Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Back to School
So the summer is over again, and its time to start the year up again. Truthfully, I still get some butterflies at this time of the year. Theres nothing to be nervous about, but I can't help myself. I am also OCD when it comes to picking classes. The online course selection has a lot of information, but it's not well streamlined or easy to search. So I spend hours poring of options, class ratings, and trying to find out what will be best in terms of what is interesting, what I need to take, and making sure I don't make it to hard. It would be a HUGE help would be if Penn would post all their course syllabi up in advance- only a few are available and they are in scattered locations. You need them to make sure that you're not creating a perfect storm for yourself- in my case, not taking multiple classes with research papers due at the end of the semester.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
C'mon
It's been almost 2 weeks since I put this thing up, and still no comments. Disappointing. And I know that you guys are reading it because I can see the hits. Step it up!
Really, I'd appreciate some comments, anything, to help me procrastinate for finals. I don't have much to blog about, I've been seeing the same people in the same chairs in the basement of the library for days now. Mark's cafe (the lousy starbucks imitator that serves the library) is the source of all my meals, and suddenly all of my friends developed a smoking habit.
One cool thing is that my Turkish class (I'm studying Turkish and will be going abroad to Istanbul next spring) is going out to eat together to celebrate that end of finals at a Turkish restaurant downtown. The language teachers at Penn have been, in my experience, absolutely wonderful. Since the language department doesn't do much research, all the teachers are especially dedicated to teaching, and are far superior to anything you would have encountered in public school. I definitely recommend challenging yourself and taking a non-traditional language here for your requirement- you meet the most interesting people.
Really, I'd appreciate some comments, anything, to help me procrastinate for finals. I don't have much to blog about, I've been seeing the same people in the same chairs in the basement of the library for days now. Mark's cafe (the lousy starbucks imitator that serves the library) is the source of all my meals, and suddenly all of my friends developed a smoking habit.
One cool thing is that my Turkish class (I'm studying Turkish and will be going abroad to Istanbul next spring) is going out to eat together to celebrate that end of finals at a Turkish restaurant downtown. The language teachers at Penn have been, in my experience, absolutely wonderful. Since the language department doesn't do much research, all the teachers are especially dedicated to teaching, and are far superior to anything you would have encountered in public school. I definitely recommend challenging yourself and taking a non-traditional language here for your requirement- you meet the most interesting people.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
What You Need To Know
I want to address a few questions that I know people have- but things that you wouldn't normally ask:
First Question: Will Penn be too hard? I was the shit in high school, but I am now going to be just average?
Answer: No. Sure, you'll meet some of the most brilliant people at Penn. But Penn still has the classic breakdown of dumb jocks, kids who shouldn't be here but have connections, slackers, and nonstop crazy partyers. What still counts is your work ethic and study habits. If you write your paper in advance 9 times out of 10 you'll beat the guy writing his paper the night before, and its shocking how many people don't realize that. But most important is which classes you take. If you want to get high grades and not work too hard, simply take easier classes (check Penn Course Review). Don't take classes at bad times (i.e. at 9 o'clock), and then when you get the hang of things take harder classes that interest you.
Second Question: Is Penn safe?
Answer: Yes. Sure, shit happens here all the time. Its a city. But do you not go to New York because its famous for mugging? No, that'd be redic. If you use common sense- i.e. don't walk alone is shady areas at 2 am, you'll be fine. I've never felt unsafe at Penn.
Third Question: Will I have fun? Like I'm going to Penn because its a good school, but won't I miss out on the huge state parties?
First, you will have fun. Penn knows how to throw down. We're clearly the coolest of the Ivies- when people Princeton Review says "social Ivy" they're saying coolest in an educated manner. This is as smart as it gets with normal people. Will you have more fun at a state school? Maybe. But the state schools won't have the clubbing and bars like Philly (big frat parties are only fun for so long).
For Guys: Okay, this isnt Arizona State. The girls aren't knockouts. But they look good when the sun comes out, and they sure as hell are the Ivy League's finest- you'll see what I mean when you visit your buddy over break at Harvard. And guess what- at Arizona State all the guys are 6 foot and jacked. Your babyface won't be getting you anywhere. But at Penn, you'll be a badass, and in 4 years your diploma will be worth a whole lot more.
