Pennster, thefacebook prove popular among incoming freshmen

Across the country, a new crop of Penn freshmen are busy perusing the aisles of Linens 'n Things for dorm room necessities, trying to avoid the dreaded 9 a.m. classes during pre-registration, and monitoring their future roommates -- from their computer screens.

With the advent of online programs designed to introduce peers sans face-to-face interaction, Penn's Class of 2008 has a new ritual to add to their list of pre-college activities -- getting to know their new classmates over the Internet.

"You're meeting people who could possibly be your best friend before you even set foot on campus," incoming College freshman Amanda Stackman said of her experiences with thefacebook.com, an online student directory that was launched in February 2004 by several Harvard students.

Now host to 37 schools, the Web site was made accessible to the Penn Class of 2008 as soon as they set up their e-mail accounts. Over 6,000 freshman from various universities are currently signed up on the facebook.com, with Penn students accounting for 474 of those.

Though Stackman raved about the virtues of thefacebook, saying she favored it over the more Penn-specific, pre-frosh Web site Pennster, thefacebook.com founder Chris Hughes said that incoming freshmen should not view the database as a panacea for their pre-college woes.

"I have a feeling that incoming first-years aren't using thefacebook.com to build really strong friendships before getting to school in September," said the Harvard junior, who collaborated with four friends to create the Web site.

Hughes acknowledged that thefacebook.com may "alleviate [anxieties] to some degree," but stressed that the Web site is most suitable for finding "a wealth of information" about a member of the student body, or just for experiencing the classic college pastime of procrastination.

But even if thefacebook.com is merely providing a superficial security blanket that is destined to be flung off of the Class of 2008 upon their arrival to Philadelphia, the incoming students themselves don't really seem to care.

"It makes you feel a little more comfortable, I think," incoming College freshman Brittany Bonnette said of her time spent on thefacebook.com and Pennster. "It really eased a lot of my anxieties."

With live chat rooms, hall-based bulletin boards and weekly polls, Pennster may be creating some more substantial peer connections than thefacebook.com, since the former is limited to the newest batch of Quakers and was created for the sole purpose of uniting incoming Penn freshmen.

"It's honestly bringing people closer together," New Student Orientation Coordinator Troy Majnerick said of the Web site. Pennster currently has 1,526 registered members, representing all 50 states and 67 foreign countries.

"It actually makes the world seem a lot smaller for these students," Majnerick said, citing the organization of student-created regional freshman outings scheduled for July -- and publicized through Pennster -- as an example of bonds that are already beginning to form.

With 343 College house staff members -- including residential advisers, graduate associates and the Peers Helping Incoming New Students group -- currently interacting with the incoming students online, Pennster is attempting to acquaint the Class of 2008 with the intricacies of Penn before they set foot on campus.

"I think it just makes it a lot easier for when you get here to make sure its not all brand-new," Majnerick said, adding that one of his main goals is to "ease the transition" for students and get "all of the awkwardness out of the way."

Incoming College freshman Amanda Feldman is proof that Majnerick's goal has been realized for at least one member of the Class of 2008.

"Pennster has definitely helped me to be less nervous," she said.

"Now I know people are going through the same things I am."

For Majnerick, Faculty Director of College Houses and Academic Services Phil Nichols, and Program Coordinator and Web applications Director for College House Computing Mike LaMonaca, May 28 --the first day that Pennster went live --was the end result of a year of brainstorming.

"I was inspired by the popularity of other peer networking sites such as Friendster and MySpace," LaMonaca said. After a six-week code-writing effort by LaMonaca, Pennster debuted to an extremely positive reaction that even LaMonaca said he had not anticipated.

"We were astonished by how excited the freshmen were about Pennster and in meeting their new neighbors," LaMonaca said.

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