When finalizing my decision for college this spring, Penn checked nearly all of my boxes. Academic rigor, student involvement, a strong alumni network, brilliant professors, and an iconic location. But there was one qualm I had — and still have — with Penn: its residential life system.
Obviously, I’m writing a column for all of you, so the residential life box didn’t weigh too heavily in my decision. In all honesty, my current expectations about living at Penn have been exceeded so far. I think this factor is for two reasons though: I’m a first year, and I live in one of the more social dorms.
I live in Hill College House this year — which is the best dorm on campus, but that’s a topic for a later column — and I’m also in an academic program based there. Thanks to the overwhelmingly social nature of these communities, I’ve made many good friends and acquaintances. The Quad has a similar energy as Hill, as the notorious social hub for first years, with many residents crediting a great Penn experience to living in such a social space.
On the other end of the spectrum is first-year housing like Lauder College House with dead social scenes. I still remember my first time visiting a four-year house, like Du Bois College House, and immediately understanding the frustration residents had with the dorm. The lobby was empty and the hallways were almost eerily quiet. Despite being far from everything and a little old, Du Bois is a nice dorm with amenities like a dance studio and a rich history. The problem isn’t the dorms themselves — it’s the residential system.
Looking at our peer institutions like Yale University, you see that they have a number of small “colleges” or houses that first years are randomly assigned to and remain associated with for all four years. This process of dividing a class into small groups creates an intimate environment that fosters a socially and intellectually tight-knit community. Not only are you a student of the university, but you’re also part of a small subsector that isn’t tied to your field of study, but rather to the house where you were assigned your first year.
Yes, we have different schools, clubs, and academic programs, but these are communities we largely control, and they keep us within a bubble of specific types of people. There’s a certain beauty in entering a new place and being thrown into a building with randomized people from all over the world who are sharing this new experience with you. This is an experience we only get to be a part of for one year and then it’s over. The faces I see in the club lounge at Hill or during random elevator conversations, might be faces I never see again.
As of last year, Penn had 10,497 undergraduate students, and approximately 5,500 of them lived on campus. If the average number of a class is 2,500, and first years and sophomores are required to live on campus, it’s safe to say that basically no upperclassmen live on campus. It seems that once the first-year experience wears off (if you were even lucky enough to have it because of where you lived), the community you thought you’d have forever vanishes.
Before researching the college-based residential systems in the Ivy League, I thought they were part of the schools’ founding, and that Ben Franklin simply didn’t follow the crowd. It turns out, however, that this type of system is quite modern. Yale didn’t start its residential college system until 1933, and Princeton University didn’t start its until 1982. There is still a possibility for Penn to adopt a system that increases the amount of students that live on campus, which ultimately strengthens the community and promotes diversity. Of course, the logistics will be complicated, especially given that we are located in one of the biggest cities in the country, but it’s worth a try. Our student body is an intricate mosaic of backgrounds and experiences, and we should all feel like we can live on and enjoy all four years on such a beautiful campus in a more beautiful city.
GLORIA OLADEJO is a College first year from Coopersburg, Pa. studying law and society and Africana studies. Her email is gloriao6@sas.upenn.edu.
