There's something quintessentially awful about studying at Penn. It goes beyond the fact that you're actually expected to do well in an Ivy League school, and it also goes beyond the fact that the amount of work can, at times, be inordinate. Instead, it's about the cutthroat intensity students adopt to be "competitive," an intensity that is beginning to pollute our social environment.
Daniel Schwartz is a College sophomore from Decatur, Ga. His e-mail address is schwartz@dailypennsylvanian.com.
Now that it's On Campus Recruiting season, I think it is safe to say that most of the senior class is freaking out. Because one bad interview, one bombed brainteaser, and you know you've blown your chance at future happiness. But don't fret, dear senior, you haven't.
When it comes to getting a good teaching assistant at Penn, it's a crap-shoot. Some TAs will use creative ways to help a student solve a math problem or become a better writer, while others can't even speak basic English. This astonishing variety reflects the lack of uniformity in TA preparation at Penn.
Alicia Puglionesi is a College junior from Haverton, Pa. Her e-mail address is puglionesi@dailypennsylvanian.com.
Recently, the Senate Finance Committee heard a proposal that would force universities to spend five percent of their endowments on financial-aid and other student-related programs. Penn already spends four percent, so what's one percent going to do to my $110,000? $110,000 is about how much I expect to be in debt when I (hopefully) graduate this May (full disclosure: two years of the debt is from Villanova).
Recently, the Senate Finance Committee heard a proposal that would force universities to spend five percent of their endowments on financial-aid and other student-related programs. Penn already spends four percent, so what's one percent going to do to my $110,000? $110,000 is about how much I expect to be in debt when I (hopefully) graduate this May (full disclosure: two years of the debt is from Villanova).
Daniel Schwartz is a College sophomore from Decatur, Ga. His e-mail address is schwartz@dailypennsylvanian.com.
Now that it's On Campus Recruiting season, I think it is safe to say that most of the senior class is freaking out. Because one bad interview, one bombed brainteaser, and you know you've blown your chance at future happiness. But don't fret, dear senior, you haven't.
Does the name Kurt Mitman ring a bell? He's the former Econ grad student who was exposed last January for leading the kind of double life - ambitious Ivy Leaguer by day, jailed sex offender by night - that seemed more suited for HBO than for Penn's campus.
The saying goes, "If a tree falls down in the woods and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" A timelier question would be, "If an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 rally in Jena, Louisiana, in protest of a case of unequal justice ignored by the mainstream media, does it matter?" I'm no philosophy major, but the answer is a resounding yes.
Avery Lawrence is a College senior from Charlottesville, Va. His e-mail address is lawrence@dailypennsylvanian.com.
With the '08 Election fast approaching, presidential hopefuls are busy rolling out their grand plans for our country. John Edwards recently turned his attention to American public schools and the educational disparities that still exist today. "No longer legally separated by race, our children are sorted by economics, often with a racial or ethnic dimension," Edwards said.
Responsible reporting To the Editor: In response to the article published about the "Ask a Skeptic" panel ("Student group panel affirms atheist beliefs" 9/20/2007), we would like to clarify important points, the first of which being that Ellen Johnson does not represent our organization.
You've probably seen the video by now - the one where that University of Florida douche bag gets Tasered at a John Kerry town hall meeting. It occupies a special place in viral-video chronology; right after Britney at the VMAs and just before the Swedish hostess who threw up on live TV.
Back in 2002, Beth Linker was a third-year graduate student at Yale. Like all Ph.D. students, she had a lot on her plate - preparing for exams, teaching classes, doing her own research, worrying about the job market. And then she had a baby. That July was when her already busy life got a lot busier.
Joanne Tong is a Wharton senior from Manila, Philippines. Her e-mail address is tong@dailypennsylvanian.com.
Way back during my freshman year, a homeless stranger led a couple of my buddies on an epic quest for fried chicken. After wandering around West Philly late at night, they all ended up at Crown's on 40th and Market. Bonhomie flowed forth, and much crispy fowl was consumed.
From attacking a "sausagefest" to pictures of students urinating on Princeton's crest, this year's freshman-election campaign posters set a new bar for superficiality. And what the mildly amusing posters make abundantly clear is that Penn's freshman fall elections are focusing more on rhetoric and less on substance.
If you have a maintenance request, you better hope it's an emergency. That way you can call Facilities Services directly. Either that or be prepared to lie and say it is, because there's no way you're going to figure out how to use FacilityFocus, Penn's new Web site for service requests.
We might be unranked in football, but we've almost cracked the top 10 in the world's most-played sport. Penn took 11th place in the second annual Sexual Health Report Card, a ranking of sexual health resources at 139 U.S. colleges and universities released by the makers of Trojan condoms.
Amira Fawcett is an Engineering junior from Houston. Her e-mail address is fawcett@dailypennsylvanian.com.
I wiped my savings account this summer and, in the last weeks, I lost six toes to hunger. I hope you fared better. Perhaps you worked as an intern, earned a tidy sum and wound up indentured to some soul-sucking firm. I heard that graduates on the International Teaching Assistants Program (ITAP) did very nicely.
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