r/UPenn • u/matchatiramisu1 • 5d ago
Social Penn students, what has your experience been like?
Hi everyone,
I’ve been considering ED to Penn CAS, but I’ve been really concerned about the pre-professional culture, cutthroat/hyper-competitive environment, and the cold, harsh winters.
Do you guys feel like this plays a big part of your everyday life on campus? How is the social life?
I want a collaborative environment. Genuine, nice people. Good food. Warm, sunny days. Is that there in Philly? For context, I’m from the south.
Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks!
2
1
1
1
u/unrelenting_dinosaur 3d ago
I feel like people make the cutthroat aspect seem ten times worse than it is. It’s definitely pre-prof and competitive, they don’t lie about that, but at easy for me it’s a sort of group motivation thing. Although I’ve heard one or two stories of sabotaging someone’s interview it’s never been that serious and there’s always been immediate consequences. There’s always an activity going on but if you don’t take advantage of it then it’s on you. Making friends is easy during NSO but gets harder when you need to lock in for your first exams. It’s only warm until like September. October it starts getting cold though how cold or how early depends on the year. There’s definitely winters. You need to be realistic with yourself. Unless you can realistically compromise this might not be the place for you.
Seriously you have NO IDEA how much weather can affect your mood habits and productivity so I’d put extra emphasis on that one. I will say, being from FL, I got used to the cold somewhat, but winter is still winter.
3
u/aquiira 2d ago
Current junior in CAS, I'm also from the south! The winters here (November-March) SUCK as someone who is used to warm weather. It rains like every 2 weeks. The weather is definitely not ideal but I wouldn't say that is a major factor unless your mood heavily depends on it.
To be completely honest, all of the preferences you talked about (collaborative, genuine people, good food, sunny days) are not how I would describe Penn. Pre-prof culture is real and it's easy to get caught up in it, but I've also met lots of really nice and chill people. Social scene is really up to you and who you choose to surround yourself with. Imo, people are willing to help each other out if you ask and I haven't seen much competitive/sabotaging in my classes.
Social life is like preppy elite east coast vibes but that's lowk all of the ivies. If you didn't grow up surrounded by this, it can be a bit of a culture shock.
That being said, academics here are great and I've mostly really enjoyed my time here. Lmk if you have any other questions and I'd be happy to help:)