I was the original poster. I too cringe when an applicant refers to Penn as U Penn during an interview. This post was a a bit of a hint to applicants who would be interviewing. As most of you want to continue calling the school by what you wish, then you will get a small ding during the interview if you are unlucky enough to be assigned to me.
{I have been interviewing for over 20 years (about 450 applicants) so I am pretty current on what Penn is at this point. I also was the chair/coordinator of my group for many years and have met most Admissions Officers.
One of you used Penn’s email address as proof of the schools name. Hint, don;'t be a CS major - that is not how email addresses are assigned so is no proof at all)
this thread is interesting because i referred to the school as Upenn the entire application process and even in my essays, and guess where i go to school now, the university of pennsylvania, so it really cannot be that important.
It seems like many folks in the western part of the US think that Penn is Penn State. There is no confusion on the East coast about Penn. Out here in the west everybody seems to have heard of Wharton and then when you mention it is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania (or Penn), they give you that “I just learned something new” look.
I wasn’t going to get into this discussion until the subject of interviews came up. I am not going to discuss the Penn/ UPenn terminology. I’m not going to discuss Penn State. It’s been done to death. I am going to discuss interviews. I have been interviewing for a long time - about as long (if not longer) than @amanivy. I would never EVER ding a student who called Penn ‘UPenn’. Ask me about Penn’s suburban location? I’m going to mention that. Ask another question that indicates a serious lack of knowledge about the institution that is your first choice? I’m going to mention that and write that I’m disappointed. Call the school UPenn? I’m going to inwardly cringe, I might correct you (but I’ll do it by telling you a funny story), but I am absolutely NOT going to ding you. Admissions will NOT ding you if you call the school UPenn.
To “outsiders,” yes. But you generally won’t hear Penn people (students, alums, etc.) refer to it as “UPenn” among themselves. Within the Penn “family,” it’s always “Penn.”
Everyone is here trying to let people know what the majority of people think when they hear UPenn vs. Penn. I guess if people don’t want to believe it, they can continue to get the silent cringe
45 Percenter, do you have any actual evidence of that claim? I mean, other than your own intuition? (I ask because sociolinguists have found that people are often radically wrong about language use if they rely on their own intuitions about it—and unfortunately, intuitions seem to be all that we’re getting on this thread.)
Let’s see–evidence? My experience as: a former Penn student; a Penn alum for decades; an attendee at MANY Penn alumni and other Penn functions both on and off campus; the parent of a Penn student; a regular reader of Penn publications including The Pennsylvania Gazette (the alumni magazine), Almanac (Penn’s official weekly publication for faculty and staff), Penn Current (a more informal weekly publication for Penn faculty and staff), The Daily Pennsylvanian (Penn’s student newspaper), and many other regular communications from Penn itself and Penn alumni organizations.
Not to mention that other than in the internet domain name, you won’t find the term “UPenn” used anywhere on the Penn web site. You WILL, however, find “Penn” used on virtually every page. And good luck trying to find anything under “Apparel” or “Gifts & Accessories” on the Penn Bookstore web site that says “UPenn” and not “Penn”:
The bottom line is, you won’t. And if “UPenn” were used fairly regularly among members of the Penn “family,” don’t you think they’d sell at least a few items that bore the label “UPenn”?
So it’s definitely not just my own “intuition,” but rather my observations and experience based on decades as a Penn student, alumnus, parent, and volunteer; my interactions with hundreds of Penn alumni, students, faculty, and staff over those decades; and my observation and evaluation of the currently available objective data (e.g., Penn’s web site, administration and student publications including The Daily Pennsylvanian, admissions materials, university and alumni communications, school apparel, gifts and accessories, etc.). In fact, the actual evidence of my “claim,” as you put it, is fairly overwhelming.
And just to clarify, I’m not asserting that members of the Penn “family” NEVER use the term “UPenn” when referring to the school–especially when talking to non-Penn folks–but rather that when referring to it among themselves, it’s almost always “Penn” and not “UPenn.”
^ CORRECTION to the above: I did see ONE women’s shirt on the Penn Bookstore web site with “UPENN” on it. But just one, out of the hundreds of available items. There may be a few others (I didn’t look at every single item), but the overwhelming majority of apparel, gift, and accessory items bear the name “Penn,” and not “UPenn.”
Well, the reason that I ask is that I’m a Penn alum, and I don’t find UPenn all that horrifying. Of course, I was there when the worldwide web was still young, and so the institution may have been pushing the domain name a bit more than they need to now—so perhaps there’s a generational blip in the early to mid-90s?
But once again, pretty much intuitions all around.
I don’t find it “horrifying,” either. I’m just relating that in my personal experience as an involved Penn alum, volunteer, and parent, and based on virtually every primary source available (Penn web site and publications, apparel, etc.), members of the Penn community generally refer to the school among themselves as “Penn,” and not “UPenn.” I don’t know why you keep referring to it as “intuition.” Take a quick look for yourself (all you need to do is skim the headlines or titles):
It’s always “Penn,” and not “UPenn.” And there are, of course, numerous other examples of official and unofficial university and university-affiliated publications and organizations that refer to the school as “Penn,” and not “UPenn.”
Also, I realize that you’re a Penn alum, but you’re a grad school alum. I know from my own experience in graduate school (not at Penn) that grad students don’t generally engage with a school’s core traditions and culture to the same degree that undergrads do, and that continues into their years as alumni. So perhaps that explains why you’re not as aware of the dominance of “Penn” over “UPenn” within the Penn community? Just my own sociolinguistic theory.
The front page of the link you posted has a photo of a young woman wearing a tee shirt that says “UPenn” on it. If the school doesn’t want to be referred to as UPenn, maybe they should mention that to their official bookstore.
It’s not a huge deal, but in my essay, I made sure to use Penn and not UPenn. That being said, if Penn was the type of school to hold using UPenn against a student, it wouldn’t be a school that I want to attend. For God’s sake, a private college counselor told me to use UPenn, and I had to insist that UPenn wasn’t correct. Some people are just misinformed – it’s not a huge deal.
There may be a few others (I didn’t look at every single item), but the overwhelming majority of apparel, gift, and accessory items bear the name “Penn,” and not “UPenn.”