Staying for the afterparty: Pre-frosh get a taste of Fling

After previewing Penn on Friday, a number of visiting high-school seniors stayed on campus for a different kind of preorientation -- Spring Fling.

Tales of the annual festival enticed many potential Quakers to join the about 1,400 visitors reveling in the Quad last weekend, and the experience had varying effects on students' impressions of the University.

On Penn Preview days like Friday, accepted students, many of whom are deciding whether to attend, can come to campus to meet current students and see the University.

The preview and Fling often overlap; students accepted through regular decision must pick a school before May 1, so they have to make any visits in April.

Still, the admissions office also encourages visitors to come at what Dean of Admissions Lee Stetson called "a more balanced time" than during Fling.

But Spring Fling Co-Director and College junior Anna Pearce says that experiencing Fling shows visitors Penn's pride and "a fair dose of college culture."

Visiting students agreed.

"It was just so much going on that I had not expected," high school senior Kerri Cohen said. "I went in with an open mind and was just amazed by it."

Cohen, who attends George W. Hewlett High School in Long Island, N.Y., had planned to participate in Penn Previews but opted to ditch the event for Spring Fling.

"Penn Previews is more informative about school itself," Cohen said. "Going to Fling would give me a better sense of the whole atmosphere at Penn."

Cohen said she came with three other incoming freshmen and met about a dozen more, all of whom she said had a positive experience.

Spring Fling Co-Director Jake Chanin said that Penn students, including SPEC committee members, have told him they visited Fling as high school students and that the experience improved their perceptions of the University.

However, "there is a lot of controversy surrounding Spring Fling," Chanin said. "Unfortunately, a small portion of Penn students do take Fling above and beyond what it should be, and visiting students may see that and be turned off."

Emily Wengeo, a senior at Beachwood High School in Ohio, stayed overnight last Friday and said that although Fling seemed fun, "it looked like there was a lot of alcohol and a lot of disturbances with the police."

Cohen and Wengeo recognized that their experience did not represent a typical Penn weekend, though.

Cohen advised that students who "want to know about the social atmosphere and what Penn's about, other than on paper" should visit Fling, but that those who are not already academically interested in the University should not make Fling their only campus stop.

Staying during another weekend might have allowed Wengeo to learn about usual student life --and to find out that it involves less partying and alcohol, she said.

Though Wengeo said her mother became nervous after hearing about the excesses of Fling, and although Wengeo was slightly intimidated by the surrounding activity, "I just knew to make smart decisions," she said.

Cohen's friend Brett Copell, a senior at the Wheatley School in Long Island, said he would encourage other students to come to Fling, though "they'd probably think [Penn] was more fun than it usually is."

Fling represents "a mixed situation" for admissions officials because although visiting families are exposed to an exciting atmosphere, limited access to the Quadrangle and Wynn Commons poses logistical problems for visitors.

"It evens itself out because it says, 'Hey, Penn has a good time in the spring,'" he said. "It's a challenging time, but it's still a dynamic time."

Cohen said that he expects visitors would come away with a positive impression, though. If accepted students "did go this weekend versus any other weekend, I think they would definitely want to go to Penn," he said.

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