<p>I was wondering what characteristics are truly unique to Penn.</p>
<p>Sometimes, after being in the college process for so long, all the school start to blend together. What specific things about Penn can I use to help distinguish it's positive qualities?</p>
<p>Well, what appealed to me with Penn was it's emphasis and promotion of interdisciplinary study to undergraduate students. This made it stand out from peer schools (HYPS, Columbia, Dartmouth etc.), as it offers a breadth and depth at the undergraduate level that cannot be matched.</p>
<p>I'm not sure if it's exactly unique, but it is a major difference in educational philosophy.</p>
<p>Penn is also considered a lot more social and interactive than the other ivies.</p>
<p>Founded by Benjamin Franklin.
First Medical School -> First American University
First Business School </p>
<p>There are other things I'm sure I'm not thinking of. You could check out its wikipedia page for more info on all its history. I feel knowing a school's history is a good way to differentiate it. </p>
<p>Or were your questions aimed at more social characteristics than academic/historical?</p>
<p>really flexible. you can take classes at any of the 4 undergrad schools, the law school, and the medical school. basically you can take any class that interests you. IMO it also has the nicest college campus that is truly in the middle of a big city.</p>
<p>I was thinking more of characteristics of the university that you couldn't get anywhere else. It's nice that they have the first business or med school, but that wouldn't exactly have any effect on a current student's experience.</p>
<p>My reason for asking is that, my friend was asking me about what unique things that some of the schools on his list have to offer. I couldn't really say anything for Penn. I would hope that it is more than just a generic-ly excellent/prestigious university.</p>
<p>so he would like ideas for an essay?</p>
<p>Specifically for Wharton, it's without a doubt the Wall Street culture. </p>
<p>And not to boos our egos some more, but I quote a Deutsche Bank recruiter in early December:</p>
<p>"I know you are all sensitized to the current economic conditions, but look: every major firm on Wall Street knows to recruit from here. Wharton is the first, and in some cases, the only place, that Wall Street comes to."</p>
<p>For better or for worse, it's this kind of stuff that separates Wharton.</p>
<p>Dartmoose, I sense an ulterior motive here.</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure people immediately realized that I am a Dartmouth student. I thought my question was pretty harmless. You criticizing me as well as a lack of responses makes me feel like I have struck a nerve by suggesting that the school isn't very unique. I'm not, however, saying being unique is the end all be all when it comes to having an excellent college experience.</p>
<p>Anyways, when my friend consulted me, I didn't want to give my him (a HS Junior) too biased a response about where would be a good fit for him. (FYI, he's not even applying to Dartmouth). I came here first, because I thought it would make sense to fill in my gap of knowledge about Penn (a school I don't know too much about other than the hard facts such as location, student body size, undergrad to grad ratio, and the fact that it has Wharton) with the Penn students/enthusiasts themselves..</p>
<p>My friend is applying to the engineering school. He hopefully wants to play club tennis. (Are club sports popular/available?). What else would you say that is unique about Penn or its engineering school.</p>
<p>Right now, the rest of his reach/target schools include: UVA, Columbia Engineering, and Tufts. Maybe it would be easier if you compared/contrasted to those schools.</p>
<p>
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so he would like ideas for an essay?
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He's a junior, not thinking about essays yet.</p>
<p>I really hate the "What is unique about X" question. Usually the answers to these kinds of questions are full of BS. It's like when you ask "What is unique about your company" in a job interview, and you get the "quality of our people", "diversity", or "leadership" as answers. In the end it is pretty clear which places are the best and which aren't, and there is no real need for this question. Having said that, I can say 3 things: interdisciplinary study, blend of theory and practice, and the campus.</p>
<p>And the campus's relationship to the city (better than a nonexistent city like UVA, but doesn't sap the energy from on-campus life like Columbia)</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>What sort of projects/relationships with the city can students benefit from?</p>
<p>Hey, sorry for my chilly response, if it seemed that way to you.</p>
<p>For Penn in general: extremely flexible majors, requirements, etc. If you want to major in two things, it's a very simple and streamlined process. Furthermore, you can major in between schools. It is somewhat common for engineers majoring in computer science to get degrees from the College in linguistics or cognitive science, for example.</p>
<p>For the engineering school: I know very little about it specifically. The culture isn't as geeky as some engineering schools, since the engineers are very much the majority. The College and Wharton essentially govern the social scene, which is very frat-oriented (similar to your Dartmouth) and urban.</p>
<p>^ I think you meant engineers are very much the minority</p>