what I know so far: interdisciplinary approach to learning, access to city but also its own campus, dedication to community service, preprofessionalism/business etc stuff, “social ivy” kids work hard and know how to party
would greatly appreciate more specific aspects that u think makes penn unique! (or correct one of my assumptions above)
thanks!
I think the great thing about Penn is that you get a little bit of everything. You are in a major city (Philadelphia) but you have your home within a beautiful campus, you have the #1 ranked business school in America and a unique PPE major, you have a flexible curriculum and you can take classes within any of the schools, you have the Ivy connections, the pre-professional sense, and the social benefit. Can’t really go wrong.
You also have access to like 100 great Philly cheesesteak shops. You may laugh, but food is important.
My daughter is considering an ED application to Penn. She is attracted to:
— the college of arts and sciences is really appealing for its PPE program, faculty and research opportunities. She also loves the interdisciplinary approach because she likes a lot of subjects
— the Annenberg college of communication is also very appealing because she’s considering journalism as a minor
— the writing opportunities on campus are robust and diverse. From the Daily Pennsylvanian to the Kelly Writer’s house, she feels like she has a wide variety of ways she can contribute and continue her writing
— the community-centric ethos. She’s spent a lot of time contributing to our community particularly around equity in education topics. Penn spends a lot of time doing this, too, with many student volunteer opportunities
—she really liked the campus… we only took a self-guided tour on a quiet campus in mid-June but it quickly became her favorite. She liked the “urban but contained” feeling—lots of gorgeous buildings and green space but plenty right outside.
She worries a little about the preprofessional vibe. She is a kid who would likely spend part of her summer as a counselor at her beloved sleepaway camp and not on Wall Street. She has little interest in Greek life. She sings, plays guitar, loves theater… but also has big dreams to go to law school or work on public policy topics.
Ultimately, she believes she can find her people at UPenn.
Is she considering other colleges like Columbia and Brown ? Excellent intellectual environment and not overwhelmingly paraprofessional culture. Stellar academics at Columbia and Brown. Difficult to beat a Renaissance approach.
Yes, Columbia is her other ED pick—she hasn’t made up her mind. She loves them both. Brown was less impressive to her from a location perspective—she didn’t care much for Providence and for some reason she really didn’t vibe with the campus. We were very surprised—she went into the visit expecting to love it.
Also wanted to add that she loves Yale, too. But it’s Restricted Early Admission program is off-putting. It affects only 2 schools she where would apply early action (Fordham and Macalester) as the rest are public schools (UCs, Michigan, Wisconsin, Oregon)
Columbia is an enormously stimulating cultural environment with endless opportunities. It is difficult to surpass what Columbia has to offer. Many of the college courses ( 80%) are small in the number of students, with a maximum of about 20 students or less in a class.
Top-flight faculty and students there who are committed to education. New York is a world-class city, and the infrastructure and transportation are perfect at Columbia for easy access to the United nations. Times Square, the Museum of Natural History, the Cloisters, etc.
I’m interested in your Brown visit experience. My D loves their academic programs (seem almost tailored to her very unique interests), but the virtual info session/tour were a little off-putting to her. We plan to visit in person IF THEY EVER OPEN THE CAMPUS TO VISITORS. (yes, I’m agitated).
P.S. My D also really liked Penn (location, architecture) but is not sure its a great academic fit for her.
In my opinion, Penn’s reputation as preprofessional is overblown. Sure, there are plenty of premeds and students focused on grad school, but those students are everywhere. There certainly were plenty of kids like that at my large public college (myself included). And, with the global competition for jobs, a graduate degree certainly doesn’t hurt.
Personally, I prefer to think of Penn students as engaged, curious people who finally have the resources and latitude to actualize their dreams. When you chat with the students, their intellectual passion is evident. I love Penn. It’s where my daughter finally found a tribe of people who accept and celebrate her. Best of luck to your daughter should she decide to apply.
I’m really glad you wrote. I feel confident my daughter will find her people at a place like Penn, and there is so much for her to love academically. But there’s also so much out there about Penn’s Wharton-inspired competitive and preprofessional vibe is that it feels difficult to ignore sometimes. That’s wonderful that your daughter found a home there!
We didn’t have a proper tour of Brown. We stayed overnight in downtown Providence and then walked over the bridge to Brown. It’s difficult to describe my daughter’s feelings about it other than to say she experienced a pretty obvious loss of energy and enthusiasm while walking around the campus. She became cranky and wanted to leave after an hour. She said she didn’t care for the area because it seemed suburban and she didn’t care for downtown Providence (it was deserted at night and a little sketchy). She also said there wasn’t an academic program pulling her in the way she feels there is at other Ivy schools (Penn with its PPE program and Annenberg School of Comms, Columbia with its core curriculum she admires and Yale with its humanities program). Your daughter may feel differently since Brown has what she’s looking for academically.
This site offers some academically similar colleges to Brown: