When I was looking at colleges, a big factor in my 17-year-old head was sports. I saw one school's chancellor talk about how excited he is that his school no longer focuses on athletics. On a tour at another, I scoffed when the guide explained how while the school's teams are horrible, some students still cheer for them.

Coach John Cole is proud of how far he has brought his young Penn team. "[The media] didn't give us a chance, . counted us out early," Cole said. "And we won our first [division] title in 12 years." But with the Ivy League crown and a trip to the NCAA Tournament on the line, the Quakers' magic ran out against Brown.

I sat staring at the computer in my guidance counselor's office.

Throughout the year, we constantly get asked the questions: "What does the UA do?" or "Why should I care about student government?" These questions, while seemingly simple, cannot be answered in this limited guest column. We hope, however, to explain some of our accomplishments from this past year and give you a preview of what to expect in the coming year.

Playing under a new league format, the Penn softball team had a chance to take the first-ever Ivy League championship series. But Harvard's Shelly Madick wouldn't have it, as she limited the Penn bats to one hit in over nine innings. The Quakers fell 4-0 in game one, and the Crimson completed the sweep with a 4-2 victory in the second contest to earn the Ivy League title.

Don't stress - graduation is not the deadline for discovering a passion or finding a career that you love.

Usually, it's the antics of players like Ron Artest that draw the ire of the National Basketball Association. This time, however, the NBA has a slightly less athletic target: a Wharton professor. Business and Public Policy professor Justin Wolfers recently completed a paper with Cornell University graduate student Joseph Price that suggests implicit racial bias exists on the basketball court.

Here is an anecdote I am not proud to tell. As a freshman I vigorously debated with my roommate, Ben Kowitt, the value of admitting athletes to Penn, and I was the one who stubbornly believed that athletes did not have special or worthwhile role at Penn. However, something changed that year.

When mom and dad ask us "What are going to do with your life?" they ask with a lot of worried expectation.

Wharton Vice Dean and Undergraduate Division Director Barbara Kahn will be the third dean to leave Wharton for another position this year.

Recently hired University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban will earn $4 million for every year he spends on the field. But for those spending time in the classroom, the checks aren't as big. The average full-time professor at NCAA Division 1-A schools in the United States earns $101,774 per year, according to the American Association of University Professors.

Total crime in the Penn Police patrol zone this semester was up 1 percent compared to last year's spring semester, Division of Public Safety officials said. This spring, 256 crimes occurred, three more than last year's 253. Total crime for the month of April is down slightly, with 74 crimes last month compared to 75 during April 2006.

College senior Jenn Rineer has spent the last four years benefitting from the Philadelphia community, and now she's preparing to return the favor. Rineer is one of four graduating Penn seniors to receive a year-long fellowship to live and work in the city as part of the up-and-coming Philly Fellows program.

When the Penn women's tennis team hits the court at noon Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Williamsburg, Va., onlookers have every reason to doubt the Quakers. This is a team, the skeptics might say, that is bereft of senior leadership in the lineup and outmatched in the singles lineup.

Transferring to Penn from a school on the sunny, easygoing west coast wasn't easy, but the rewards made it worthwhile.

Thursdays at the Penn Relays include many high-school and long-distance events, and this year's wasn't without notable finishes and records. The high-school field events were particularly impressive, with Kimberly Williams of Vere Tech in Jamaica setting a Relays record in the triple jump.

Tim Kaijala won two Heptagonal championships last season, in the 1,000-meter and as part of Penn's winning 4x800m relay team. This year, he finally took home the title in his bread-and-butter event, the 800m, besting the field with a 1:49.76 and leading the Quakers to a fourth-place finish at the Ivy Heps in Princeton, N.