Four more years?
Though many Penn students end up attending graduate school, few opt to stay on campus for another round of Ivy League education.
Many of Penn's graduate schools have a surprisingly low number of Penn alumni enrolled in their programs.
For example, the School of Design has approximately five returning students in its graduate class of around 200.
PennDesign Director of Admissions Joan Weston attributes this low number to students' desires for a new environment.
"I think students might want to try a new school with a different experience after four years here," Weston said.
Weston also believes that since the School of Design has the same professors teaching in both the graduate and undergraduate departments, students might want to branch out and learn from new professors.
The Graduate School of Education boasts 17 returning students out of its class of 517.
"We are a school that attracts a broad applicant base from a national pool, but we are trying to attract more Penn students," said Tom Kecskemethy, the assistant dean and director of communications for GSE. "We have been inviting juniors and seniors to open houses to get them interested in the program."
The school is also looking into offering a new urban education minor for undergraduates in an effort to increase the appeal of the school.
The Wharton MBA program, which has 35 to 45 Penn grads out of a class of 799, believes that many of the students who return do so because of the caliber of the school.
"Returning students have a very strong attraction for realizing the quality of what we do here, and the MBA experience is very different," said Judith Silverman, the senior associate director of MBA admissions. "If students like the campus and Philadelphia, then it is a great opportunity for them.
For the School of Law, the admission rate for Penn students is higher than the overall admission rate, according to Assistant Dean of Admissions for the Law School Derek Meeker.
Last year, the school accepted 57 Penn grads -- 26 of whom enrolled, which means that they represent around 10 percent of their 257-person class.
"That should dispel the myth that it is harder to get in coming from Penn," Meeker said, adding that a greater number of students from Penn who are accepted decide to enroll as compared with applicants from other undergraduate schools.
He added, "From meeting with those students, it seems that they had such a positive undergraduate experience at Penn and in Philadelphia that they want to stay here, and they seem to have an amazing sense of pride in the school."
For those who decide to remain at Penn after receiving their undergraduate degree, it seems as if the monotony of being on the same campus does not have that much of an effect.
"Moving off campus to Center City helped make this worry a non-issue for me," said Jonathan Macknin, a first-year Penn medical student who also spent his undergraduate years here. "It made me really feel like I was starting at a new school, despite being on the same campus."
However, Macknin did express some apprehension about spending another few years at Penn.
"The one worry I had coming to Penn was being able to draw a clear line between my undergraduate and graduate life," Macknin said.
Macknin stated that he was attracted to the Penn School of Medicine because of its curriculum structure and other research and extracurricular opportunities, as well as the allure of Philadelphia.
Another medical student returning for his education, Timothy Pirolli, share similar feelings with Macknin.
"I desperately wanted a change of scenery, but after getting into Penn, you have to think that location is important, but not the most important," Pirolli said.
Pirolli, who is a graduate associate in Hamilton College House, said that he was excited to move to Center City some time next year.
From Penn To Penn
The number of undergraduates from the Class of 2004 who stayed for graduate school is relatively small.
School of Arts and Sciences - Total class size: 319 - Penn undergrads: 10
Veterinary medicine - Total class size: 114 - Penn undergrads: 8
Annenberg - Total class size: 16 - Penn undergrads: 3
Dental School - Total class size: 116 - Penn undergrads: 3
Law school - Total class size: 257 - Penn undergrads: 26
