Thoughts on UPenn?

[Anonymous]

My DD is interested in Penn. Wondering if anyone who has students there or recently had a child graduate can give any info on how competitive the atmosphere is among students as well as what the social is like. TIA.

[Anonymous]

It’s competitive. It’s a fantastic place for the right kind of kid - the kind of kid who believes competition lifts all ships rather than the kind who melts down over it. There’s a serious competition for As in almost every class bc almost every kid there has never seen lower than an A in life and now they’re someplace where only 20-30% in every class can get an A. Though ppl who are able to let go on that thrive - as they realize even a B (which is very easy to get in most classes) at Penn is not gonna hinder your chances.

Social scene is fun and whatever you want it to be - Greek scene to playing scrabble in your dorm, it’s all available.

[Anonymous]

Penn's has earned a reputation as a pressure cooker environment more than any other college or university with which I am familiar. Years ago, the head of counseling at U Penn committed suicide after moving to Penn from a similar position at Cornell University.

[Anonymous]

Jeff deleted another Penn thread so you won’t get true responses

[Anonymous]

Penn alum from ~10 years ago here. It’s an intensely cutthroat, competitive place. Very pre-professional; little to no learning for the sake of learning. Studying and going to class was rarely for the sake of learning new material but instead to boost your GPA for corporate recruiting or med/law school. Socially very stratified, with a large emphasis on “work hard play hard.”

I was miserable and would’ve been much happier at Brown or a SLAC. For a competitive, intense, and pre-professional kid, it’s a great place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Penn alum from ~10 years ago here. It’s an intensely cutthroat, competitive place. Very pre-professional; little to no learning for the sake of learning. Studying and going to class was rarely for the sake of learning new material but instead to boost your GPA for corporate recruiting or med/law school. Socially very stratified, with a large emphasis on “work hard play hard.”

I was miserable and would’ve been much happier at Brown or a SLAC. For a competitive, intense, and pre-professional kid, it’s a great place.

Penn alum also - more like 20 yrs ago and the alum above says it best. It’s a great school for the right kid. But don’t target Penn for your kid if they’re not the right type simply bc it’s an Ivy; at best they’ll hate it, at worst it’ll cause mental health issues.

I was there for a span of time where suicides were a non stop problem. The school was hiring all kinds of counselors etc but from what I understand, the culture didn’t change. So when we say pressure cooker - we aren’t kidding.

[Anonymous]

It’s full of tri state/long island, Miami, and philly strivers

A toxic stew of jealousy, envy, greed and avarice

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s full of tri state/long island, Miami, and philly strivers

A toxic stew of jealousy, envy, greed and avarice

Do you work in U Penn admissions ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s full of tri state/long island, Miami, and philly strivers

A toxic stew of jealousy, envy, greed and avarice

Do you work in U Penn admissions ?

Or did you lift this directly from Penn's admission brochures ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Penn alum from ~10 years ago here. It’s an intensely cutthroat, competitive place. Very pre-professional; little to no learning for the sake of learning. Studying and going to class was rarely for the sake of learning new material but instead to boost your GPA for corporate recruiting or med/law school. Socially very stratified, with a large emphasis on “work hard play hard.”

I was miserable and would’ve been much happier at Brown or a SLAC. For a competitive, intense, and pre-professional kid, it’s a great place.

It’s a trade school not a university

If nyc white collar firms hired directly from high school for apprenticeships, no one would attend Penn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn alum from ~10 years ago here. It’s an intensely cutthroat, competitive place. Very pre-professional; little to no learning for the sake of learning. Studying and going to class was rarely for the sake of learning new material but instead to boost your GPA for corporate recruiting or med/law school. Socially very stratified, with a large emphasis on “work hard play hard.”

I was miserable and would’ve been much happier at Brown or a SLAC. For a competitive, intense, and pre-professional kid, it’s a great place.

Penn alum also - more like 20 yrs ago and the alum above says it best. It’s a great school for the right kid. But don’t target Penn for your kid if they’re not the right type simply bc it’s an Ivy; at best they’ll hate it, at worst it’ll cause mental health issues.

I was there for a span of time where suicides were a non stop problem. The school was hiring all kinds of counselors etc but from what I understand, the culture didn’t change. So when we say pressure cooker - we aren’t kidding.

Any kid who is suicidal or has depression/anxiety due to being at an Ivy is just lacking grit. People who are truly resilient and have perseverance and grit would NOT let something as superficial as “campus culture” affect their mental health. Mentally healthy people don’t automatically become depressed or anxious just by being in a pressure cooker environment — claiming that is just infantilizing young adults.

FYI, the most important factor to beating anxiety is exposure. An anxious kid in particular would benefit from Penn, because then they’d have exposure (and thus cure their anxiety) to anxiety and would learn to pick themselves back up after failure (which would be inevitable at a place like Penn). Going to a nurturing school like Brown or a SLAC would just intensify their anxiety. Anxious kids NEED repeated exposure to failure, and that’s best replicated through environments like Penn.

And suicide is never the school’s fault — it’s always the students’ fault. Saying anything else takes away agency from students.

Might be the worst and most inaccurate post ever made on this website.

[Anonymous]

^I have no idea as Penn didn’t train me to be a mental health professional. I’m the alum from 20 yrs ago. I loved my time there, would do it again in a heart beat but I also enjoy/do better with competition so the school was the right place for me. I’m just telling you how it was/is. YMMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^I have no idea as Penn didn’t train me to be a mental health professional. I’m the alum from 20 yrs ago. I loved my time there, would do it again in a heart beat but I also enjoy/do better with competition so the school was the right place for me. I’m just telling you how it was/is. YMMV.

Responding to 13:31 obviously - not the other PPs.

[Anonymous]

I think Penn is pretty middling top school outside of its crown jewel Wharton

[Anonymous]

Obviously it's worth it for Wharton, even if your child doesn't want to end up on Wall Street; just having the name on the resume opens doors even years down the road.

For the rest, eh I'm not sure. SEAS - fine engineering program but there are stronger ones in the ivys and outside the ivys. SAS - it's fine but why deal with the competition and the curve when you could get your history or sociology degree at another ivy? For pre med - absolutely not. Unless your kid is an absolute star (which is hard to know about a HS kid bc everyone is the star of their HS) I would not consider sending them to Penn for bio/chem with a goal of med school as they can easily end up as B students on that grading curve and there go the shots of med school, while other kids are able to grab acceptances with their straight As from flagship state u.