CCFanatic

Whats the surrounding feel like (is it loud and hard to study, etc)? I hear about this Locust Walk...what is it? Would you consider Penn's campus to be pretty?

tenebrousfire

just go through this: the penn campus tour, online!

Virtual Tour of Penn's Campus

as far as locust walk is concerned, google images is your friend

locust walk - Google Image Search

dlesk

locust walk is gorgeous

45 Percenter

The only way to get a real feel for Penn's campus is to visit and walk around, preferably with someone who knows his or her way around. And you can't just drive through or by it, as I suspect many who claim not to find it attractive have done. Most of Penn's campus is not accessible to cars--the city streets that surround the campus have been closed off on campus to form lovely walkways, greens, plazas, courtyards, etc.

And as to whether it's loud and hard to study, that really varies in terms of location on campus and time of day. But there are plenty of quiet places on campus, and lots of serious studying gets done by thousands of people. Despite Penn's location only a mile or so from the hustle and bustle of Center City Philly, much of the campus actually has a rather park-like and cloistered appearance and vibe. It really offers the best of both worlds.

andy_g

penn is one of only two college campuses ive ever visited, so i dont have anything to compare it to besides, ironically, penn state main campus. still, i pretty much fell in love. you have old stone buildings and gorgeous courtyards, but if you cross the street you're in a modern city (and just minutes away from the center of the city). i loved the campus, and i dont think many schools of penns caliber offer such a beautiful campus in a big city (except maybe harvard and brown, which ive never seen). as for the noise, i slept in a high rise the two nights i was there so it was all nice and quiet and idk for the rest of the campus

MomofWildChild

It is a very pretty campus, and I completely agree that you can NOT see the campus by car. I've tried that to show people around, and you get a really bad impression. Park it (and make sure you are legally parked....). There are lots of green areas and beautiful buildings, and Franklin Field is a national monument, in my opinion (OK-I'm dating myself, but I DID used to watch the Eagles play there).
The neighborhoods around campus (close by) are also pretty with old row-houses and buildings. The insides of the row houses (student rental housing) aren't so hot, but the streets are pretty.

CCFanatic

ok thanks for the responses

Pizzagirl

I have a soft spot for Penn's campus. I love Locust Walk. I agree with the others; you absolutely cannot judge it by what you see from a car.

megaman123

Locust walk is insanely beautiful, especially right now with spring in full swing.

CCFanatic

how big is it? is it a relatvely small urban campus...i mean there are about 10 000 undergrads so does it ever feel crowded?

wharton4life

From Penn's website:
West Philadelphia campus: 280 acres, 155 buildings (excluding hospital)

From my limited stay there, I only felt it was crowded in between classes (when all the students are traversing Locust Walk.)

harvard1636

I'm a Harvard student, but I'm from Philly and my brother goes to Penn. Personally, I absolutely LOVE Penn's campus (it's my second favorite behind Harvard). The campus isn't necessarily small, but the best thing about it is that Penn's grounds are very defined--you know when you're in random parts of west Philly versus when you're actually on campus, which is awesome because you have a great campus feel even though you're right in one of the best cities in the world (from a biased Philadelphian's view, of course haha). It never feels crowded, I know from experience and my brother's opinions. There are definitely quiet areas--Philly is much different than NYC in terms of noise, not to mention you're on a college campus, so there are lots of places to go. Locust Walk is great, the quad is beautiful, etc. (Can you tell I have a soft spot for Penn? ha)

ilovebagels

Penn's main campus areas are indeed beautiful, and you won't see them in your car.

There are also a lot of scenic "nooks and crannies" of sorts throughout Penn's campus that you might not run into without knowing about them.

There's the Biopond (UPenn - SAS - Department of Biology - Biopond yes, that's in the middle of a city!)

There's also a grass courtyard thing on the roof of Huntsman Hall

There's another great mini-courtyard behind Fisher-Bennett hall

There's a mini-park with a fountain behind Steiny-D that's a nice place to sit.

There might be others, too

Two grand new greenspaces are in the works: Palestra Green (the tennis courts in front of the Palestra will be moved to create a wide-open greenspace) and massive Penn Park (the first move on the postal lands. They will be, doing the opposite of "pave paradise to put in a parking lot"