Girls: Unfortunately, not every guy looks as good as me....but you've really got it made. If you're good-looking now, when you get to Penn you'll be gorgeous. Plus, your surrounded by guys who are either rich now or will be in 4 years. Of course, what we really care about is personality and smarts- and since Penn has the smartest people who still have good personalities, its a slam dunk.
- I'm out
First Question: Will Penn be too hard? I was the shit in high school, but I am now going to be just average?
Answer: No. Sure, you'll meet some of the most brilliant people at Penn. But Penn still has the classic breakdown of dumb jocks, kids who shouldn't be here but have connections, slackers, and nonstop crazy partyers. What still counts is your work ethic and study habits. If you write your paper in advance 9 times out of 10 you'll beat the guy writing his paper the night before, and its shocking how many people don't realize that. But most important is which classes you take. If you want to get high grades and not work too hard, simply take easier classes (check Penn Course Review). Don't take classes at bad times (i.e. at 9 o'clock), and then when you get the hang of things take harder classes that interest you.
Second Question: Is Penn safe?
Answer: Yes. Sure, shit happens here all the time. Its a city. But do you not go to New York because its famous for mugging? No, that'd be redic. If you use common sense- i.e. don't walk alone is shady areas at 2 am, you'll be fine. I've never felt unsafe at Penn.
Third Question: Will I have fun? Like I'm going to Penn because its a good school, but won't I miss out on the huge state parties?
First, you will have fun. Penn knows how to throw down. We're clearly the coolest of the Ivies- when people Princeton Review says "social Ivy" they're saying coolest in an educated manner. This is as smart as it gets with normal people. Will you have more fun at a state school? Maybe. But the state schools won't have the clubbing and bars like Philly (big frat parties are only fun for so long).
For Guys: Okay, this isnt Arizona State. The girls aren't knockouts. But they look good when the sun comes out, and they sure as hell are the Ivy League's finest- you'll see what I mean when you visit your buddy over break at Harvard. And guess what- at Arizona State all the guys are 6 foot and jacked. Your babyface won't be getting you anywhere. But at Penn, you'll be a badass, and in 4 years your diploma will be worth a whole lot more.
Girls: Unfortunately, not every guy looks as good as me....but you've really got it made. If you're good-looking now, when you get to Penn you'll be gorgeous. Plus, your surrounded by guys who are either rich now or will be in 4 years. Of course, what we really care about is personality and smarts- and since Penn has the smartest people who still have good personalities, its a slam dunk.
- I'm out
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
First Post
First, congratulations to the class of '11. I remember when I got my acceptance letter from Penn. I felt like I was walking on air- as I'm sure all of you guys feel now.
To wet your appetite for what will be one of the best years of your life, I'm going to give my own virtual tour of freshman year.
First, you'll arrive a week before everyone else. Traffic will be terrible, it will be hot, and you'll be nervous. If you're from a jewish family like me, then the 'rents will be driving you nuts with all sorts of tension and dysfunction. My mom actually brought a bag full of mail with her to move-in day, asserting that there would be down time and she needed to pay her bills. At the same time, everything that goes wrong is exacerbated by the fact that school is about to start, and you're anxious and self-conscious.
But then mom and dad leave, and what we call NSO starts- New Student Orientation. It'll be one of the most fun experiences of your life- no lie. Some schools have their orientation randomly during the summer (like UMich) but Penn has it right at the beginning of school (this makes more sense if you ask me).
Everyone is friendly since there are no cliques yet- try to meet as many people as possible. You'll likely meet your new best friends right away- your hallmates (this sounds corny, but it's almost always true). Penn really takes care of you during NSO (40 g's do go a long way). You'll have events constantly. If you are overwhelmed and don't want to go to all of them, don't worry- nobody is grading you. The only really mandatory thing is a little class on your assigned book, I actually came late and went to the wrong one. Our book was Ben Franklin's autobiography, which I hadn't read. I quickly got cocky and tried to answer a question- I started off by saying that well, "since he's a quaker...." Well it turns out that he wasn't a quaker. But no worries, its really doesn't count for anything. You'll also have tours of Philly with your hall (don't hate philly, almost all students are pleasantly surprised by what the city has to offer) and finally meet your peer adviser who will give you a tour of campus. You probably won't ever see your peer adviser again (but if you're me, you might awkwardly run into them at a party a year later, and they might awkardly hit on you).
