<p>Hey,</p>
<p>I was wondering how the vegetarian food is at Upenn? Which food plan would give the best value as a vegetarian?</p>
<p>Also when you ask for a random roommate, can you set up filters?</p>
<p>I'll ask more questions as they come to me :D</p>
<p>Hi there, camelneedswater (cool name btw)!</p>
<p>Penn’s vegan/vegetarian population is significant and Bon Appetite (the catering company) really works hard to make it easy to eat, no matter what you eat! There are several big dining halls and all of them have salad bars with all sorts of stuff (peppers, tofu chunks, beans, veggies, tomatoes, cheese, potato salad, corn salad, pasta salad, etc.). Most of them also have vegan/vegetarian stations where they serve lots of soy-protein products, plus there are other vegetable dishes at other stations. There are always veggie burgers on the grill, too! 1920s Commons has a hummus bar. Trust me, this school caters well.</p>
<p>That being said, I don’t know if there’s a particular plan I’d recommend for a vegetarian over any other eater. You’re automatically enrolled in the middle plan (BEN), but lots of people opt for the BFF plan which has more Dining Dollars and less meal swipes. I stuck with BEN and haven’t gone hungry for a second (trust me, you’ll never run short of food here).</p>
<p>When you ask for a random roommate, part of the process is filling out a survey about what time you wake up, what time you go to bed, if you smoke, how clean you like things to be, when you like to study, etc. Penn does a very good job at matching people; I hardly know anyone who has had a serious problem with their roommate(s).</p>
<p>If you have more questions, feel free to email me through here. I’ll respond asap!</p>
<p>Here are some links I think you’ll find interesting:</p>
<p>Penn actually just ranked 5th in the country for food quality:
[America's</a> Top Universities for Food Lovers Slideshow | The Daily Meal](<a href=“Daily Meal | Cooking Tips, Restaurants, Food Reviews, Recipes”>America's Top Universities for Food Lovers Slideshow)</p>
<p>Penn’s dining website (with current menus!):
[url=<a href=“http://www.diningatpenn.com/penn/index.html]Bon”>http://www.diningatpenn.com/penn/index.html]Bon</a> App</p>
<p>thanks for your comprehensive response! really buried my food worries. :)</p>
<p>yoyoyo, im premed, and i was just wondering if you knew of any really cool non work study programs in like good departments so I can get money to pay for school and get something cool on my resume?</p>
<p>Since this is a research institution, there are zillions of premed opportunities. </p>
<p>Go to the link below and change the “Work-Study” option to “Only Non Work-Study” and hit Search>></p>
<p>[Student</a> Employment Office](<a href=“Submit My Documents | Penn Student Registration & Financial Services| Penn Srfs”>Submit My Documents | Penn Student Registration & Financial Services| Penn Srfs)</p>
<p>I don’t really know many of the jobs offhand, but I know different people who work in the different labs and they LOVE being research assistants. You get really up close and personal with the work and you’re treated very professionally.</p>
<p>(Remember that the jobs you see in the job search are the ones that are open right now. Everything turns over during the summer, so there will be many more!)</p>
<p>this is actually awesome. there are some pretty cool jobs open :). i love u jreeder</p>
<p>Haha I love you too.
