Cars

Is it a good idea to bring a car to Penn? Will it be useful? Are freshmen allowed to bring cars?

Cars are definitely unnecessary for the average freshman to have at Penn. Since Penn is located in a city, we have taxis, buses, and a subway (SEPTA). Freshman ARE allowed to have cars at Penn, but most don’t have them because they are impractical and a waste of money (on parking).

Penn is one of the only campuses that has all of its schools (undergrad and grad) on the same campus, which means that everything is walkable. The school spans from 33rd to 41st street and roughly three streets across.

Bikes are incredibly useful if you take classes clear across campus, but cars are harder to deal with. There are no large parking lots near the freshman dorms, so it won’t be any easier to drive to your classes. There also isn’t easy parking options outside of classroom buildings. So, bike or walk.

However, if you are a freshman who will be commuting back and forth between Philadelphia suburbs for whatever reason (athletics, family, etc), having a car may be useful.

Books

Thanks to a friendly reader for this tidbit:

If a visitor sells textbooks to http://www.booksintocash.com, the respective packing slip that is generated will mention if writing or highlighting on any of those books is a concern.

This will definitely help solve any problems students sometimes have with the Penn Bookstore. As I may have mentioned before, I once bought a “new” biology book that had underlined and annotated passages in it. I was pretty annoyed that this book had been SHRINK WRAPPED and sold to be at the price of a new book.

Lessons to learn? The bookstore sometimes lies, and there are usually other (cheaper) sources for books. I’d suggest checking out Amazon and the link above. Even if you originally buy your books from Amazon or another seller, you can still sell back your books to the bookstore at the end of the semester.

Making Friends, part 2

I’ve gone to the same school since 2nd grade, so since I’ve gotten older I’ve never had to start all over again and make new friends. I also hate that awkward first couple of days when you don’t really know people but you’re looking for friendship. What is the best way to make new friends? Should it start before freshmen year on facebook or maybe during preview days?

Facebook really only goes so far. It’s pretty much socially unacceptable to say to someone “Oh hey! I remember you from facebook!” Mostly because it’s awkward if the other person doesn’t.

I would recommend making some facebook friends from people in your area and even going to a meet up if someone plans one. It’ll be nice to see some familiar faces when you reach campus in the fall, but you probably won’t be bff with those people. The first few weeks of school can seem daunting, and knowing some faces/names before you get here might make lessen your fear of the transition.

If you can go to a pre-orientation program, it’s a great place to meet other freshman and have some friends going into NSO (new student orientation). However, if you cannot, have no fear! Your hall-mates will become your fast friends during NSO week. They may not end up as those life-long friends that people come away from college with, but they are certainly useful for getting through the first few weeks of school. You will be going to events with your hall-mates, so you will most likely make plans to eat meals and go to NSO parties with them, too. As the weeks go on, you will meet more students in your classes and through groups that you choose to become a part of.

Just remember, when you arrive on campus looking for friends, you will not be alone. There are 2500 other incoming freshman who know few (if any) people.

Here’s a previous post written about making friends: Making Friends, Part 1

Class size

I am kind of concerned about class sizes at Penn. Is it possible to have most of your classes with about 15-25 students and more focused on discussion if that is what you want? I want to eventually study History or something in the Humanities and i know my upper level classes will be smaller but i would like to find small classes in my freshman and sophomore years as well. Or will i be stuck in lectures of 100 kids until i get into my major classes?

I hate to admit this, but large classes are a rite of passage in college. No matter what subject you are interested in pursuing, there are always going to be some large lectures. Think about it this way: 101 or 100-level courses are for anyone and everyone. Some students take them to fulfill general requirements, and some take them to see if they want to pursue that subject further. Either way, they have to be accessible to a large amount of students because they are intro classes.

As you get further into your studies, your classes will drop in size. However, as a freshman, not all of your classes will be large. Freshman seminars and writing seminars are capped at about 18 students. Even in freshman/sophomore years, you will have the opportunity to take smaller classes. This might just mean taking more obscure/specific classes instead of broader topics classes.

