<p>Hey all,</p>
<p>Please tell me anything that you don't like about Penn. Don't sugar-coat them, and don't dig too deep on the weather.</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for your inputs!</p>
<p>Now that I think about it, absolutely nothing at all.</p>
<p>-Being confused with Penn State
-Aside from the Quad, dorms are an embarrassment to Penn (fortunately there is an abundance of off-campus housing)
-The endless construction
-Off the Beat</p>
<p>And the one that makes me the most upset:
-That I can't stay forever. Really, the pluses at this place outweigh the minuses so much it borders on the absurd.</p>
<p>The off-campus housing is all nasty. Slum landlord owns it all, except for a few really expensive places, one of which you have to be 24 to live in.</p>
<p>Tuition and selectivity. (I'm a 2012 hopeful)</p>
<p>The dorms?? I think the high rises are about as nice as campus living gets! The over-priced meal plan is annoying though.</p>
<p>Actually, Penn own virtually all of the off-campus housing, as opposed to 'slum landlords,' especially east of about 44th and North of Baltimore. Organizations such as Campus Apartments are contracted with merely to manage the housing, which for the most part is quite nice. I think it's great that I get to live in an apartment in a well-maintained Victorian house for significantly less than what it costs to live in on campus. For the record, I have lived in Hill, Harrison, Ware (for a summer), and moved off-campus last year. Aside from the walk, off campus housing is vastly better than on (quad excluded), and the maintenance services have actually been better.</p>
<p>what do i hate about penn?</p>
<p>in the basement of van pelt library, there is a cafe called 'Mark's Cafe'. the lady that works there mostly everyday is unbelievably rude and obnoxious. i wish there was a way that she could get fired even though she needs the job.</p>
<p>i'm pretty sure there are others who can agree with my comments. even today, my friend ordered a SMALL COFFEE. she ends up giving him a caramel macchiato and then yells at my friend for not being clear. what the heck.</p>
<p>I hate the bathrooms in Williams hall</p>
<ol>
<li>cost</li>
<li>financial aid</li>
<li>math 114 professors</li>
<li>the jappy girls who act too good for you (but i disliked this about high school too)</li>
<li>it's only 4 years long (probably what i hate most)</li>
</ol>
<p>i'm in love with the rape whistle they gave all of us though</p>
<p>I must admit, the beauracracy sucks!! I'm probably not a junior, like I thought I would be after tranferring in (is that a bad thing?), but that is something I'll have to suck-up and deal with. I think this is the best place I could be.</p>
<p>hemo's (or beijing, or wawa) doesn't accept dining dollars.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your great inputs! </p>
<p>Anyone here not happy with the academic aspect of Penn? I've heard people from Columbia saying Penn's too pre-professional --any comment on that?</p>
<p>If you want to major in English & Anthro (like me!) apply to the COLLEGE not Wharton. Wharton's to pre-professional to be a "liberal arts school", but it's supposed to be pre-professional. My (albeit brief) experience with the college's courses/faculty/students has me quite convinced that the college is a great place to learn skills that will serve one well as a scholar and as a career person. My theory: The Columbia kids just need a reason to make their ridiculous CORE reqs. seem less irrelevent.</p>
<p>There are certain groups within the school that are preprofessional by their very nature (Wharton and the nursing school in particular). However, the actual liberal arts college in the school of arts & sciences is brimming with people aiming for PhDs, applying for fellowships (check out CURF- Center for Undergraduate Research & Fellowships), and other non-preprofessional things.</p>
<p>I do admire Columbia's Core as I am a fan of the great Western canon and believe every Western citizen should study it before he can consider himself learned (Penn offers "great books" courses but does not make them mandatory).</p>
<p>I think the real question is whether you want to go to college in New York City vs Philadelphia</p>
<p>That of course is not a question of whether Philadelphia is a better city than NYC--it is not. But it is precisely because NYC is so much better than Philadelphia that it sucks life out of the campus. I feel Penn and Philadelphia strike a much better balance between the attractions of city life but the community of a campus.</p>
<p>Hi JohnnyK,
'I feel Penn and Philadelphia strike a much better balance between the attractions of city life but the community of a campus.'</p>
<p>Your comment made me wonder why PrincetonReview ranked Penn among the top 20 relationship with town is STRAINED' this year...I don't get it...</p>
<p>coolcc, my guess is that it is a tale of two cities. Relationship with West Philly may be strained, but Penn and Philly form one heck of a mutual admiration society.</p>
<p>Cathedra is correct. Relationships with West Philly are rough - the crime, protests about "Penntrification". The whole Penn/Philly culture could be better (they often see us as carpetbaggers) but I must agree with Johnny's assertion that Philadelphia makes a better city for school than NYC. Plus, NYC's only 2 hours away by bus or train.</p>