I say this with all seriousness (and no creepiness): if you (or anyone else reading this post) need anything or have any questions, just email me. I’m right in the heart of my freshman year, so I know ALL about being a freshman at Penn.</p>
<p>lol one other thing (i know i probably have exceeded my question quota but bear with me), how are the gym/working out facilities at penn? Are they free? Short walk-ing distance from the Quad?</p>
<p>same here! as a current freshman, i have to say penn has been AMAZING! seriously, wish i could redo my first semester just to relive it all, as corny as that sounds. @camelneedswater, there is also a penn vegan society if you’re interested. i’m not part of it, but on club fair day during NSO they set up a table, so maybe that would be something to get involved in? commons (one of the dining halls) has GREAT vegan and vegetarian food, like hummus, quinoa, veggie chili, pita, bean salads, etc. it might be harder to find specifically vegan food at every place, but everywhere definitely has vegetarian food. when it comes to food plans, most people run out of dining dollars before meal swipes. for example, i have the plan that has $400 dining dollars a semester and 170 meal swipes. i’ve been out of dining dollars for almost two months (oops!) and have 31 swipes left in the semester, and i leave here on monday…sooo. it probably comes down to where you live, too, because if you live in kings court or hill you’ve got a full-scale dining hall right there so maybe put more weight in meal swipes, but if you live in the quad, which just has mclelland, i would definitely do the meal plan that has the most dining dollars. also, there’s like a two week grace period at the beginning of the school year where you can change your plan without getting penalized.</p>
<p>@camelneedswater</p>
<p>Gym membership is included in tuition, so don’t worry about that.</p>
<p>Pottruck is the main gym on campus, and it’s only three blocks or so from the quad (5 minute walk). Three blocks is NOTHING, distance-wise. There are also workout rooms scattered across the quad, each of which generally have a treadmill, maybe an exercise bike, an elliptical (all of which are nice and clean and modern). I think there are a few rowing machines somewhere too… </p>
<p>Pottruck is pretty sweet; there’s a big cardio room with treadmills, bikes, ellipticals, steppers, you name it. There’s a gym for basketball, there’s a pool (usually lap swimming, but I think there are free swim hours too), there are studios for Zumba and stuff (which I’m pretty sure DO cost extra money), there’s a climbing wall (which may also cost money; I haven’t really looked into it much), and of course there’s a huge lifting room–free weights, universals, blah blah blah…</p>
<p>hey you guys know where I can get cool Penn posters and stuff to hang up in my room? I like have a Duke one and a Uchicago one but no penn. :(. When I say posters, I mean like the college spam stuff or something that costs 0 money.</p>
<p>Oh also, how much spending money do you need to survive at penn? Survive = go out to eat occasionally, go out with friends, have fun/a life?</p>
<p>not sure about the posters, but spending money totally depends on how much and where you end up eating out. eating out could be a $5 lunch from a food truck or a $50 dinner downtown at rittenhouse. cabs, if you don’t know where you’re going, will literally take you in circles to jack up the price…septa is sketchy as all get out but is only $2 on way. partying wise, frats don’t have cover charges or anything, but expect to pay around $20 to get into a club downtown (huge thing to do thursday nights), and then drinks. local bars like blarney stone usually have a $2 cover and then drinks are approx. $10. </p>
<p>short answer, you need at least $20 a week.</p>
<p>do clubs (not frats) like the Philomathean society or premed clubs or w/e have heavy dues? And how about performing arts groups like Penn masala?</p>
<p>i honestly couldn’t tell you… i have a couple friends in parliamentary debate and its like $50 for the year, including travel. on the other hand, i know some club sports that have $250 dues per semester, so it honestly varies. the best thing to do would be to contact the club directly! you’d also get to know some people before you even get on campus that way, too.</p>
<p>If you want to know anything about the Penn Band, I’m your man. For comparison sake, our dues are $90 first year and $40 each year after (but you get most of it back if you play at enough games)–travel is all included, as is uniform, etc.</p>
<p>Also, septa is fine lol. As long as you’re not going alone after 9pm, septa is by far the fastest and cheapest way to get around town.</p>
<p>Wait, does living in apartments in your sophomore year onwards cost more or less money than the Quad? Are the apartments on campus?</p>
<p>There’s a range of places to live. Your freshman year, you’ll live in a dorm, but not necessarily in the Quad (there are other buildings all over campus). When sophomore year rolls around, lots of people either choose to stay on-campus–in a dorm OR in one of the highrises. The highrises are right on campus, and are made up of apartments (ranging from 1 person apartments to 4 person apartments). Those are the on campus options, and they aren’t cheap (link below).</p>
<p>Lots of people move off campus to save money and to get more space, room with more than three people at a time, etc. For instance, I’m renting a big house with 11 people next year, since we’re all in the same student group. Rent for us will be around $450/mo per person. Most people that live off campus usually pick up a 4-6 person apartment, which brings rent down to $600-$800/mo (compare that to the on-campus apartments!). One big difference, though, is that off-campus housing leases are usually FULL-YEAR agreements, whereas the on-campus apartments are ACADEMIC-YEAR leases, which are only 9(?) months.</p>
<p>Rent info on page 18, but the whole brochure is handy:
<a href=“http://www.collegehouses.upenn.edu/brochure/collegehouses_12-13.pdf[/url]”>http://www.collegehouses.upenn.edu/brochure/collegehouses_12-13.pdf</a></p>
<p>did i mention i love you?</p>
<p>Only once!</p>