History Major at Penn?

PennCAS2014
Tue, 22 Aug 2017 22:35:48 +0000

Hmm, some of our posters seem to still be mischaracterizing the Penn experience, perhaps because they were never undergrads here… A final note on interdisciplinary study at Penn from an actual undergrad alum:

A Penn education is about choice! You can go through Penn and have the most interdisciplinary experience available in higher education or you can avoid the multitude of classes, extracurriculars, research centers, assignments, lectures, speakers, professors, etc., as best you can if it’s not your cup of tea. I agree that Penn has done an EXCEPTIONAL job embedding the interdisciplinary experience in its DNA. But it’s also a testament to the strength and variety of a Penn education that one’s individual experience does not have to be characterized by it if one chooses to avoid it. Something can be true of the whole university that is not true of its individual component parts: Penn offers an incomparably interdisciplinary education but it does not lack for individual, traditional disciplinary depth in each of its offerings, all of which its students are permitted to enjoy in the best way they see fit. In fact, that traditional disciplinary depth is what allows those seeking interdisciplinary offerings to get the amazing education they seek without sacrificing the quality of the programs that captured their primary interests.

I know one english major who fulfilled her requirements, completed the major, lived only with other english majors after freshman year, and was involved in english tutoring in West Philadelphia and other English-focused opportunities through the Kelly Writers House and the creative writing professors. Her experience wasn’t devoid of interdisciplinary components (as no education even at a school like Princeton or Columbia in 2017 could possibly be totally devoid of interdisciplinary components) but it was far less interdisciplinary than my education which included classes in the graduate/professional schools, classes specifically designed from an interdisciplinary perspective, classes with professors who hold appointments across schools, research that cut across departments, and living with and taking classes with friends from across the University. And yet, the strength of Penn’s individual departmental education carried her to one of the top English PhD programs in the country where she continues to thrive.

Characterizing it as just “a value add” completely misses the point! Penn is nearly incomparably interdisciplinary and students love to take advantage of that in the ways THEY want. The beauty of a Penn education is that you can make of it what you want. So if you just want to come to Penn because its English department is truly one of the best in the entire world but you don’t care about the interdisciplinary nature of the University or department as a whole, then you absolutely should matriculate because you’ll get an amazing, rigorous, in-depth education in the discipline of your choosing at a school you like for reasons outside of its interdisciplinary strength! However, if the interdisciplinary experience is something you definitely want, you should avoid schools that aren’t as focused on providing interdisciplinary opportunities to their students as you might find that institution too limiting.