Even if you are enrolled in a large lecture, you will usually have a recitation that is capped at roughly 20 students (depending on the class). Larger humanities lectures have these recitations to allow for more personal/smaller discussion-based groups. This is where you’ll get to know your fellow classmates better and engage in debates and discussions that would otherwise be impossible in a 100 person lecture.

If you are considering being a major, double check with your department if they have major-only intro courses. I know that the chemistry department has a smaller sections for general chemistry and organic chemistry classes so that the majors can enjoy smaller classes in an otherwise popular subject matter (think: premeds).

Don’t be too distraught by the idea of larger lectures. Sometimes you might not want to have a class that you have to do homework for (or even be at) every day. Larger lectures give a little bit of leeway to your schedule– so a nice mix of smaller seminars and larger lectures is actually a good thing.

Class of 2014!

Welcome!

PennFresh is a student blog written to answer any of your questions that you may have about your upcoming four years at Penn.

If you have any questions, you can leave them as comments OR email PennFresh@live.com.

No question is too small, so please ask anything!

Freshman roommates

“So now that I’m already into Penn, do I need to start looking for a roommate, or do most people just do the random roommate thing? I’m from the south and I know a lot of my friends who already know who their roommates are…”

I would recommend putting some feelers out into the freshman 2014 community for a potential roommate. Now that we have Facebook, we have the ability to check out who our classmates are going to be, and you never know who you are going to find. Here are a few things to consider:

1. You might not want to room with your best friend from high school. Going into Penn, it’ll be nice to have some people that you know, however rooming with someone you already know isn’t going to broaden your friend circle. You also don’t want to get tired of your best friend– sometimes living with someone exposes you to their funky habits, and you might not want to risk getting turned off by your long-time friend.

2. If you do go into the housing paired with someone, you will have a better chance of getting better housing. Everyone gets assigned a lottery number, and if you are already paired with someone, you have two opportunities to get a good lotto number. This means that if you are paired with our hypothetical friend Jen, and Jen gets #2000 and you get #7, then you and Jen get slotted seventh.

3. A lot of great roommate pairings come from having a mutual friend. Since living with a totally random person can be kind of scary, having a friend in common assure you that your future roommate won’t be completely incompatible with you. I would ask around your high school friends or camp friends and ask if they know anyone coming to Penn, and if they think they might be interested in meeting up/chatting on Facebook/going on a blind-friend-date. You might meet someone you want to live with– you never know.

College is all about putting yourself out there, so good luck, and enjoy the hunt!

Reputations of sororities.

This is a weird question, but are there really any… undesirable ones? I’m just a nice girl looking to make more friends, more social stuff to partake in… I’ve heard some nasty things about ones at the “top” and some also not-so-nice things about two at the bottom. Is it usually people who only get into the “bottom” ones that end up not accepting bids/dropping out of rush?

You know, this question comes up every year. What are the “good” sororities, and what are the “bad” ones? I would recommend not listening to what you hear around Penn and see for yourself what the sororities are like. They all have a relatively different vibe, so you will probably be able to see yourself in 2 or 3 of them. Everyone has a different idea as to what they desire in a sorority. Don’t believe the “nasty things” you hear about any of the sororities until you meet the girls and see what they are like. If you go into rush with a bad attitude, then you might not get as much out of it as you might otherwise.

Whatever sorority you do join, you will find a group of girls to hang out with and you can be sure that you will be adding more social events to your personal calendars.

My advice is to go into rush with an open mind and see what each sorority is like. Make your decisions independent of what you may have heard through the gossip grape-vine, because reputations can be deceiving. Don’t condemn a sorority unless you have had a truly terrible experience or didn’t click with a bunch of the girls. Don’t base your judgement just off of ONE girl, though, because she is just one of about 100 girls.

