<p>just going off of what I've been hearing... is it preppy? how would you describe the Greek presence and their interaction with non-Greeks? What other schools would you say have a similar culture? Thanks. I'm still deciding if I should apply here or not for transfer (I'm definitely applying to Stanford and am considering Columbia).</p>
<p>I'm really curious about this as I still haven't decided whether or not to apply and the deadline is in about 10 days!</p>
<p>probably similar to columbia's, except more pre-professional</p>
<p>Penn would be closer to Columbia than Stanford...as much a function of being a northeastern establishment school as it is being in a large metropolis.</p>
<p>Penn is different in that it has much higher levels of awesomeness. There is no single culture at Penn. How could there be with 4 undergraduate schools and another 12 grad schools (all smooshed into a single contiguous campus)?</p>
<p>It is marvelously diverse. Parts are pre-professional, parts are not. Whatever lifestyle you're looking for, you can find it at Penn.</p>
<p>ilovebagels,
You should really consider a career in the Admissions Dept of Penn. I am sure applications would be way up with you there. You always have the best answer and make Penn sound so appealing. Penn is a true hidden gem amongst the Ivies.</p>
<p>
A bit too hidden. :(</p>
<p>Penn's story needs to be better--and more widely--told.</p>
<p>I completely agree, too hidden. Penn needs to get some serious marketing people to work with their admissions team. Hopefully, after this admission cycle and the kinks are out of the computer side of admissions, they will start addressing their shortcomings in their popularity. One can only hope.</p>
<p>I'm aware that multiple cultures exist on any given campus, but I was asking more about the overall campus culture, i.e. UChicago is very academic, Columbia is intellectual, hip and ambitious, etc. </p>
<p>I was also unaware that Penn is as prestigious as Columbia as CCers make it out to be. I know that it's been ranked in the top 10 consistently, but I was never under the impression that this top 10 ranking actually translated to the kind of real-world prestige that Columbia has... or does it? Well, the good thing is that I've been considering Penn without caring much for its so-called prestige.</p>
<p>"Well, the good thing is that I've been considering Penn without caring much for its so-called prestige."</p>
<p>"So-called"? I don't think so...</p>
<p>Nationally, Penn is ranked 6th, and Columbia is 8th:
National</a> Universities Rankings - Best Colleges - Education - US News and World Report</p>
<p>Around the world, it follows Columbia by a close 11th:
World's</a> Best Colleges and Universities: Top 200 - US News and World Report</p>
<p>I was aware of the rankings, but like I said, I don't know how they translate to real-world prestige (meaning how the school is perceived by people unaware of such rankings).</p>
<p>also, what % are in frats and sororities and are they obnoxious? the school I currently go to has an absurdly high percentage and as much as I would love to think that greeks and non-greeks get along, i realized that there's still a noticeable divide between them. i'm not anti-greek but I am against the kind of privileged, exclusive, talk-behind-her-back, hush-hush mentality that some organizations breed. i think it's silly.</p>
<p>^ From Penn's info on collegeboard.com:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Percent of men who join fraternities: 30%
Percent of women who join sororities: 27%
[/quote]
</p>
<p>College</a> Search - University of Pennsylvania - Penn - Housing & Campus Life</p>
<p>Ohh that's actually a pretty good percentage in comparison. now i'm just curious as to how they fit in with the rest of the student body. how do greeks and non-greeks treat each other?</p>
<p>
how do greeks and non-greeks treat each other?
