<p>Hi</p>
<pre><code> I have never been in there. Someone told me that Upenn is located in the area of west philly, which is not good for saftey. Is it true?
</code></pre>
<p>Any reply will be highly appreciated.</p>
<p>There are about 50-illion threads here about safety at Penn.</p>
<p>Penn is on the west side of the Schuylkill River, which makes it West Philadelphia, but right across from Center City, which makes it University City. It has Drexel University to the North, the river and the main train station to the east, and a huge hospital/research complex (Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania) to the south. To the west is a neighborhood of small apartment buildings, Victorian rowhomes (some single-family, some broken up into apartments, some large and luxurious and some not), and small businesses, with lots of student housing and lots of university-affiliated people and other people of all sizes and shapes. As you fan out to the west, about a mile from the west and north edges of the campus you get some working class, predominantly African-American neighborhoods (and some Vietnamese enclaves, too). Embedded in those are some pockets of terrible poverty.</p>
<p>Penn is not generally cloistered and set off from the city. It is integrated with the city, big streets run through it, and lots of people drive, bike, or walk along them going to and from places that aren’t Penn. (It is also really well served by public transportation, too.) So the bottom line is that it is in a fine, but very urban neighborhood, but there is no magic force field to keep petty criminals away, and some of them are around. Students have to develop some degree of street smarts to feel comfortable walking around alone, and most achieve that without thinking to much about it. Everyone knows someone who has had a laptop or bike stolen, and has heard of someone who got mugged, but most students only experience those things second- or third-hand. But students feel on guard more than they would at, say, Middlebury. Anything more serious is very rare, and probably occurs less frequently than you would expect with a population of over 40,000 students and staff.</p>
<p>Thanks, JHS, for adding the 50-illion+1th answer. Well-written and it addressed my own questions. I can pretty much picture the environment in my mind’s eye. Thanks.</p>
<p>Though what JHS said is pretty much true, don’t think that you can come to campus and act like you’re in the middle of an affluent suburban white “neighborhood” without having something happen. If you leave a bike unlocked (or even use a relatively non-secure bike lock), it will probably be stolen!</p>
<p>For the most part, if you are on campus, you are safe. Penn has three layers of security: Allied-Barton “Penn Security,” Penn Police and Philadelphia Police. The Penn Police is certified by the commonwealth and has power of arrest anywhere in Pennsylvania; its officers carry firearms and patrol the area bordered by 30th Street in the east, Market Street in the north, 43rd Street in the west, and Baltimore Avenue in the south. In the Penn Patrol zone, you are pretty much safe, though it is generally advised to walk with other people (or utilize the 898-WALK walking escort service) at night, especially if you are female. Out of the patrol zone, it depends on where you are. To the north and northeast is Drexel’s campus east of 36th Street (though its influence stretches to around 38thish, I think). To the east is the Schuylkill River and Center City. To the south is the medical complex, the Schuylkill, and eventually South Philly. To the west is West Philly. Students populate very heavily the are bounded by Baltimore Ave in the south, 43rd Street in the west, Walnut Street in the north, and Penn’s campus to the east, so all of this area is basically safe. However, crime increases outside of the Penn Patrol Zone.</p>
<p>Philadelphia is an interesting city, in that areas go from completely safe to incredibly dangerous in the course of one city block. For example, though 40th and Chestnut is relatively safe with many apartments heavily utilized by Penn students around, if you head one block north to 40th and Market, there have been several shootings in the past few years. Also something to remember is that generally speaking students are not involved in the disputes which lead to violent crime, so it isn’t a terribly big deal.</p>
<p>Basically the takeaway here is that Penn is a very urban campus. You need to be constantly vigilant at night especially when alone, but at the same time it is absolutely safe. Penn takes student safety extremely serious, so you can bet that especially on campus you WILL be safe! Just don’t wander to, say, 52nd and Market at 11PM.</p>
<p>And another thing, actually… West Philly is not incredibly dangerous, especially as compared to North Philly (in the Temple University or La Salle University areas). Head to 27th and Allegheny, for example, and you very well could be shot for no good reason. Fortunately, I don’t know of any student who has ever had any reason to go to that part of the city!</p>