Danielle Fishel will be spending the next four years as a Quaker. The actress who made a name for herself as Topanga on the hit television show Boy Meets World has been accepted into Penn's Class of 2005. Topanga said it has always been her dream to attend an Ivy League school. "Whenever I made out with Ben Savage on the show, I was really thinking about how much I wanted to go to a place like Penn," Topanga said. "I mean, not every superstar actress gets a chance to go to a top 10 school." Dean of Admissions Lee Stetson said that Topanga's presence on campus would give the University some star power. "We have to keep pace with out peer institutions, both academically and socially," Stetson said. "Columbia has jumped out to such a huge lead that we felt a lot of pressure to admit an underachieving actress just to keep up." Some of Topanga's former castmates said she would be a perfect fit at the school. "Topanga was always an excellent student in my class," Mr. Feeny said. "She is truly Ivy League material." Feeny declined to comment on whether he would be moving from his current position to take a job at Penn, as he did when Topanga graduated from high school on the show. Rider Strong, who played Shawn on the show, said Topanga would not have any trouble blending in with the rest of the incoming freshmen. "She's just like everybody else at that school," Strong said. "Except that she's a gorgeous television star. But she really hasn't let it go to her head." Topanga said one of the big reasons she chose Penn over the other Ivies was the addition of the new movie theater on the corner of 40th and Walnut streets. "I heard Robert Redford was coming here, or something like that," she said. "I never got to meet him when I was a superstar actress in Hollywood." Upon hearing the news, Penn students had mixed reactions. "Topanga? Dude, she's hot!" College freshman Justin Collins said. "She's pretty, but I heard she gained like 50 pounds," College freshman Elizabeth Irish said. Other students were upset at the choice, citing the more popular celebrities at other Ivies. "She's the best we could do?" College freshman Matt Bloom said. "We should have chosen someone more A-list, like Jennifer Love Hewitt or that girl from 7th Heaven." Stetson said that although Penn considered other possibilities, Topanga's name was always at the top of the list. "If the Olsen twins had been a little bit older, maybe it would have been them," Stetson said. "But Topanga is a cultural icon for the current generation. She belongs at a world-renowned institution like this one." Topanga said she plans to play an active role on campus when she arrives in the fall. "I want to do stuff like feed the homeless, plant trees and shop at Steve Madden," she said. "I just want to fit in. Is that so much for a superstar actress to ask?" Unlike most of Penn's freshmen, however, Topanga has refused to move into the Quadrangle until the University repairs significant problems with the floor.
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