Help with the most difficult transfer decision? (being a "do-gooder" at Penn v Brown)

PennCAS2014
Wed, 27 May 2015 14:16:20 +0000

You seem to have done a lot of thinking/research which is great. I think you may be missing a key aspect of Penn which is that the College of Arts and Sciences is a liberal arts college in the truest sense of the term. Intellectual curiosity abounds in every undergrad school at Penn and that thirst for knowledge is specifically rewarded and facilitated in the College each and every day. If you matriculate to Penn and decide you desperately want to immerse yourself in the humanities and nothing else (which would be a shame), it is definitely possible. You’ll have to take a few distribution requirements but there are so many classes that fulfill each that you can likely find a class that is humanities-esque even when fulfilling non-humanities requirements and you can entirely bypass the whole pre-professional vibe (Anyone else take Ideas in Mathematics and love it? Just me?).

It sounds to me, however, like you might enjoy a truly interdisciplinary education which is where Penn shines. As an econ major you would have access to both undergrad and graduate resources from one of the most successful econ departments in the world (thanks to Penn’s one university policy, all of Penn’s resources/professors/classes/etc. are made available to undergrads). You can also take classes in Wharton (if you choose) to get more specific skills for your future career. But at no point will you feel as though Wharton overshadows Penn econ. At the end of the day they are two distinct programs that benefit from one another by encouraging a profound intellectual cross pollination that is only possible at a place as vibrant and diverse as Penn. The college has all of the benefits of a liberal arts college coupled with the immense resources of an internationally renowned research university. On average, Penn students are probably more pre-professional than their peers, but not by much. Huge numbers of every ivy league graduating class go into business/finance/consulting for a million reasons that have more to do with those industries than the levels of intellectualism at each university.

And as for the liberal arts feel of the school, you may actually find more of the pros you list for Brown are at Penn instead. 95% of classes in the College are taught by Faculty (not grad students-- though the grad students are the future of America’s faculty so they’re pretty great too), which means you are almost always interacting with top scholars in their fields (https://www.college.upenn.edu/prospective/frequently-asked-questions-2). And Penn’s Student/Faculty ratio is 6 to 1 (lower than Brown’s 8 to 1 student to faculty ratio (source: US News & World Report)). Furthermore, US News also states that 68.3 percent of ALL Penn classes have fewer than 20 students (which includes classes in Nursing, Wharton and Engineering which tend to have larger classes since their subjects are often, though not always, less discussion based than College classes. Around 85% of Penn CAS classes have 20 students or fewer according to College specific info sessions offered at Penn). That is compared to Brown’s 69.1% of classes with 20 students or fewer. That would be a small difference even if that accurately reflected the difference between the College and Brown though the scales are tipped deeply in Penn’s favor in terms of class size when the College is considered on its own.

And the research opportunities at Penn are absolutely unparalleled. With so much research conducted at Penn, it is almost impossible to avoid contributing at least a little something to the body of knowledge in your field. But for those interested in research, Penn’s funding and access to opportunities are unmatched.

Finally, as you mentioned, Penn’s transfer community is strong, which can make a huge difference in terms of fitting in. There is a whole advocacy and social organization dedicated entirely to transfer students (https://secure.www.upenn.edu/nso/about-us.html) and Penn’s larger atmosphere means you’ll blend in immediately. Plus starting in the fall means that social groups are still fluid and people aren’t settled into patterns and routines from the previous semester.

Hope this helps a bit-- good luck and congrats on your great accomplishment.