Thats during the daytime. At night, the fraternities really go all out. Fraternities will open themselves up to almost the entire campus with nonstop parties at the end of NSO. Going out with my new hallmates to these parties was one of my best memories. You skip from place to place, have no clue where you're going, and just have a great time. Theres no pressure, you just go around and mingle and run into people. Most importantly, you can have fun because you still have no work.
If fraternities aren't your thing, Penn offers official parties also, which are honestly tons of fun. Don't get cocky and think that you're too cool for these events, everyone goes to them and I'm not just saying that because I'm writing this blog for the university.
First, there's a toga party in the archeology museum thats always well attended. Another day there's a huge tent set up for food and mingling after convocation (the formal welcoming of your class to Penn). But most fun for me was the art museum party. As everyone knows, Philly has a huge, world-class art museum that's best known for being in the movie Rocky. Penn literally rents out the museum and throws a big party at night, which everyone goes to. Afterwards there is food, music, and dancing. If you haven't ran into everyone by now that you knew before school was going to be in your class, you'll meet them there. Also, the view of the city from there is gorgeous- definitely bring your camera.
By the time NSO is over, you won't be able to believe that it was only a week- it'll feel like at least a month. In reality, school won't start in full for another few weeks- the first two weeks of class are almost always easy with little work since people are still adding and dropping classes.
Get excited. Get butterflies. As soon as NSO begins, you'll be sure that you picked the right school.
To wet your appetite for what will be one of the best years of your life, I'm going to give my own virtual tour of freshman year.
First, you'll arrive a week before everyone else. Traffic will be terrible, it will be hot, and you'll be nervous. If you're from a jewish family like me, then the 'rents will be driving you nuts with all sorts of tension and dysfunction. My mom actually brought a bag full of mail with her to move-in day, asserting that there would be down time and she needed to pay her bills. At the same time, everything that goes wrong is exacerbated by the fact that school is about to start, and you're anxious and self-conscious.
But then mom and dad leave, and what we call NSO starts- New Student Orientation. It'll be one of the most fun experiences of your life- no lie. Some schools have their orientation randomly during the summer (like UMich) but Penn has it right at the beginning of school (this makes more sense if you ask me).
Everyone is friendly since there are no cliques yet- try to meet as many people as possible. You'll likely meet your new best friends right away- your hallmates (this sounds corny, but it's almost always true). Penn really takes care of you during NSO (40 g's do go a long way). You'll have events constantly. If you are overwhelmed and don't want to go to all of them, don't worry- nobody is grading you. The only really mandatory thing is a little class on your assigned book, I actually came late and went to the wrong one. Our book was Ben Franklin's autobiography, which I hadn't read. I quickly got cocky and tried to answer a question- I started off by saying that well, "since he's a quaker...." Well it turns out that he wasn't a quaker. But no worries, its really doesn't count for anything. You'll also have tours of Philly with your hall (don't hate philly, almost all students are pleasantly surprised by what the city has to offer) and finally meet your peer adviser who will give you a tour of campus. You probably won't ever see your peer adviser again (but if you're me, you might awkwardly run into them at a party a year later, and they might awkardly hit on you).
Thats during the daytime. At night, the fraternities really go all out. Fraternities will open themselves up to almost the entire campus with nonstop parties at the end of NSO. Going out with my new hallmates to these parties was one of my best memories. You skip from place to place, have no clue where you're going, and just have a great time. Theres no pressure, you just go around and mingle and run into people. Most importantly, you can have fun because you still have no work.
If fraternities aren't your thing, Penn offers official parties also, which are honestly tons of fun. Don't get cocky and think that you're too cool for these events, everyone goes to them and I'm not just saying that because I'm writing this blog for the university.
First, there's a toga party in the archeology museum thats always well attended. Another day there's a huge tent set up for food and mingling after convocation (the formal welcoming of your class to Penn). But most fun for me was the art museum party. As everyone knows, Philly has a huge, world-class art museum that's best known for being in the movie Rocky. Penn literally rents out the museum and throws a big party at night, which everyone goes to. Afterwards there is food, music, and dancing. If you haven't ran into everyone by now that you knew before school was going to be in your class, you'll meet them there. Also, the view of the city from there is gorgeous- definitely bring your camera.
By the time NSO is over, you won't be able to believe that it was only a week- it'll feel like at least a month. In reality, school won't start in full for another few weeks- the first two weeks of class are almost always easy with little work since people are still adding and dropping classes.
Get excited. Get butterflies. As soon as NSO begins, you'll be sure that you picked the right school.
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