Best of luck!

fraternity rush

What about for frats? How do they choose people? Because it’s less formalized do you need a brother to nominate you or will they go through all of the rushes? Is it better to get to know a lot of brothers or 1-2 really well? Can you get a bid from multiple places? Do a lot of rush events overlap?

Fraternity rush definitely is different from sorority rush. Speaking as a girl, this is what I know:

The first two or three nights are “open house” rounds. You will get fliers or see posters/sheets on fraternities advertising what nights they are holding open house (they all overlap) and what goodies they are trying to lure you with (read: free food). You hop between houses that you might be interested in and eat while meeting the brothers. Since the open house nights over lap, you will probably visit a few houses each night.You’ll probably only talk to a few brothers in each house- just make a good impression on them because you want them to remember you and speak in your favor if your name comes up when they are discussing rushes. Most brothers are looking for guys they can hang out easily with- so if you have easy conversation and they could imagine being your friend, you’re probably good to go. Many guys go with a few friends just to see what the houses are like– and even guys who DON’T want to be in fraternities make their way around because of the free food that’s offered.

Anyway, after the open house nights you will (hopefully) be invited to closed events. These are usually a little more special– its like a group man-date. You might be taken out to dinner, or to a fun place on a day trip. This is the woo-ing phase. As the week goes on, fraternities will either keep inviting you back to their closed events or just not ask you back. It’s good to see many houses and keep your options open because you never know what houses you will like and who will like you. You might end up with bids from more than one place- and then it’s up to you to decide.

Good luck!

Getting In

Could you give an estimate of what percentage of girls who rush actually end up in a sorority? My Rho Gamma said that pretty much everyone who wants to be in one gets into one, but that seems too good to be true. Do you hear about people not getting in anywhere?

So your Rho Gamma is actually correct: any girl who wants to be in a sorority will be in one. However, this doesn’t mean that you will necessarily get your first choice. This is why some girls don’t end up in sororities.

Many girls drop out of rush because they don’t get asked back to the sororities that were their top choices. Had they stuck with the process, they would have ended up in a sorority, but instead they chose to withdraw.

The only way that you will not get into a sorority (aside from withdrawing) is if you do not “maximize your options.” Rho Gammas will probably repeat this phrase to you many times. After Open House round, you are asked to rank 6 sororities in the #1 slot, your second to last favorite in the #2 slot and your least favorite as #3. If you really hated a few sororities right off the bat and chose to only rank 4 or 5 of them in the #1 spot, then you have NOT maximized your chances, and may not get into a sorority. This also holds true for the other instances in which you rank sororities (after the other rounds)- if you don’t rank every sorority, you are hurting your chances. The process encourages you to give every sorority the benefit of the doubt and even if you didn’t LOVE it, you will give it another try.

Sometimes you might get asked back to houses that you ranked #2 or #3, meaning you didn’t want to go back to them, while you might not get asked back to houses that you ranked in the #1 slot. This is perfectly normal and sometimes is just the way the system works. After skit round i was asked back to my bottom two options and only two of my #1. I freaked out a little bit, but in the end it worked out for the best and I’m in a sorority I love.

Rush information

Would sororities know your financial aid information, or any deep information about pledges for that matter, as a judgement of whether they’re accepted or not? Or is it just based on your personality/looks/whatever during Rush?

Rush! Excellent.

Sororities do NOT know financial aid information or anything deep about the girls who are rushing. If you look at the sorority manual on the Panhellenic website, it will show you that sororities have minimum GPA requirements (ranging from 2.0-2.7). Sororities won’t know the actual GPA of every girl who rushes, but they will be notified if someone is below the minimum (and only the rush chair will be privy to this information).

Financial information is DEFINITELY NOT released to sororities. That’s your own business- not ours!

Your acceptance into a sorority is based solely on how well you mesh with the girls (NOT looks). Don’t try too hard- just be yourself. If you feel comfortable somewhere, then the girls in the sorority probably feel the same way and want you to be their sister!