Hi everyone!
I know that ED decisions are coming up soon and I can remember this time of my life vividly well- being completely stressed out about admissions to the point where you feel like you can’t breathe and your heart is beating a million times a minute. Or if you apply RD and you just finished submitting all your essays and stuff. The reason I wanted to post is that I want to bring some perspective into the admissions process, your first year at college, and college in general.
I currently attend Penn as a sophomore in engineering. My most important and valuable advice is: Please please please do not overhype Penn to be some amazing place that you are destined to be at. Please do not create some illusion of how wonderful Penn before even stepping on campus, how you’re automatically going to enjoy your next few years here. This goes for every university, not just Penn.
Because the truth is, the real Penn would never match up to whatever version of Penn you have created in your mind. Just like any other university, there are unique problems associated with Penn, along with general problems that exist with every college. The point of this post is not to detail every problem with Penn, but to remind you to please be realistic about your dream school(s).
College really is what you make of it. You can get accepted to Penn and come here, but if you don’t actively work to shape your life the way you want it, you will be miserable. Guaranteed. Penn, like all other universities, doesn’t just hand you opportunities. You have to work and find them yourself, to involve yourself in the community. That’s why I also believe that if you don’t get accepted to Penn, you will do just as well at another school and enjoy it just as much as if you had attended Penn. Because the people who truly enjoy college know that college is what they make of it. I cannot stress that enough. It is very easy to be disillusioned by university life when you get to the college of your dreams because it doesn’t match up to the image you have constructed in your head. College life really isn’t all about academics- this is your best opportunity in life to learn about yourself, learn about how to live as a functioning adult, what you value, what you are passionate about, what makes you happy, what makes you you. You might think you know all this in high school, but you come here and you’re exposed to so many different people from so many different walks of life. You will be tested with ordeals and experiences that you may never have imagined before. And you will get through them and realize how strong and brave you are.
At the end of the day, I am so, so grateful that I attend this university. I can say without a doubt my freshman year at Penn was the best year of my life (so far lol). And this year is turning out to be no different. I have had some of the most unique experiences in this world, met some people who mean all the world to me, done things the high school version of me could have never imagined myself doing. Would I have been just as happy at another school? Yes. Some experiences may have been unique and resulted from my being at Penn, but I believe that I would have had just as many cool and unique experiences at another college. It’s important to keep everything in perspective.
So I know that a lot of you are unbelievably stressed and nervous and worried about your future. I was in the same boat two years ago. Just trust me when I say that everything will be okay. If you think that you’re qualified enough to apply to Penn, then I guarantee that even if you open the portal and don’t hear the music and don’t read the “On behalf of…”, you will be okay. You will be okay wherever you go. The important part about college is to learn and grow as human beings.
If you have any questions about Penn or engineering or student life in general, feel free to reach out and ask!