University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania’s mission stems back to its founding in in 1740 by Benjamin Franklin.  Prior to that time, only three universities existed in the US, Harvard, Yale and WIlliam and Mary and all three had the same purpose, to train you men for the seminary.  Franklin had a radical idea.  The purpose of UPenn would be to prepare men to be engaged citizens through practical and experiential learning so that they might enhance their community.  UPenn established the nations’ first medical school, business school, journalism curriculum and psychology clinic.  This impressive history has led to a very career oriented culture with the Wharton School of Business taking the charge in this area. Not surprisingly students from the nursing school are less aggressive.This focus on practicality does not however extend to the inclusion of co-operatives or full-time internships like its neighbor Drexel.  Rather, like it’s fellow Ivy League compatriots, UPenn believes the focus of education should be within the classroom.

Students apply directly to one of the four undergraduate schools, engineering, business, nursing and arts and science.  If you are torn between specializing or attending the college of arts and science, in general the advice is to start out by specializing.  It is often easier to transfer into arts and science than a specialty because of class requirements.  The most popular majors include finance , economics and bioengineering.  UPenn also has several nationally recognized program leaders including anthropology, , management, cognitive and computer science and the Biological Basis of Behavior.

The school is a mid-sized school with 10,000 undergraduates with 6,000 in the college of arts and science “The College”.   Half of all majors are inner disciplinary in nature  so there are not a lot of double majors but students can take classes in all schools, and use all libraries and research facilities.  Lots of flexibility.  Although UPenn does have a pre-professional side to it, at its heart it is a liberal arts university.  All students take classes in arts and sciences.  The undergraduate population is viewed as fluid, taking classes with one another.  The university has distribution requirements which bring students together. 

UPenn is known as the “Social Ivy. It’s for students who are not willing to give up their fun.”  THe school is 30% Greek.  There are over 500 clubs and if you don’t find what you like you can start your own.  The city is also a big part of the social scene providing great restaurants, bars, sporting events and more.  UPenn is very diverse with a 38% minority population.