</p>
<p>By yelling "THIS IS SPARTAAAAAAA!" and kicking them down into a well.</p>
<p>^^ can't disagree with that</p>
<p>There is a solid minority at Penn that's preppy, but it's mostly just like..New York trendy. Or jappy. I'd say the atmosphere is pretty similar to Duke. Greek and non-Greek interaction is fine, but there is a divide. Although I think it's because most of the people who go out are Greek or athletes, so they just tend to hang out together more.</p>
<p>Marketing is what I do, and Penn is what I love. I'd be very happy to revamp Penn's marketing efforts (which seem lackluster at best). If anybody can put me in touch with a Penn trustee, do let me know ;)</p>
<p>Penn is huge. You don't really realize it when you apply, but it is a school of 10,000 undergraduates and 10,000 graduates. It is the largest private employer in Philadelphia with 22,500 employees, and it is the second largest private employer in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (only Wal*Mart, with upwards of 35,000 employees is larger). With that said, it is absolutely imperative that you "find your niche."</p>
<p>Penn has a huge performing arts community made up of more than 40 groups, varying from a capella groups, to orchestral groups, to comedy troupes, to theater groups. The talent level required to gain entrance into these groups is generally intermediate -- performers are talented but generally do not look to pursue the arts as a career.</p>
<p>Greek life maintains a huge presence on campus. Freshmen have basically free reign on most fraternity parties their first semester, and if you are not one of the 30% to join a Greek organization, chances are you will know someone who has, so you will have access to certain fraternity parties and sorority "crush parties" during your upperclassman years.</p>
<p>Athletics as well play a large role on campus. Though Penn is not known for its sports, it is actually NCAA Division I! I believe women's lacrosse won the NCAA Championship in 2008.</p>
<p>Culture is hard to define and varies across campus. With such a large campus, you can find literally everything. There are quite a bit of people with "loose" morals (to put it lightly) with regard to sex, drugs, and alcohol, and the predominant culture is to accept these things as normal. If that is not your scene, many groups around campus offer completely different outlooks without being "lame" or boring.</p>
<p>Penn is a VERY liberal school -- 96.4% of students voted in the 2008 presidential election, of which 80% voted Democratic. If you are moderate or conservative, you will likely find that your views will be challenged often; typical arguments will not fly... you need to carefully reason any argument you make, lest you be ridiculed by your classmates! Not too big a deal though, and you find that pretty much anywhere.</p>
<p>Overall Penn is pre-professional. Even in the liberal arts, you feel pressure to be working toward a specific goal or job path from the moment you step on campus. Wharton has a huge influence on campus, especially considering it makes up nearly 30% of undergraduates, if not more.</p>
<p>If you are interested in engineering and job pursuit, I have to be honest. Though Penn's program is good, its next-door-neighbor, Drexel, is a significantly better option for people who plan to stay local -- Drexel is EXTREMELY well known for its engineering programs and has the option of a half- or full-year co-op which basically guarantees students decent jobs upon graduation. If you are more interested in engineering from a theoretical perspective, Penn is probably a better choice, but yeah. Don't rule out Drexel.</p>
<p>Penn's financial aid system is great for those whose families make under $90,000. However if your family makes over that, you may slip through the cracks as someone who makes too much to qualify for good financial aid but not enough to really afford college without tens of thousands of dollars of third party loans!</p>
<p>Let's see, what else...</p>
<p>Campus housing is kind of a crap chute. You do NOT want to live in Hill or Kings Court/English House unless you care significantly more about socializing than about quality of living conditions; any of the Quad residence halls (Fisher Hassenfield, Ware, Riepe) are the most desirable for freshmen; Stouffer and Gregory offer nice accommodations but are not very social; Du Bois is the traditionally black dorm which, from what I hear, is VERY nice; any of the high rises are decent but again not very social. Many students, myself included, move off campus after their freshman year -- it is generally better and almost ALWAYS cheaper than campus housing.</p>
<p>The real takeaway is that you NEEED to find your niche. When you get to campus, try out all of your interests... join a wide variety of groups. Don't feel bad if you have to drop a few; the groups understand, and they actually prefer that you drop if you cannot dedicate yourself fully to that group. It could take much longer than you expect for you to find the group of friends that you want to stick with, and it is absolutely something that you have to proactively do; if you expect things to just pop up, they won't, and you probably won't like Penn very much.</p>
<p>Academically, sure it's a challenging curriculum, but the College is designed so that students take 4 courses per semester to complete the program. Double majoring is EXTREMELY common and very easy if you take 5 courses per semester. Generally if you are in a program of study that interests you and that you are reasonably good at, you will pull Bs and As; grade inflation is all over the place -- Penn's basic curve is to a B; some programs curve to a B+!</p>
<p>So yeah, you need to be able to handle a big school, big city and diverse atmosphere in order to like Penn. If not, definitely consider somewhere else because you just won't like Penn!</p>
<p>^^ I love you. Nice post.
so it's a good place to be if u like sex drugs and alcohol? wouldnt have expected that but definitely cant complain now</p>
<p>Only 4 classes per semester? Nice. That's our regular load on the quarter system.</p>
<p>Also, how far are you from Center City and how do you get there?</p>
<p>20 minutes walking (or 30 if you're coming from the western side of campus), or subway, or bus, or for the rich/impatient/lazy/late-for-something, taxis. There's also a large Penn Transit bus service that will drop you somewhere near Center City for free.</p>