Downfalls of Penn? Any?

Colleges & Universities University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>Before I start, I’d like to say that I’m already committed to Penn and I absolutely love it! It was by far my number 1 choice, and I was accepted ED. </p>

<p>But, my friend and I were looking at collegereview.com and I was actually startled by the incredible number of people who absolutely hated their Penn experience, citing snobby people, arrogance, pretension, overly harsh curves, poor advising, and crappy teachers as their reasons.</p>

<p>Is there any legitimacy to their claims? I know I can’t change anything now, but I’d like to be prepared realistically.</p>

<p>What things about Penn do you not like? And I know there was a thread in the past, but it was from a long time ago (2+ years)</p>

2

<p>I know many people who love it. There’s always critical people. And who knows how many of those bad reviews are actually people who got rejected from Penn.</p>

3

<p>It is based on fit. It sounds like you have found that fit. Have fun in Philadelphia!</p>

4

<p>Penn ain’t perfect. For me it was a place where, for the first time, it was very obvious who came from “means” and who didn’t. It is very easy to have a rough freshman year experience since most people automatically try to make their best friendships with those people with whom they live. Realistically, that probably isn’t the best idea, and you could come away with a skewed perception of Penn if you hang out exclusively or even mostly with your freshman hall mates. </p>

<p>Academically, Penn has been good in my experience. If you’re looking for easy, this isn’t the place. Curves are only harsh in the survey courses and the weeder courses. If you think you’re going to be a math major, see what you think after MATH114. If you want to do premed, come back after CHEM101 or – gasp – your first Orgo lab. If you are interested in economics, reevaluate after taking ECON001 and ECON002. There are a lot of majors that have interested students who aren’t willing to put in the work to complete upper level courses, so just recognize that if you are one of the people who get weeded out of majors freshman year, that major was probably not good for you anyway.</p>

<p>Advisors are hit-or-miss. Generally ask multiple sources; don’t rely solely on your advisor. I always thought mine was an idiot until I realized that every suggestion he made was spot on, and that meant that a few times I had to swallow my pride and realize that he was right when I was wrong.</p>

<p>As for professors, it is not uncommon to get a professor who just can’t be bothered with an intro class, who has no interest in teaching it and who just wants to do his research or teach his senior seminars. It is also not uncommon to get a professor who is a dynamic lecturer and who could make watching-grass-grow-101 an interesting course.</p>

<p>Penn isn’t a warm and cuddly place. Nobody is there to hold your hand, but there are good systems to make sure that if you fall, you have a safety net. It’s relatively common for people to consider transferring after freshman year (regardless of where you go to school), but it is equally as common for people who decide not to transfer to like Penn as the years go by.</p>

<p>For me personally, Penn was a fine experience. I enjoyed immensely the groups I did; I had experiences I never could have POSSIBLY had otherwise; I met some of my best friends in the world. But I can guarantee that I will never donate to Penn (I would love to donate to my campus groups, fraternity, etc., just never Penn itself), so that should say it all. I like the experiences I had, but I am not thrilled with the institution itself.</p>

5

<p>I’d agree with chrisw that Penn is not a place with a lot of hand-holding. It is not a small, liberal arts college that might have a lot of micro-attention on you. When planning your courses and your four years academically, you do have to be pro-active, and while advisors can definitely help you achieve your goals, you’ll have to know how to ask for that help. With that, I think it’s an important skill to develop to work things out on your own, and I think that’s expected of any student who’s admitted to Penn or another similar institution. (Disclaimer: I am only speaking for Wharton advising)</p>

<p>I wish there were more cohesion between the four schools. There can be a bit of the “Wharton v. rest of the schools” mentality going around, along with hierarchies/stereotypes built around each school. People sometimes like to diss on Wharton, and vice versa. With that, I think Wharton in particular has been integrated with the rest of Penn a lot relative to the past. I also think the “rivalries” between the schools, at least in my experience, end up being more of jokes between students. For example, one of the class boards made Harry Potter themed shirts for each school (Wharton being Slytherin, College being Gryffindor, SEAS being Ravenclaw, and Nursing being Hufflepuff). </p>

<p>In response to chrisw’s post, I personally have only heard of one student ever who was considering transferring out of Penn, and he ended up not (I also think he was misguided in his own ways). In fact, I have met far more transfers into Penn than the other way around.</p>

<p>I think the only people I can think of who have felt negatively about their Penn experience (in regards to academics) are a few friends in Wharton. I think their issue was that business was not necessarily the best choice for them. While I have a wide range of friends in Wharton who do many different things, there honestly is a big finance thing going on at Wharton/Penn, and so some of my friends felt that they didn’t fit in with that. What I’ve also noticed about these same friends, though, is that there were also overbearing parents pressuring them into Wharton. I have also had College friends who felt that Wharton had too much “prominence” over the other schools.</p>

