@Cue7 Agreed, and poli sci definitely has further to go than econ. For decades, it’s been a mystery to me why Penn hasn’t developed a more eminent poli sci program, since it’s really just a matter of paying enough for some academic stars, who would then create a critical mass of top grad students and a faculty full of rising stars. But hopefully this new home will help with a renewed effort to do just that. Poli sci is one of the more popular majors in the College (at least 100 or so majors a year), and when you throw in related and overlapping interdisciplinary majors, such as PPE and IR, you’re talking about a significant portion of the College. Plus, as I stated earlier, Penn HAS been strong in fields that poli sci touches upon and interacts with, such as econ, sociology, regional studies, history, etc., not to mention the relevant academic resources of Wharton on the business, finance and management sides. It really is kind of odd that poli sci has been such a relatively weak link. But again, the Perelman Center is hopefully a sign that that’s about to change. After all, they DID put poli sci first in the building’s name!
And speaking of new buildings on Penn’s campus–and getting even a bit further off topic here–have you heard about the new $1.5 billion (yes, billion with a “b”) hospital building that Penn announced yesterday? It’s being built where the Penn Tower used to be, right behind the museum (so we’re KIND of bringing this back around to the Penn Museum ). For your edification and enjoyment, here’s another webpage . . . . and another video!
Bringing this thread back up again because Penn’s English Department is definitely no longer under the radar (to use @Cue7’s phrase), if it ever was. Penn was just ranked #1 in the country for a major in English, as published in USA Today (for what it’s worth):
@ConfusedK1d another interesting thing to check out is the Philomathean Society. It is one of the 2 or 3 oldest university literary societies in the country, and a very cool organization for the intellectually-minded students at Penn.
I’ve heard about the Philo and am interested in joining, though I heard members could be quite cruel to each other and generally elitist. Were you apart of this organization and, if so, was that true during your time at Penn?
@ConfusedK1d i was never a member but i sat in during quite a few of their meetings and i knew quite a few people who were members. From my perspective and from that of members I know, people were not cruel at all. There are bound to be some pompous a**holes like everywhere but the majority of people are not cruel to each other, they are actually pretty helpful and nice to each other. They had some issues with some people being mean and cruel 1-2 years ago but it was more of an isolated incident than the norm.
What is true though is that Philo can come across as a bit pretentious and snobbish at first, which you can kind of expect from the second oldest ivy league literary society. But if you try to get to know the people better and get involved i think that perception kind of changes. And the intellectual discussion and environment is very stimulating and interesting.
I was there for four years (including three summers) and I didn’t even know we had a museum until this thread. When I looked at it on the map, I expected it to be someplace out of the way not a building I walked past several hundred times on the way to Hollenback Center. While I’ll admit I was busy, they clearly don’t promote it to students at all.
). For your edification and enjoyment, here’s another webpage . . . . and another video!
