<p>Dear Pennsylvannians,
I am interested in transferring to Penn for next year. I am a freshman.
I know Penn is a really good university, but because I have very few friends there, I don't know a lot about Penn other than "Penn is a really good school." I want to hear what you guys like about Penn, which can help me in the transfer application. Why did you choose Penn over other schools?
(At the same time I will do more research on Penn's website, but personal opinions can give me more help.)</p>
<p>This is all I know about Penn so far, and your valuable opinions towards Penn will help me:
1. Penn is an Ivy League school, ranking is good
2. Penn has a long history, founded by Ben Franklin
3. Penn's environment is pretty liberal</p>
<p>That might be the most vague and generalized statement you can make.</p>
<p>Moreover in light of 3 (Penn's environment being liberal), I'd say that statement needs to be clarified. While Penn is liberal in comparison to say, BYU or West Point, it is certainly more conservative than its Ivy peers like Columbia and Brown (not in the social sense, where it's as much a bastion of alcohol-fueled decadence and tolerance of other cultures/sexual orientations etc as any US college), but in terms of the number of hippies/anarchists/unreconstructed socialists/"free-mumia" types etc. While the student body is still liberal, they're more likely to be attending Obama rallies than overthrow-the-government ones..</p>
<p>I have alway suspected the presence of the Wharton school as a giant talisman of capitalism that keeps the socialists at bay.</p>
<p>Of course my knowledge about Penn is very limited and vague. That's why I need help from Penn students so that I can understand Penn better. Although I am looking at information presented from Penn website, the official website can only provide some generalized statements. I want to hear the real voice from Penn students like you.
Thanks.</p>
<p>So I'm a freshman in the Engineering School, a Computational Biology major, which is under the CIS (Computer and Information Science) department. </p>
<p>I like how Penn's classes are challenging yet rewarding, and the student body is fun, social, and very intelligent. People here are very interested in what they do and what they study, but they also know how to have a good time. There is always something to do on-campus, but if you aren't interested in that, you have a vibrant Center City Philadelphia for your entertainment.</p>
<p>Penn classes are generally pretty difficult. Engineering is especially hard first semester, but everyone is in the same scenario so it's not so bad. Wharton is primarily competitive, but I don't know much about the college and nursing. However, the assignments are always meaningful, and there is no "busy work" or anything of the sort.</p>
<p>The campus is beautiful, too. I really like Penn so far, and I hope I gave you some meaningful information.</p>
<p>Philadelphia! The whole city is pretty much your campus. You may not know it but you learn so much just living in a city and interacting with so many different people. I love it.</p>