone screamed “RATS” and a few seconds later someone else yelled “ROACHES” and the housing director was stunned.
Hill – all freshman
Was closed this previous year for renovation, but will be re-opening in the fall should it should be really nice. Hill has singles and doubles in addition to having semi-private/hybrid style bathrooms (individual rooms with either a shower/toilet that only one person can use at a time). Has a dining facility. Also, known for having a strong community feel.
New College House – will be a four-year college house in 2017-18 (was all freshman this year)
Suite style dorm (2-6 people per suite, each with their own room and they share a bathroom). Has a dining facility.
Gregory & Stouffer – four-year college houses
I don’t know very much about these two. Gregory is suite style and is pretty tight knit – they go on trips as a house pretty frequently I hear. Stouffer has a good number of singles if that is desired.
Kings Court English – all freshman
Singles & Doubles, community style bathrooms. Has a dining facility.
Du Bois – four-year college house
Suite style (some rooms have living rooms & kitchens)
Dining
I’ve heard that the food at Penn is decent and that there are always lot of options for students to choose from. They also mentioned that they can accommodate allergies, vegan diets, vegetarian diets, etc.
The most common dining plan for freshman is the Best Food Fit (BFF) Plan that gives students 125 swipes per semester with $500 dining dollars. The other two plans are the AFK Plan with 250 swipes per semester and $100 dining dollars (popular among athletes) and the BEN Plan with 170 swipes per semester and $225 dining dollars.
Class Registration
This is directly from Penn’s website
“Prior to Advance Registration, incoming freshmen must have a discussion with their pre-major advisor about their academic interests and goals, and to plan a schedule for their first semester. After being removed from registration hold by their advisor, students may enter Advance Registration course requests using Penn InTouch. Penn InTouch requires a student to log on using their PennKey and password.”
Penn also has more advice on how to register for classes and create a schedule on the Courses and Registration section of their website.
I’m not in Wharton so I don’t know if their course registration policies differ.
If you have any more questions regarding Penn or what happened at ConnectED Quaker Day feel free to post them here or PM me. Also, if any other Penn students want to add more information or make corrections to this you can.
This is a great start in sharing info. Thanks so much. If any others have additional perspectives, please feel free to add.
I was at ConnectED with my son, and would confirm what @violinvirtuoso3 says. One minor thing though!–
“when the director of housing asked the audience if we had heard any rumors about housing at Penn someone screamed “RATS” and a few seconds later someone else yelled “ROACHES” and the housing director was stunned.”
My memory is slightly different! Someone first shouted “roaches” and people sort of laughed. Then actually I shouted (hopefully not screamed!) “Mice” - not rats - because a friend’s son had indeed had a bad mouse infestation. I didn’t think the housing director was stunned–my reading was that he sort of just tried to move on. I do wish he’d addressed it, to be honest, although understandably he was no doubt taken off guard. All large buildings can have roach and mice problems (rats are an entirely different issue and no one was talking about rats to my knowledge) but I was genuinely curious how big a problem it was and what Penn did about it.
That was my only slightly negative experience–everything else was extremely positive. My S has already selected his room; it was very easy. Be sure to get your choices in by May 1; after that they said the choices diminish quite a bit. They discussed the food choices too–there are three choices, and they are all the same price. As @violinvirtuoso3 says, they are basically combinations of how much dining dollars you have embedded in. They said the most dining dollars was the most popular, but one of the student speakers said he liked the least dining dollars, as he was a big eater and really preferred the amount of food offered in regular dining. If you don’t choose anything, then they will select the most popular for you.
For dorm, if you don’t have a roommate, they will match; you can also have the choice of ‘gender neutral’. They stressed to remember that gender neutral meant just that, and you could be paired with any gender. Apparently some students are confused about this issue after the fact.
They were warm and welcoming and there was a great vibe.
I am interested in how the admitted students felt about Quaker Days. Where they more excited about Penn? What did they notice that they liked or disliked?
My son loved it-- I mean, I’m not him so I can only share what he shared. But he went into it a bit nervous about meeting people, and he immediately connected with many students, from all backgrounds and majors, complete strangers He’s CAS; he noticed kids of specific schools like Wharton were additionally looking out for each other as well. He really liked everyone he talked to–this was his biggest thing, how comfortable he felt, and how smart and engaged and open everyone was. Just a great vibe. Upperclassmen were there as well, and several reached out to him, very kindly, in a real way. There were several clubs there too, encouraging students to join, none my son was interested in, but the vibe was really nice. The presentations were interesting, direct, and just the right mix of casual/formal. No one he or I noticed was snobby or full of themselves, there were no ‘off’ moments-- which unfortunately has happened to my other kids in other schools. There was really nothing he disliked. He left feeling extremely excited about Penn.
My son & I loved Quaker Days - he is admitted to SEAS & enjoyed meeting students, sitting in on a class, having lunch with some profs, current student etc. Did not learn a lot about dorms but liked the facilities, labs, food was fine. He wants to dual major in EE & CS (as of now) - hardware & software & likes IT stuff- computer networks and systems too. Seems there is much to do though we did not get a sense of student orgs in SEAS and wonder why there is no IEEE student chapter.