<p>Hey! I’m trying to decide between Penn and CMU right now. I stayed overnight at CMU, so I have a good idea of what that’s like, but I only went for Penn Preview day and left early. </p>
<li> How big is the campus in the practical sense? Everything within walking distance?</li>
<li> How accepting/open/friendly are the people? It seemed busy when I went there, so I’m not sure if the students are too friendly, or if they’re cold. I’m kind of shy, and I don’t want to be run over or discarded by my outgoing peers.</li>
<li> Is it cliquey? Or do people mingle? How often, walking in the pathways, do you see people you know?</li>
<li> When you fill out your housing stuff, do they have a questionaire for roommate selection and try to match you up with someone who might get along with you? Or is it pretty much random?</li>
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<p>Thank you so much!! I greatly appreciate any input.</p>
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<li><p>I'd say the most you'll have to walk is 15 minutes from one end to another. If you speed walk, then 10 mins.</p></li>
<li><p>Most people are friendly. To speak of your experience, It seems that at first, some of the people are a little shy and won't start a conversation, but once you start talking to them, they are friendly.</p></li>
<li><p>The only people who seem to prefer cliques are probably international students. But in general, I think that people mingle fairly well. </p></li>
<li><p>Yes they do have a questionairre, but I'm not sure how they select rooms. To a large degree, it's random, but they will adhere to any health-related requests.</p></li>
<li><p>Lol that's a silly question. SEAS isn't bad at all.</p></li>
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<p>I sent my housing app yesterday! They only ask if you keep kosher, if you have a medical/religious condition that requires you live on a low floor, or if you wake up early. I asked someone at the Housing panel about that at Penn Previews, and she said that they find that matching people based on interest doesn't always help them get along.</p>
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<li><p>In "real life" campus is much smaller since the majors & departments tend to cluster together. For example, a Classics major (like me) could easily end up with classes in only two buildings - Williams and Logan - and they're right next to each other. Likewise engineering and the "hard" sciences.</p></li>
<li><p>People are pretty friendly here. There's a real sense of "we're all here for the same reason" and a conciousness that we're probably going to be seeing each other after graduation, either in grad school, academia, or the business world. Some days you can almost feel the "old boy network" growing around you.</p></li>
<li><p>You'll see the same people all the time - the other day somebody mentioned seeing me always studying Latin in the Fisher Fine Arts library last year. Once you get into the upper level classes in your major, you'll practically be living with your fellow majors. Also, many of the departments have weekly colloquia where you can make yourself known on an informal level.</p></li>
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<p>I want to go to Wharton for an undergraduate degree in finance. Is it possible that I could get accepted to UPenn but not accepted into Wharton? Or do I have to specify that I'm only interested in Wharton?</p>
<p>When you apply to Penn, you choose to apply to one and ONLY one of its four schools (College, Wharton, SEAS, Nursing). So if you chose Wharton and were rejected, no, you would not be considered for the College. The only exception to this is for the joint-degree programs, where an applicant can indicate a "back-up" choice.</p>
<p>Thank you. The UPenn website is rather difficult to decipher but at least now I don't have to ask the college admissions people directly and look like an idiot.</p>
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<li><p>Campus is not huge. I mean I love it, it's a great city campus, but unless you're ridiculously out of shape, the walks should be no problem. Note: I am ridiculously out of shape, yet I'm fine with walking around campus.</p></li>
<li><p>People are....well, diverse. I mean of course, unless someone is an A-Hole, he or she will be friendly. However, I wouldn't characterize the people on campus one way or another. There are friendly ones, aloof ones, big ones, small ones, smelly ones, etc.</p></li>
<li><p>I find this is the same deal. People are all over the place. If ultimately, by asking quesiton 2 and 3, you're asking, "is it easy to make friends?" Then the answer to that is yes. But I mean, it CAN be cliquey if you're with a certain set of people, and not cliquey at all with others. But yeah haha, it is interesting that the international students are a specific clique here.</p></li>
<li><p>The roommate selection is wholly random.</p></li>
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<p>Getting a high-rise or other college house outside of the Quad (which are much more social) might help you get over the worries of cliques and such. Plus, I would think that everyone will be friendly, because as frosh, we'll all be worried about making friends, too - me, included! =)</p>
<p>What do you plan to major in? If you want engineering, CMU might not be a bad idea, but I think (and I don't know much about CMU) that if you want to major in anything else, Penn's the way to go. </p>
<p>Plus, Pittsburgh vs. Philly? No contest =) Penn has both cheesesteaks and a beautiful campus.</p>