<p>Hi everyone, so I am thinking about applying to Penn RD but my parents are concerned about the level of safety on/near campus because Penn is in a major city. Should I be worried this?
Thanks!</p>
<p>Not at all. If you’re smart and have your wits about you, you’ll have nothing to worry about. There are really sketchy areas of Philly, but University City and the area around Penn is generally safe.</p>
<p>University City and Center City are both pretty safe. As long as you have common sense, you’ll be fine. (Common sense as in not taking a stroll at 3:00am by yourself.)</p>
<p>It’s misleading to describe it like that. You shouldn’t take a stroll at 3 a.m. by yourself anywhere. The Penn Campus, “the bubble,” is ridiculously safe. Because you have walking escorts and everything around all the time, I would say it would be one of the safest placest anyway to take a 3 a.m. stroll. The surrounding area ie. Center City/University City is safe too, but like any place, I wouldn’t take a 3 a.m. stroll.
Honestly, you don’t even realize that you’re in a city when you’re on campus. It’s weird. You really have the advantages of a rural and urban setting. Safety is something I would not worry about. </p>
<p>Also, downtown is safe. Tons of people go to 2nd street for ice cream and whatnot, so don’t worry!!!</p>
<p>Yes, there are police escorts when requested on the campus, but that’ not available if for any reason you chose to go down to center city, South Street, or elsewhere in Philadelphia. Penn campus may be generally safe (in contrast to TempleU when you move out of the zones with glaring lights, there are people lurking around in the dark to mug you), but precautions should still be taken in some areas if you actually plan on experiencing Philadelphia outside of University City/Center City/Downtown/Old City areas - Plus downtown isn’t completely all that safe when it’s dark. Thus the need to have some “common sense”. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, I agree with SusieBra. Don’t worry about it. Level of safeness on Penn should be one of the last factors to impact your decision for applying there.</p>