Social Life/Campus Activity at UPenn!

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
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<p>Hey, I have some questions about Upenn! Thank you! :) my biggest questions are:
1. Is Penn a suitecase school? Meaning do kids come and go through Philly and therefore, due to the big city, the campus isn't as active? Do so many people go out to city on the weekends that I'd have to beg my friends to stay on campus?
2. How cutthroat-competetive is Penn? I know UPenn is an incredible university, but how does this set up a stress-filled environments or competition among students?
3. What are some activites that Penn has on campus? Is there dance marathons, 5ks, midnight breakfasts?
4. How is Penn for non-drinkers? Will non-drinkers feel left out or excluded in parties, etc? </p>

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<p>sorry, here’s my last one:
5. is penn, in a way, too pre-professional? I understand it’s not as much of a LAC, but do some feel that it is too overly focused, on the “next step” or next internship/grad school? </p>

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<p>I can only speak from the perspective of a parent and someone who has lived and worked in Philly so I can’t go into detail but here are some broad brush responses:

  1. Penn is not a suitcase school, not in the least.
  2. There is stress and competition but also collaboration, support and comraderie(you are not alone going through it).
  3. I can’t say specifically but my D is involved in about a dozen different activities from athletics to the arts. There is no shortage of things to do. If you are a “joiner” as my D is, I’d say there is an excess of things to do.
  4. My D is a non-drinker. She has a super active social life and is even in a Greek organization. I see no hindrances here.
  5. There are 10,000 undergrads - there is a place for almost everyone. There are pre-professional majors but also liberal arts majors. The atmosphere at a small school matters most because that’s your community. In a school with 10,000 students, it seems like there are communities within the larger community so most kids should be able to find a place.</p>
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<p>I think a city school is a better place for a non drinker than a small campus school in the middle of nowhere. It the city there are a lot of social options and activities that don’t revolve around alcohol. Sometimes at a school with nothing but the school around, much of the entertainment revolves around alcohol. And as far as cities go, Philly is fairly affordable. There are a lot of free activities as well as inexpensive restaurants. </p>

<p>Again, as a local parent, I second the thought that Penn is not a suitcase school. We live close enough to commute and he still only comes home on major breaks when the rest of the school leaves! </p>

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<p>And I third that. :)</p>

<p>As Madaboutx and parentofpeople have both indicated, Penn provides what for many is the perfect balance of strong and active campus life and easily accessible big-city life and culture. And in combination with Penn’s relatively large and diverse undergraduate student body, there’s a place and community for virtually every type of Ivy and top-university student.</p>

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<p>Ditto to all of the above… And as an add on, based on conversations with my S, the professors and TA’s at Penn are extremely helpful. I was really impressed. </p>

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<p>I don’t mean to hijack this thread, but I have a question- how do people find out about stuff around campus? At my old school we got a daily email with a list of clubs, meetings, events. Is there anything like that at Penn? Also, can I unsubscribe to Penn News Today? Am I going to miss something important, or am I currently the only dumb new student who actually reads it daily? Thanks :)</p>

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<p>@rebeccar each school sends out a weekly newsletter with all the events that are taking place as well as each Class Board sending out emails to remind students about activities and events. Most people use facebook events to spread the word about events in the city also. You can unsubscribe to Penn News Today since it doesn’t have anything to do with student events. I think it’s just to let people read about new research and other things like that. During orientation, there will be an activities fair where you can learn about all the clubs and organizations on campus. There, you can add your email to list serv of all the clubs you are interested in to get more information about them.</p>

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<p>@mandypandy thanks! I’m going to be a grad student but I assume the process is similar. Thanks a bunch.</p>

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<p>rebeccar if you haven’t already, look into “Graduate and Professional Student Assembly (GAPSA)” on facebook</p>