<p>What is the environment at UPenn like? How does the city setting compare with a setting like Stanford’s or Princeton’s. How does its campus compare with these schools’ and Harvard’s.</p>
<p>Also if I wanted to go Pre-Med would I apply to CAS.</p>
<p>Yes, the college matters. Wharton is very selective and picky about your test scores - other programs not as much. SEAS likes to see excellence in Math and Science, like most Engineering schools do…</p>
<p>visit all four schools, if you can, and judge for yourself</p>
<p>personally i think princeton is kinda boring and harvard has its desolate spots (plus consider boston weather)</p>
<p>i like penn’s compact size and organization, plus the fact that college green feels like an oasis in the middle of the city</p>
<p>Definitely visit. I’ve been to Harvard, Princeton, and Penn. They’re great places in their own light.</p>
<p>Penn is a great combination of urban school, with enough green space to make it feel like a really safe campus. In the last ten years the whole surrounding environment has really been upscaled with restaurants, shops and with Penn’s recent land acquisitions there is much more to come.</p>
<p>CAS for premed, yes… OR Vagelos LSM (shamelessly promoting… haha)</p>
<p>I think Penn’s campus is beautiful, and it being in the city has a lot of benefits: transportation, huge malls, museums, symphony, food, food, food, etc.</p>
<p>But of course, comparing campuses is difficult since so much depends on personal taste and aesthetic preference. You really should just try to visit as many colleges as possible to find the right “fit” for you. Good luck!</p>
<p>I loved Penn when I visited. Compared to Princeton and Harvard (haven’t visited Stanford), it’s much more integrated into the city with parts of campus more “college-like”. Personally, I felt a little stifled by Princeton’s campus. Don’t get me wrong, it was gorgeous, but it was very contained and the town surrounding it is too…rural for my tastes.</p>
<p>"i like penn’s compact size and organization, plus the fact that college green feels like an oasis in the middle of the city "</p>
<p>^^ that’s exactly how I felt!</p>
<p>I can speak for Stanford. </p>
<p>If you’re a tourist walking around Stanford looking for things to do on the campus or immediate surrounding area, I wouldn’t be able to recommend many good things. There’s the Cantor Arts Center which is nice, and you can walk the dish and have a scenic view of the lower Peninsula. There’s a ten minute bus-ride to Palo Alto, which pretty much only offers upper-class shopping and dining. I’d imagine as a tourist that places like NYU or Harvard or Berkeley would be much cooler.</p>
<p>Now as a student, it’s certainly nice that everything is pretty much on campus. Parties are at most a 15 minute walk away, classes are centrally located, there are good eating establishments that offer a change of pace from the dining hall (but PA food is limited and overpriced, not like say Berkeley), there are sports facilities, tennis courts, many on-campus jobs, open fields, and a golf course. Think of it as like a full-service resort. SanFran I wish were a bit closer and more accessible, although if you have a car it’s only like a 45 minute drive. It’s a tad bit longer to the nice Santa Cruz beaches. So pretty much those are day or afternoon trips, not something you just go and come back from. During the summer I went to the city almost once a week, but during the school year there’s not as much time. The Stanford Bubble, as we call it, got a bit overbearing for me if I stayed on campus for a few weeks straight, but all it takes is one trip to the mall, SF, Santa Cruz, Tahoe, or Yosemite to cure what ails you. At Stanford, your dorm (at least ones with freshman) will organize many trips like these, and they are all heavily subsidized if not free (Wicked tickets for free, Yosemite for twenty, Tahoe for fifty including lift ticket at Heavenly, Santa Cruz for free). </p>
<p>I think a school like Northwestern has one of the best compromises available between suburban and city. Literally there are suburbs and parks and all on the north side, and Evanston (better than Palo Alto) to the southwest, with downtown Chicago less than an hour away on either the El or metra (and unlike Caltrain, which leaves you a mile south of anything interesting and 4-5 miles away from the Golden Gate area, both those will take you to a pretty central spot in Chicago).</p>
<p>Here’s what I just posted on this subject in another thread:</p>
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<p>Funny…Stanford was always my first choice. I got rejected. After being at Penn, and hearing the above description, I’m really happy I don’t go there. No offense intended, I’ve just become accustomed to a whole different lifestyle than the one Stanford provides.</p>
<p>As a tourist walking around Penn, there basically isn’t anything you can’t do because you’re in a city. And this isn’t like NYC. Philadelphia is really compact and easily navigable. A 10 or 15 minute subway ride from one of the 2 stops directly on Penn’s campus, or one 2 blocks north, and you’re on the other side of Center City at Independence Mall. </p>
<p>As a student, I can’t imagine somewhere that has more on campus than Penn does. 2 CVSs, Fresh Grocer (our supermarket), Gap, Urban Outfitters, American Apparel, Ann Taylor Loft (for those so inclined), Philadelphia Runner, Bank of America, PNC Bank, AT&T store, WaWa, UPS store, multiple hair salons, post office, movie theatre, bars, and COUNTLESS restaurants (just look it up–I literally couldn’t even name them all). Parties are super close, especially if you live off campus. It’s totally walkable, but bikeable as well because of bike lanes along the major streets that run through campus. It’s easy to walk to Center City, but taking the subway is faster (between 5 and 15 minutes depending on how far you want to go). Then, of course, you have everything that Center City has to offer (mentioned in the post above). </p>
<p>Of course, people might want a more idyllic, serene campus experience, for which Stanford is amazing. Penn is still an oasis of a different sort–from the city, and while obviously still very urban, it’s almost like a giant park. </p>
<p>What I think is especially great is that Penn’s setting doesn’t detract from campus life. I have heard that Columbia (and especially NYU, as it doesn’t really have a campus to begin with) suffer because NYC sucks everyone away from campus. I don’t know the extent of the truth in that statement, although if it is true I wouldn’t blame the students. I would run amok in NYC too (as long as my wallet could handle it). Philly offers so much but doesn’t take away from Penn. It adds to it. I think it’s largely a result of its small size compared to New York, for example. And you still can escape the city life in West Philly, which is much more residential and quite cultural and interesting in its own right (not to mention its dangerous reputation is way overblown; once you learn where you should and shouldn’t go, it’s great). </p>
<p>You can also travel cheap to NYC in 2 hours and DC in about 3, I believe. Great for long weekends, holidays away from home, or just a short escape from school. </p>
<p>Penn will offer a much different experience than Stanford or Princeton in terms of lifestyle. One isn’t necessarily better than the other, it simply depends on what you want. And what you want isn’t limited to only one; people could easily thrive in both, but I believe that once you get a taste of what it’s like at Penn it might be hard to go back to a more insulated community like Palo Alto or Princeton.</p>
<p>Perfectly said, CAPA!</p>
<p>Here’s a concern:</p>
<p>Unfortunately visits might not tell a prospective student whether they prefer city or town. Because I don’t think any negative impressions sink in right away. It generally takes a few weeks or months until you realize: oh god, I have to be proactive to get away from this place, or, can’t i just relax for one weekend without my friends wanting to take a taxi to a club (I hear that’s common in Manhattan, not sure about other places). </p>
<p>So what are some ways to figure out beforehand whether an urban or isolated campus is better? </p>
<p>For me, I always figured that if I did more school after undergrad, I’d end up at a city school, so although I had no idea whether city or town would be better I figured why not hedge my bets and get the experience of both?</p>
<p>on visits, try to speak to students about how they spend their free time, and then weigh how much you want to have diversity of options on and off campus</p>