Penn seeks to reduce challenges of adjusting to college

For some of Penn's newest and most socioeconomically diverse students - those who often face large hurdles in the college admissions and acclimation process - the transition to university life will hopefully follow a clearly marked path to success.

Beginning last spring, a committee of administrators developed Penn Pathways - a University-wide support system for students from low-income areas, specifically QuestBridge scholars who enter Penn through a specialized admissions process that links low-income students with top colleges and full scholarships.

Associate Provost for Education Andrew Binns said the initiative is designed to make Penn more accessible to as many deserving students as possible.

"This commitment means not just that we must make it easier for students from historically underrepresented groups to attend Penn - we must also offer them the necessary support structures to thrive here," Binns wrote in an e-mail.

Students from low-income backgrounds in college - particularly at high-level universities - may face challenges when presented with the overwhelming amount of academic resources at Penn and relating to their peers from different social classes.

Those hurdles were reflected in a letter to all QuestBridge students posted on the organization's website by co-founder and president Michael McCullough: "Low-income is not synonymous with being poor … [Upper-income students] are sometimes just a bit better connected and informed (usually through others in their circle) about the terrain of higher education and professional life than you probably are."

To help students adjust to campus, Pathways will provide incoming QuestBridge students with a "network of advice and counseling," according to Associate Vice Provost for Equity and Access William Gipson.

"The point is to make sure that these students … are integrated into the advising office resources like any other Penn student," he said.

Pathways' approaches to helping students adjust range from personal greetings on campus from administrators like Gipson to a group meeting with Dean of Admissions Eric Furda.

Gipson explains that Pathways is intended to be a support system - not necessarily a program of planned events.

"What we try to do is to make sure that we are introducing these students to all of the Penn resources at the times that are most helpful to them in their course of study," he said.

Freshman QuestBridge Scholar Amy Aw said Penn has done a good job of welcoming her and her QuestBridge peers.

"If we ever have questions, there's always somewhere where we can find the answers," she said.

Aw said Pathways also provides her and her classmates with an opportunity to give feedback to the administrators which will benefit future incoming students. She added that she and other QuestBridge students plan to form a club on campus and speak at local high schools about the program and Penn.

Gipson credits the Penn Pathways initiative with integrating a commendable and unique group of students into the campus community.

"I'm really excited that we have more hard-working, smart, dedicated students here at Penn because we have the Penn Pathways system," he said.

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