<p>There are snobby and pretentious people everywhere, and probably especially in the Ivy League. I have met them at Penn, but I have also met very down-to-earth and chill people too. It’s a fact of life if you’re going to go to these institutions.</p>

<p>I’m not sure what collegereview.com is? I looked at it and it’s for online colleges lol?</p>

<p>I personally loved my Penn experience and totally support the institution. It’s not perfect obviously, but be prepared for a great next four years!</p>

6

<p>Honestly, in my first semester at Penn, despite the grueling, intense work, it’s been a sweet ride. At NSO (New Student Orientation) and at the beginning of the semester (w/o exams and deadlines), Penn was pretty darn close to paradise.</p>

<p>Once billionaire, I will certainly donate millions to Penn. :slight_smile: I’ve never had so much pride in belonging anywhere or being part of anything all my life. Penn Pride all the way.</p>

<p>Of course, some people will always be negative. The way to happiness at Penn requires common sense. There is a lesser probability of having a bad, uncaring, boring professor at Penn as opposed to plenty of lower-ranking schools. However, they exist. You can avoid them by searching reviews on Penn Student Reviews, on ratemyprofessor.com, and by simply asking around. </p>

<p>Find the brilliant and inspiring profs and enroll in their courses instead. Actually, even if the class is full, show up for the first day and do your best to get in. Play class add/drop for the first week. Shop around for classes. Make your schedule perfect, or nearly perfect.</p>

<p>If you feel people are too snobby, look closely around campus. Sure, there is lots of wealth. This is the Ivy League. However, you’ll always find kids with humble beginnings. I’m one of them. And you will be sure to make fantastically interesting and stimulating friends if you step outside your dorm room. Also, most Penn kids are generally very nice, welcoming, respectful. (Ok, maybe I haven’t been around the real snobbery as I don’t hang that much around Wharton. No offense Whartonites, we love you too, you’re out there to make boatloads of money to later donate back ;-).)</p>

<p>If an advisor is not working for you, you can always find another one that’s more compatible and switch. Isn’t that basic human relations? (However, my personal experience with my appointed advisor has been wonderful. I don’t know what these collegereview peeps are talking about.)</p>

<p>As chrisw said, the only possible downfall of Penn (that I can fathom) is that no one will hold your hand. But that in itself is not a negative… if you’ve been too spoiled, it just gives you a good kick in the pants and gets you ready for the real and competitive world.</p>

<p>On a positive note, as Penn student, you will be cherished by profs and the administration. I adore all the food events Pres. Amy Gutmann hosts and all the respect profs give us for just for being part of the student body.</p>

<p>Daretorun, welcome to Penn, the best place on Earth :-)</p>

<p>(Yes, I’ve been home for 2 days and I miss it already. Actually, I was already missing it when I was pulling my bags down Locust to the airport shuttle. Penn is home. )</p>

7

<p>IceCreamIsYummy, I put the URL wrong, it’s this site: <a href="http://www..com/%5B/url%5D">http://www..com/</a>
Doesn’t look particularly legitimate though, but the reviews came from somewhere.</p>

<p>This has been a great help! At least now I know what to kind of watch out for! :slight_smile: Thank you!</p>

8

<p>I’d agree with what has been said, but I would caution that second semester freshman year is a rough time for a LOT of people… the thrill of first entering college is worn off, it’s COLD and windy outside, and as freshmen you are lowest on the totem pole! Of course, when you’re a sophomore, you get to bask in being a sophomore, when you’re a junior you can look forward to Hey Day and when you’re a senior you have feb club!</p>

<p>Also, over the course of four years and the experience of myself and my friends (including those at other schools), I found that you have a tradeoff between any major research university and a small college (including community colleges). Your intro, survey professors will often be a BIG deal. For example, my professor for Intro to Comparative Politics was one of the writers of the Iraqi constitution, and he is the foremost authority on the politics of Northern Ireland. When he had to teach the most basic survey course possible, he just couldn’t care less, so he told us straight out that he didn’t care whether we came to class or listened to his lectures. He had prepared lectures, which he literally just read off of a sheet. On one of the quizzes, there was a question worth 10% of our total grade that was, “in the movie The Third Man, a character looks strikingly like Brendan O’Leary. What is the name of the actor who played this charater?” </p>

<p>Obviously that is an extreme case, but it is relatively common for professors of survey courses to be the ones who drew the short straw that semester, and they just are not good at teaching introductory courses. On the other side of that coin, once you make it through to sophomore year, you will start taking advanced courses. Many of these courses, especially in the social sciences, will be literally once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, since a professor will want to teach a course on some research he just finished before he starts his next research project, and you will get some fantastic information presented in a fascinating fashion!</p>

<p>The short of that is, don’t get your hopes up about intro courses, but advanced courses are awesome.</p>