How do you explain what Penn is without sounding pretentious?

Colleges & Universities University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>Everyone seems to either think it’s not that great of a school because they haven’t heard of it or associate it with Penn State and Jerry Sandusky.</p>

2

<p>wear this <a href=“http://cdn.theatlanticwire.com/img/upload/2011/11/09/pennshirt.jpg[/url]”>http://cdn.theatlanticwire.com/img/upload/2011/11/09/pennshirt.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>Unfortunately, it’s a common problem. Don’t let it bother you…there are plenty of people who know how great of a school Penn is. I tend to always fit in the words “ivy league” when telling people about Penn. Here in California, most people have limited knowledge about East coast schools. It’s all about Stanford, USC, and UCLA…</p>

4

<p>If they get it wrong, correct them by saying that the school is in Philadelphia not Happy Valley. If they still don’t get it, give up on explanations, it usually takes too much time for too little benefit.</p>

5

<p>LOL some of my friends say that Penn isn’t real ivy league and that it ain’t a good school and that I’ll prolly get in. XD Some people even thought it was a public school.</p>

6

<p>How about fifth best university in the US (US News & World Report) and ninth best in the world (QS World University Rankings)?</p>

<p>Kind of ends the discussion at that point.</p>

<p>If you want to add something, maybe “An Ivy League school for normal people.”</p>