<p>Hey everyone! I was fortunate enough to be granted admission to UPenn's CAS. </p>
<p>In print, UPenn sounded exactly like my dream school with its urban setting, excellent academics, school spirit and student life, along with outstanding extracurricular activities/opportunities. And then I went to a Penn Preview session last week. I found the students to be somewhat closed and very much individualistic (I felt a disconnect with my own personality at any rate). I also disliked the campus feel because of its urban, decentralized nature. </p>
<p>I still love UPenn for its academics and the extracurricular opportunities the school offers its students. My question is: Would I be fooling myself telling my inner conscious that I visited on a bad day? Would I be stupid to choose UPenn even though it didn't fit well with me?</p>
<p>My greatest fear about choosing UPenn is that I'm going to have a terrible time in college with people that don't really mix with me. People keep telling me that I'll "find my niche" and that the school "will grow" on me if I do choose to go, but my parents are urging me to seriously reconsider given the fact that I disliked both the campus and (most of) the students. </p>
<p>I apologize for my random ramblings, but I'm starting to freak out because I have no idea where I want to go to college next year. UPenn was my top choice, but with my disappointment after visiting the campus, I really don't know where I should go.</p>
<p>Regardless of what school you go to, you will find your niche. That is unless you are antisocial and mean. I doubt that, because otherwise you would have probably not gotten in. Obviously you won’t be friends with random kids the day you get there. I felt the vibe to be very friendly in general. I visited today, and it was phenomenal. I met a friend who goes there now and he was saying the best part about the school was the people. Everyone is totally friendly, open, humble, and group oriented. </p>
<p>Having visited many top schools many times (Columbia, Princeton, Yale, etc.) I think Penn is just as good as Yale and Columbia in terms of vibrancy of the campus and friendliness of the students. IMO Princeton is dead last. </p>
<p>I think you may have visited on an off day. Today was just amazing for me. I can’t imagine going to another school after today.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t base your opinion of penn off of a one-time visit</p>
<p>honestly, how could you say you know the students when you went to visit for one day??
plus, at the previews, they did not really encourage prefrosh interaction that much. Most of the people I had conversations with were current freshman/sophomores and I thought a lot of them were really cool</p>
<p>also, in my opinion, when I saw the campus I thought it was the opposite of decentralized.
locust walk is gorgeous and everything kind of goes around that. I also like the good mixture of old (fisher, quad) and modern (van pelt, huntsman) architecture
that’s exactly how I felt; I visited on friday and I’m going back for the multicultural weekend</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies! I know I can’t judge a school based off of just a couple days worth of experience, but I just somehow got a bad vibe. I’m just trying to find a way to reassure myself I’m making the right choice by choosing Penn over other schools I felt jived with my personality more. I thought that Penn Preview would assert my feeling that Penn was the place for me, not the other way around.</p>
<p>HCVOPS I visited it twice, spoken to at least 10 alumni and now a few current students and many students going there next year.</p>
<p>The first time I visited it was in the middle of the summer. I think more so than the campus, I like the vibe and the students. Yeah the campus is great, so are many of the ivies. But there was something about the atmosphere that I feel Columbia and Yale (originally my top two choices) lack. On the other hand, when I visited in August last summer, I hated it and that’s why I didn’t apply early. This second visit changed my mind a lot, especially after talking to students. </p>
<p>Yeah, to help the OP, what other schools do you like? What is your personality like? </p>
<p>Going to a school with 10000 undergrads, you WILL find friends. No doubt. I’ll be your friend lol</p>
<p>I unexpectedly liked JHU when I visited. The people seemed a lot friendlier than those at Penn (although I’m not sure if Hopkins pre-screened the students I interacted with…I couldn’t really tell) and they broke the perception of their school as being cutthroat. That being said, my Penn experience did feel a lot more candid (as in there was a lot less administration hand-holding when I visited). </p>
<p>In terms of campus feel, I think I was turned off by the fact that Penn doesn’t have a lot of green space when compared to JHU. I envisioned Penn’s campus as looking more like the “Quad” than Locust Walk. </p>
<p>Other schools that are high on my list are USC (scholarship offer) and Pomona (definitely a more homey feel than the other schools). I’m visiting Cornell in a week; I’m not too sure how that visit is going to go down in terms of campus feel.</p>
<p>And thanks Excepted for the friendship offer :P</p>
<p>i have to say that one of the things i love most about penn is locust walk, how central it is</p>
<p>walking down it during class passing times, you’re always going to see people, it’s always bustling with energy (and you can get a feel for impending midterms or finals, depending on how stressed people look) - it’s one of the things i miss when i go to other schools</p>
<p>and when alum friends come back to visit, they always want to walk along locust walk</p>
<p>You will actually love Cornell if you are looking for Campus and green. But the thing about Penn is that you have some green, you have the beautiful buildings, but you are also in the city. Everything is close, but it is still a campus. Cornell is in what like Ithaca: population like 34. I haven’t visited JHU, but my sister stayed at Penn and JHU and loves Penn a lot more. I would just hate to see someone turn down Penn because they visited it on an off day. </p>
<p>Also, Penn is known for being very candid and not putting on an affect for admissions etc. They do not advertise their school like the others, they have student volunteers (no interview etc.), and they are open and honest about a lot.</p>
<p>Hcvops, what are you leaning towards between Penn and Columbia? I am still deciding between the two, and am not 100% sure yet. What are you leaning towards and why?</p>
<p>Penn has groups for every possible interest, if you go here and if you are interested in anything and make an effort it is guaranteed you will have friends. I chose between Cornell and Penn, and while both schools are great, Penn just clicked with my personality and interests more.</p>
<p>Can’t speak for the sister, but what turned me off was this creepy generic feeling about JHU…it didn’t have any distinct or unique feel about it compared to other schools. Also, I’m not pre-med, and there’s no epic library.</p>
<p>Trust that you will find your niche if you come here. Personally, I think a lot of the people here have mediocre or lousy personalities, but you have to remember that there are a lot of pre-professionals here, which can explain it. But with 10,000 undergrads, you’re bound to find a group with which you can identify. Keep an open mind and be optimistic - Penn has a lot to offer, but you’re responsible for making good use of its resources.</p>
<p>When visting various campuses the feelings changed but mostly with the weather and the small group we toured with. I don’t think you should base your decision on this. Are you local, if you are go back maybe to another preview and try it again. We have been to campus 3 times and love it more each time. We also visited JHU and Cornell. JHU seemed too rehearsed, I felt they were going out of their way to give a friendly non competitive vibe to dispel the rumors. Beautiful campus though. Cornell, great school but Ithaca really. I just could imagine spending 4 years in the middle of nowhere. But if you like the country and open spaces it may be right for you. Good Luck, but don’t give up on Penn so quick, it truly is an awesome place!</p>
<p>I’m most likely coming to penn over columbia. </p>
<p>2 things</p>
<p>I’ve lived in nyc for 10ish years and I need to go somewhere new and not be bumping into the same people in ny all the time; I need a new environment</p>
<p>secondly, I think I fit in better with penn’s interdisciplinary mission more than the columbia classical liberal artsyness</p>