The University of Pennsylvania

Date: Jun 01 2013
Major: Physics (This Major's Salary over time)
If you are even slightly introverted, don't like drinking, consider yourself primarily an intellectual, or aren't one of those Jewish/Asian kids who mostly interacts with his/her own kind, then you should probably avoid Penn. Social life is dominated by the greek system and alcohol. Some of my hallmates "go out" at least once or twice a week, and not because they particularly want to, but to keep up appearances. Although drinking isn't the only thing to do, it is the only mainstream activity. Everything else is going to be done with a small group of friends—if you are lucky enough to find such a group through extracurriculars.

The student body as a whole isn't quite what I had hoped. I won't generalize by putting an adjective to all ten thousand of us, but I will say that you may have a tough time finding grounded, humble, and mature classmates. And for an ivy-league institution, you may have a surprisingly tough time finding sharp students. By this I don't mean mindless hard workers who manage a 4.0; I mean quick-witted intellectuals, people who aren't afraid to think and discuss. Most intellectual discussions I've been a part of have been painful not only because other students are close-minded, but because they generally just don't care about why the gradient of a function points in the direction of greatest slope, or about why a particular economic model behaves the way it does, or about free-will and artificial intelligence.

I guess most of my discontent comes from Penn's pre-professional culture. If you want to keep your head down, do the work, get your diploma, and get paid, Penn is for you. But I am not that kind of student. I'm here primarily to discover the world and the universe and share that experience with my like-minded peers—peers who I have yet to find and fear that I never will.

But enough about the students, I have better things to say about the rest of the university. For example my professors—never before have I been in an environment where any of my curiosities can be answered by merely asking. They love to help and are so accessible I find it hard to believe they have time to do anything else. One of my professors even holds office hours in his own home! And if that's not enough, the university has a program where you are allowed to take any of your professors out to lunch once per semester. The rest of the staff are wonderful as well; a few of the dining hall ladies even know me by name.