The endowment is expected to report a loss of 15.7 percent for fiscal year 2009, but Penn President Amy Gutmann expressed relief at this number - "the lowest of any drop among peer institutions."

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.

Renovation, not recreation, seems to have been the keyword on campus this summer.

College sophomore Becca Elman will take over for Poe, a would-be College sophomore, representing the School of Arts and Sciences on the Undergraduate Assembly.

It seemed that nearly everyone at her memorial service yesterday, at Temple Beth Israel in Northfield, N.J., agreed on one point: Goldhagen knew how to live life to its fullest, and tried her hardest to impart her wisdom to others.

With each trip across campus, you are bombarded with flyers and information about every event on campus, every charity drive and every meeting that week. And each of these group represents only a small fraction of the student body.

Penn's urban location in West Philadelphia provides exciting opportunities, but also means that students need to be aware of their surroundings.

Penn prides itself on being a culturally diverse school, with an accepting campus climate. And with the following cultural and minority support groups, you're sure to find somewhere you can fit in.

The 2008 election may be over, but Pennsylvania is still the site of many interesting developments in the world of politics.

The University offers a number of resources to students so they can work - and play - hard.

If you want more opportunities to affect change on campus, you can get involved with Penn's student government.

For freshmen, the week of New Student Orientation is a blur of activities, new faces and navigating Locust Walk. But in between the fraternity parties and finding our way from the Quadrangle to Hayden Hall, Penn students do find time to study.

Once you've settled into your dorm and navigated your way down Locust Walk, it's time to venture out into the rest of Philadelphia, which offers restaurants, shopping and museums galore.

Whether you come from four generations of Sigma Alpha Epsilon brothers or are exploring the Greek system for the very first time, you can be sure that this year's batch of hopeful pledges have plenty to look forward to.

Penn's administrators are responsible for the thousands of students and millions of dollars that pass through the University every year, and their decisions affect every member of the Penn community.

Penn has accumulated a number of traditions over its 268 years. Some are dignified, others are more whimsical, but you can hardly consider yourself a true Quaker until you've booed the Princeton Tigers on Franklin Field during a football game or eaten fried Oreos during Spring Fling.