Anonymous wrote:All I can gather is people love it because they think it is an attainable Ivy.

My DC hated. They don't like city schools so it was a non-starter, but they also didn't like the culture. There was nothing about it to make DC think twice about city location (and this wasn't true at other schools).

A lot of kids get there and hate it. Very competitive, rich kids, not very kind.

I went to Yale because at the time I was naive and didn’t know Penn existed. Since graduation, my personal and professional lives have brought me into the orbit of faculty and students. I LOVE Penn and am probably the school’s biggest non-alum cheerleader. Philadelphia is way more vibrant that it was 20 years ago and is so accessible from campus. Penn is big enough that it doesn’t feel claustrophobic by junior year. It’s size also means that there is more space to find your place- a smaller school like Yale has a high percentage of athletes and not a huge depth of other activities, so if you’re not one of the top actors/musicians/singers/athletes/etc., you can end up without access to extracurriculars that might be an important part of your life. Penn also has more social opportunities because of its larger student body, and a history of coeducation that changes campus and alumni culture when compared to places like Yale and Dartmouth. There are great local internship and job opportunities, too.

Penn was one of the pioneers of the concept of ED as many were using it as a backup to the other IVY's in the 1990s. And ED vs regular made a big difference in admit rates. This increased the student profile quite a bit and along with it the status of the school.

So their parents can brag

Anonymous wrote:I went there and love the campus. Philadelphia is a great city. I had excellent professors. Did not take any classes at Wharton.

I went there too, and also loved my time there. But I still am in disbelief that it is a hot school, and now ranked by everyone (not just by the whimsies of USNWR writers) as one of the very best universities. I have friends who are more engaged with Penn, who say that Amy Guttman was a superstar leader and builder. But still, I'm surprised by the rise.

Ironically, for my own kids, they both went in a very different direction, with falling in love with a couple of wonderful SLACs and getting a great education. Different schools work for different kids.

I went there and love the campus. Philadelphia is a great city. I had excellent professors. Did not take any classes at Wharton.

Wharton. Baby MBA.

It tends to have a reputation as a school for professionals - finance, engineering, pre-med etc. And that's very appealing to a lot of students. It's an old school. It's prestigious. It has the Ivy brand. For most of the past twenty years, Philadelphia and the neighborhood around Penn have been fine places to live. It has a very good alumni network. And it's a school where applying ED does make a difference.

However, it is really, really difficult to get into Penn from the DMV. Penn is just up the road. And anyone from here is also competing with the NY kids for spots. And New York City rolls very differently than Bethesda, Arlington, and upper NW.

Not sure either. My kid is there. It was first choice. Smart and laid back. Says there are some very, very intense people, but that was true in HS as well. Very, very happy so far (freshman).

Anonymous wrote:I was born and raised just outside of Philly.
Why is Penn so popular in the DMV? (see ED thread where it is probably the most popular answer).
Why Penn over all of the other top 20 schools? I find this so curious and I'd love to understand more!

No more popular than other good schools

All I can gather is people love it because they think it is an attainable Ivy.

My DC hated. They don't like city schools so it was a non-starter, but they also didn't like the culture. There was nothing about it to make DC think twice about city location (and this wasn't true at other schools).

Closest Ivy to DMV

No idea. I think it’s on trend right now

Many ambitious kids want to do business and make $$, and it’s hard to find an option better than Wharton for that.

I was born and raised just outside of Philly.
Why is Penn so popular in the DMV? (see ED thread where it is probably the most popular answer).
Why Penn over all of the other top 20 schools? I find this so curious and I'd love to understand more!