As is the standard, change is afoot at Penn.
Over the summer, construction on several large products has continued. The Annenberg Public Policy Center is nearing completion; DuBois College House has transformed in just four months; the first stages of the Eastward Expansion are underway.
One constant, however, is the high caliber of incoming freshmen. The average SAT score for the Class of 2013 is 2175, up from 2160 for the Class of 2012 (don't worry, sophs, juniors and seniors felt the same way when you topped them). You're as talented as they come, and Penn is lucky to have you here.
While it's tempting to try and maintain those shiny 4.0 GPAs here, we hope that you don't. Penn is about so much more than bell curves and word counts. And we know that everyone's going to be offering you advice the next few days, but here are our quick hits for a great time at Penn.
Explore. In every way possible. Take the strange-but-fun class, join the club you always wanted to join, make sure to hit up a Phillies game, amble around Old City's historical hotspots and West Philadelphia's hipster ones. There are few places in the world with as many intellectual and cultural opportunities as Penn and Philadelphia. Sift through both and find your passions.
Meet new people. Freshmen have the opportunity to meet anybody and everybody in Penn's network. Do so. You never know where you will find your people.
Give back. Take this literally - by working with the Netter Center or Civic House - or take creative liberty with it. You're smart, and you're talented, and you have a lot to offer. Participate in a performance group, work as a peer tutor, or write for these pages and inform your community. This is your paper, and we want to hear from you.
