As the student newspaper, The Daily Pennsylvanian captures what Penn students keep writing about. Year after year, author after author, certain lessons learned from the Penn experience reappear. From these, we can deduce where Penn fails and succeeds, but more importantly, what its students think newcomers should know.
1. Penn is different from whatever you’re picturing.
As 2017 College graduate Alec Ward wrote, Penn is much more complex than the idea many students arrive with. For many, it’s the pinnacle of diverse academic excellence: images of mahogany libraries, stone archways, and debates in tweed blazers. For others, it’s job offers from every top firm by sophomore year and late nights with future CEOs. Ward suggests dropping whatever notion you’ve created in your mind, as the real Penn is much different from admissions brochures or your own curated fantasies.
2. You, and everyone else, “deserve” it.
As College sophomore Marie Dillard observed, feeling out of place at Penn isn’t uncommon. Being at Penn can feel alienating when surrounded by the ever-present wealth and privilege that depict what students should wear, say, and do. What can we learn from Dillard? There is no one way — one person — that belongs at Penn. Penn students might feel pressure to look or be like the “right” kind of student. Whether you’re a legacy, a QuestBridge scholar, a future consultant, or somewhere in between, Penn admitted you for a reason. Spending time obsessing over who truly “deserves” to be here assumes, and more importantly, affirms, there’s only one mold to fit — which is not only a waste of time, but wholly untrue.
3. Most classes won’t change your life.
Guest columnist and 2019 College graduate Celeste Marcus critiqued Penn Students’ obsession with instant gratification and taking classes merely for a resume boost. It’s true, even Ivy League classrooms aren’t immune to careerism. If anything, they’re created for it. You can’t expect every class at Penn to be deep, meaningful, or life-altering. But you shouldn’t shy away from taking “useless” classes outside of your major. You might learn something — or not. Either way, the goal is to keep learning without expecting anything in return.
4. The first people you meet don’t have to be the only ones.
2020 College graduate Elias Rappaport emphasized the importance of saying “yes” in your first few months at Penn. First-year students are presented with, as Rappaport described, “a daunting hallway of unmarked doors.” These doors are opportunities, many of which won’t get opened but some will lead somewhere meaningful. It’s easy to cling to that first door: a roommate, hallmate, or high school friend, but Rappaport’s advice is to keep exploring. You might not find your people right away; that’s normal. The most meaningful relationships often grow from unexpected corners.
5. Penn is “sceney.”
Penn in itself has a social scene, a “Hunger Games” of sorts, as College sophomore Diya Choksey called it. She advises students of the most important currency on Penn’s campus: “access: the right clubs, the right jackets, the right fraternities to be seen at.” Greek life is more than just a party scene — but a player in Penn’s social climate. What does Choksey think you can learn? “The point isn’t to reject the game. It’s to stop letting it play you.” Whether it’s Greek life or “the scene,” it’s your decision alone to participate.
6. Get off campus.
During your first year, it’s easy to stay in what 2024 College graduate Daniel Gurevitch referred to as the “Penn Bubble.” He called it an echo chamber, where students live, eat, and socialize within the same few blocks of Penn’s campus. But Gurevitch advised, and I would agree, that it is essential to leave campus as soon and as often as you can. Penn’s food is unsatisfying, the dorms are stuffy, and there is a beautiful and thriving city just a short walk away. Go sit in Rittenhouse Square, go eat in Fishtown, go past 40th Street. Gurevitch says it’s critical to burst the Penn bubble.
7. Clubs aren’t that serious.
As College sophomore Ananya Shah described, the club applications cycle starts almost as soon as you move in. As the club fair lines Locust Walk, it’s easy to feel the pressure of a second admissions season. Friends will spend hours poring over resumes, short essays, and preparing for coffee chats —oftentimes for clubs that don’t exist outside of a GroupMe. Everyone wants to join the same clubs, knows a friend in it, or didn’t make it past the first round. Rejection is to be expected, and in fact, Shah says it is a privilege we should embrace. Clubs aren’t that serious. Join ones you like, or none at all: “your club involvements do not define you.”
8. It’s OK to take time off.
Penn moves quickly, and the pressure to always be “on” is real. As 2024 College graduate Brinn Gammer wrote, the pressure to work and earn to the point of burnout is a facet of Penn’s campus culture. And even if it’s not academics as your stressor, being a college student will test your mind and body regardless. Gammer suggested investing in yourself: Take walks, spend time with friends, and protect what makes you feel good. If that means taking a nap instead of studying, or getting DoorDash instead of going out, do it. It’s you who matters.
9. Let Penn change you.
And to visit my own words of reflection after finishing my first year, it’s okay if you change. I came in convinced I wasn’t going to become the epitome of a Penn student. But Penn, if you’re doing it right, has the power to make you grow into the person you want to be. Not comfortably, and not always in big ways, but it’s yours to shape. And who wants to be the high school version of themself forever? Definitely not me.
10. Don’t listen to upperclassmen.
Finally, the real message in all of this, you don’t have to, and as Wharton senior Francesco Salamone thought, maybe you shouldn’t listen to any of these students (including me). Penn is yours to figure out, to shape, and to enjoy in your own way. Take what helps, forget the rest, and let your experience be entirely your own.
PIPER SLINKA-PETKA is a College sophomore studying health and societies from West Virginia. Her email address is pipersp@sas.upenn.edu.
