<p>I am extremely interested in enrolling into Wharton for its marketing program; however, I am not so interested in enrolling into UPenn itself. It concerns me that Greek life dominates the social scene and that most of the student body moves off-campus after freshman year. Is UPenn able to foster a sense of community spirit even through the exclusivity of the Greek scene and the large percentage of students living off-campus?</p>
<p>Both things you said are vast generalizations which are frankly untrue. Most people remain on campus through sophomore year, people usually don’t move off until junior year, and there are many people that remain on campus all four years. Also, even though there is a Greek scene which involves 25% of the school (frats are bigger here than sororities), MOST people are not Greek and even that doesn’t matter because the frat scene here is much different than say a school like UF. They are very inclusive and integrated into the overall social scene. I am not Greek, however I have many friends who are as well as many who are not. Some of my friends who thought they would never ever join a frat or sorority pledged this year. The frats and sororities really are very diverse and welcoming.
If you are not involved in Greek life, you can still get into the vast majority of frat parties (especially if you have friends in a particular frat). And even then there are still smaller non Greek parties thrown by extracurricular groups and such. And there is so much more to campus besides greek life. There are tons of clubs and extracurriculars that people become very involved in.
Although Penn students may not be too interested in sports, there is plenty of school spirit on campus. People are very proud of the school and have a great time going here.
Lastly have you visited campus? I would try not to form any lasting impressions of Penn until you have at least seen it.</p>
<p>Have you been to Penn? I wouldn’t exactly describe it as a lonely desert of elitist frats. It’s ten thousand undergraduates at one of the most diverse schools in the country. If you can’t find welcoming community here, I don’t know where you’d find it.</p>
<p>One thing it’s important to understand: “Living off campus” can mean vastly different things at different institutions. At some colleges, when students live off campus, it’s often many miles away, with their families and other community. They travel to the college like going to a job, and they go home to their real lives when their classes are over. That’s the “commuter school” model. That is nothing like Penn.</p>
<p>At Penn, almost everyone living off campus is living within half a mile or so of the campus. In many cases, the “off campus” apartment buildings they live in are closer to the center of campus than the high-rise dorms that house many “on campus” students, but even if they live farther away it’s a few blocks farther, not miles. (They are considerably closer to the main part of campus than many on-campus students at Duke, Stanford, Cornell, Michigan, even Harvard.) No one has to drive to campus; everyone walks or bikes (or maybe skates). The students living off campus live with other students, not their families, and they generally live next to other students, and across the street from other students, etc. The university, its students and its campus remain the center of everyone’s social life and working life.</p>
<p>Off-campus housing is generally cheaper and a lot more space than students get on campus, or if it’s not cheaper it is a LOT nicer. It’s a lot easier to throw a party off campus than to negotiate the on-campus rules. And all those students living off campus give tremendous vitality to the Penn neighborhood, which has a vast array of restaurants and shops that wouldn’t exist if the students all barricaded themselves on the campus.</p>
<p>What Penn has chosen to do for the past 40 years, which isn’t stupid at all, is NOT to invest its capital in building housing for students. Instead, it lets private landlords and developers do that, and handle maintenance, repairs, capital improvements, rent collection, utilities, etc. It’s a system that works pretty well. Harvard couldn’t do it, because Cambridge is too expensive for students to afford; ditto Princeton. Yale couldn’t do it because New Haven is too crappy. Penn can do it because it is bordered by pleasant neighborhoods with decent housing stock that’s relatively cheap.</p>
<p>JHS, privatization sounds like a win in my book.</p>