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<p>Wrong again. Where are you getting your statistics?</p>
<p>Pennsylvania is not 43% African American. Philadelphia (a city in Pennsylvania) has about that percentage of African Americans. West Philadelphia (the quadrant of the city where Penn is located) is majority African American, but the specific neighborhood around Penn, University City, is probably the most racially integrated area of the city, with people of all backgrounds and appearances living side by side pretty happily. The Black people are not just African-Americans; there are meaningful numbers of African immigrants as well. And South Asians, Han Chinese, other South-East Asian tribal groups, Hispanics of every variety, European immigrants, secular Jews, orthodox and Hasidic Jews, and of course a sizable plurality of native-born white Christians (including Catholics, and also including more Quakers than you are likely to find most other places).</p>
<p>My wife and I also lived in University City, in various locations half a mile to a mile off the Penn campus, for over a decade. We were there during the height of the crack epidemic when citywide crime was at its worst. Our car was broken into a few times, and we had a houseplant stolen from our porch, and our garbage can was stolen and then sold back to us by a 9 year-old kid. That was the extent of our exposure to crime. We walked around at night, we took public transportation everywhere.</p>
<p>It is true that you have to exercise some common sense to avoid making yourself too much of a target for the occasional criminal, and also resign yourself to the possibility that once in awhile someone will steal something of yours and it isn’t the end of the world. But people who feel extremely unsafe and uncomfortable on the Penn campus, or anywhere near it, (a) are people who would feel uncomfortable in almost any city on earth, at least outside the most privileged neighborhoods, and/or (b) are expressing their discomfort at being around Black people regardless of actual experience of crime.</p>
<p>There is crime on every major college campus. Part of that is because the number of people on every major college campus – not just students and faculty, but administrators, employees, researchers, patients at the hospitals, tourists, etc. – is like the number of people in a small city unto itself, and they are going to generate some level of crime no matter how good the policing. As an undergraduate student, you will be far, far more likely to be the victim of something bad at the hands of a fellow student than to be the victim of a crime by someone from the surrounding community. Students steal from each other and assault one another, unfortunately, on a regular basis.</p>
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I assume you mean in general, and not specifically at Penn (recognizing that you started that paragraph with a reference to “crime on every major college campus”). :)</p>
<p>OP, if it makes you feel any better:</p>
<p>[The</a> Most Dangerous Colleges To Go To - Elite Daily](<a href=“http://elitedaily.com/elite/slideshows/dangerous-colleges/?slide=10]The”>http://elitedaily.com/elite/slideshows/dangerous-colleges/?slide=10)</p>
<p>;)</p>
<p>JHS said it best. I’ve lived in the Philly area all my life, worked in Phila for over 20 years, 13 of it in the Penn area - I’ve never encountered any “black militant”, whatever that may be. </p>
<p>It’s a city. It has good parts, not so good parts, etc. Penn has a nice campus, and has done so much over the past few decades improving the neighborhood around it. I swear to god, black people aren’t that scary. lol You’ll be fine.</p>
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So you applied early decision and either didn’t visit the campus or do research on it???</p>
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Please tell me you didn’t really get into Penn because there are many BWRK (bright well-rounded kids) who are not so narrow minded who unfortunately did not get offered acceptance and would have been better suited. Wow…</p>
<p>Yes, 45 Percenter, of course I meant that EVERYWHERE there are students who steal from other students and who assault other students (especially when drunk). I’m sure there are places with a higher percentage of Angels Who Would Never . . . than Penn, especially women’s colleges. (I think men have more of a propensity to be jerks than women, including petty-criminal jerks.) But in general, as far as I know, Penn students are not more likely to do bad things to one another than students at Yale, Brown, Harvard, Stanford, what have you – any peer school with similar types of students.</p>
<p>jandjad…1. you’re not helping. I visited the campus before applying. Obviously i didnt see any crime. 2. could you for GOD’S SAKE stop testing people’s patience if all you can do is criticize and not offer assistance? God bless you.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone :)</p>
<p>@JHS–AMEN to you! What is so funny is that I live in New Haven, CT… and students always ask how safe New Haven is… what is ironic is that the last Yalie that was murdered was a young woman who was working in one of the research labs… she went missing and they found her body stuffed in the wall of the Yale research lab on the day that was supposed to be her wedding day… and guess who was the perpetrator(sp?) a colleague… and NO he wasn’t black… it was a tragic and horrible situation. I say all that to say, watch your so called Ivy League classmates/colleagues… don’t be lulled into a sense of security just because you are in class/work side by side with someone… </p>
<p>Another student(young female) was stabbed to death on the corner of a very well heeled New Haven street/which is a stones throw away from Yales Sterling Lab. Many years ago… police believe that it was one of her professors who they could never pin it on… He quit his job and moved back to his home country…</p>
<p>Prinki, please don’t complain about feeling criticized. You have to understand that the fear of black people you have expressed, as well as your messy statistics, are bound to create a negative response.</p>