<p>I completely sympathize! For several weeks after my acceptance, I felt that twinge of self-doubt; everyone knows harvard, yale, princeton, why not penn? we are, after all, number four :) when my mom told my grandpa that I got into Penn, he said "oh, they have great football!" when I told the attendence officer at my school, he said "where's that? college town?" to make it even worse, my boyfriend is going to yale next year... people say congratulations on penn! that's awesome! and then ask where he's going. when they get the response, they sit dumbstruck and say... wow. no one gets in there. he must be such a genius, seriously. oh my gosh... definitely NOT good for my competitive spirit; whoever said love is never jealous is full of crap! i digress... yet somehow, we quakers must put aside our lust for recognition and admiration at every turn... yes, admit it, we all have it, that's why we are so damn successful at the things we do! I am proud to say that I am completely over that bittersweet feeling, and here's how:</p>
<p>1) dont forget that we applied early to penn for a reason. actually, a whole essay's worth. yes, it is a prestigious ivy league school, which is awesome, but there are so many more solid exciting reasons we chose penn over any other school in the country for our early decision check mark. think of those reasons you wrote in your essay. we are going to be in philadelphia, an AWESOME alive town unlike new haven or princeton. we are going to have so many intelligent and fun-loving classmates to chose friends from, unlike at some of the smaller ivies. we are going to be listening to amazing speakers, taking incredible classes, and researching at the top of whatever field we are interested in, just like at any other well known university. yes, penn is prestigious and anyone "in the know," well, KNOWS that... but that little flutter of joy we get when people tell us "wow you are going to penn? you must be a genius!" is NOT the only reason we are proud Quakers. </p>
<p>2) i have realized that it's only for about the next six months that we will even have to deal with the penn/penn state mix up. yes, it seems as though people today are more familiar with the big ten conference than the ivies, and that used to make me skeptical about society's values... but it actually makes a lot of sense, and isn't that disheartening a thing after all... sports are everywhere, and extremely well publicized, but people don't really know about prestigious colleges until they apply and attend. i've found that every college student or graduate i talk to knows about upenn, whether they are going to yale or michigan state. (a positive instance of self-reaffirmation, at a drunken new years bash in michigan over break, i was challenged to a trivia duel and my opponents were thrilled when they "beat the genius" by answering questions before me... if drunk midwestern kids know about penn, who cares about everyone else!! haha...) but for now, we are in high school. why should people who aren't even in the college loop yet be expected to be familiar with it? that's just a little unfair of us, i think... plus, next year we will be a) on the east coast b) in the city c) in college!, so pretty much EVERYONE we run into will be familiar with our lovely school. </p>
<p>3) in the mean time, i have found an excellent way to debunk any possible misconception! instead of being rediculously pretentious and saying "oh yeah, it's the fourth best school in the country, and an ivy, and..." i usually follow the "where are you going to school next year" inquiry with "university of pennsylvania! philadelphia is going to be a big change from california!" or any other philadelphia-related comment. pretty much EVERYONE knows that penn state is not in philly... ALSO i never say penn, always upenn... helps keep penn state confusion at bay. </p>
<p>until we finally set foot on locust walk next year, i say we re-read our "why penn" essays, order a nice pair of sweats from the bookstore, take another look around the website, and remember the real reasons we are so damn excited and proud to be going to penn. it may not be number one is us news and world report, or the first school that people think of when we say penn, but it is NUMBER ONE for us because it is the best fit for us. it is what WE want. not yale, not stanford, not duke, but PENN. dont forget that. i'll end this here, stop procrastinating, and actually do some homework despite my second semester senior status! see you all next year. congratulations on picking a damn fine institution.</p>