Book: U. known for beer, theater

U.S. News and World Report may have put the University at the bottom of the Ivy League ladder, but Princeton Review has dubbed the University one of the best. The "best school-with-an-inferiority complex," that is. Many of the 200 students surveyed for Princeton Review's Student Access Guide to the Best 286 Colleges called the University a "second-tier Ivy League school?" "Everyone knows we're just a safety for people who don't get into Harvard, Yale, or Princeton," one student added. The guide rates colleges not primarily in terms of statistical information, but in terms of how students view their schools. "Most of the guides are facts and figures," said Joel Rubin, the executive director of Princeton Review in New Jersey. "[That is] the key point that makes it different. It's not so much what we think." The guide placed the schools in various general categories, then devoted two pages to each of the schools it rated. In rating the schools overall, the guide lists a variety of categories from "trapped on campus" and "students pair off, go on 'old fashioned' dates," to "great food" and "is it food?" University students secured top spots in a few of the categories. The University placed in "town-gown relationships are bad," which describes the tension between the University and Philadelphia residents. But the University also gained some notice on the extracurricular pages. The University was listed second in the list of college newspapers which get read, and among the best for its theater program. The University's neighbor, Drexel University, placed in the "unhappy students" and "campus is tiny, unsightly, or both" sections. On the two pages devoted solely to the University, the "what's hot" section was home to the newspaper, theater groups, beer and overall satisfaction. The Penn Automated Registration Information System also got a cheer from the survey as students placed registration in the "what's hot" category as well. The high cost of living, large lectures, and town-gown relations are listed in the "what's not" section of the University's pages. And while "student body is diverse" found a place in the "what's hot" section as well, a noteworthy number criticized the University for a lack of diversity. One student wrote that "Penn is one of those places where you are allowed to be yourself?provided that you're just like everyone else!" But what the University may lack in academics, students say, it makes up in social life. According to the guide, "Penn students are certain that they surpass their counterparts at other Ivies in at least one area: social life." One student surveyed described the University as "the social Ivy." Another student explained the University as "the least nerdy of the Ivies."