Student Life
Dani Blum | Expectations versus reality
I found the list scrawled in last summer’s notebook, buried in my desk drawer back home. “To Do at Penn: Don’t get too stressed about grades.
Jonathan Iwry | Offended? Good.
That’s the beauty of free speech: Every now and then, people might actually prompt us to rethink, revise or even reinforce our ideas.
Maya Rawal | Mirror, mirror
While none of us really need to learn how to build a fire or hut anymore, mirror neurons are still important in the modern world. As college students in an environment that will shape our lifelong opinions and beliefs, we should use these neurons to expand our knowledge of other people, times and places.
Katiera Sordjan | The new Stockholm syndrome
Fraternity pledges are stripped of their belongings and clothing and forced to parade around. New student leaders are verbally belittled before assuming their positions. Members of a club are dragged out of bed in the middle of the night, doused with alcohol comma and pressured to drink.
Sophia Wushanley | The culture cop-out
Luckily enough, after three years of immersion in “Penn culture,” I have good news to share with any worried underclassmen or compassionate, concerned outsiders who’d like to hear it. I am, in fact, capable of occupying myself with activities that will never make it onto my resume, I have never justified the time I’ve spent eating a meal with a friend by calling it networking and Fear Of Missing Sleep consistently trumps Fear Of Missing Out on my list of concerns.Guest column by Nikita Agarwal, Sophia Tareen, Vivek Nimgaonkar and Vishal Patel| Finding a cure to Penn's pre-med culture
It’s easy to understand how pre-medical students can constantly feel overwhelmed by a sense of competition here at Penn.
Jeremiah Keenan | Revising the writing seminar
There is probably no single course on-campus that is as profoundly hated as the writing seminar. Organic chemistry plagues the pre-med, math is feared by many, BEPP is the bane of the Wharton freshman, but the writing seminar is the common enemy of all.
Sophia Wushanley | Eat less meat
Although I subscribe to the belief that, in our advanced society, it’s wrong to kill animals for food, I understand that we live in a world where there are enough starving people that moral outrage on behalf of the exploited honey bee seems a little misplaced, and where the objectification of women causes enough damage that PETA’s “I’d rather go naked than wear fur” campaign makes me worry more about the state of women in our society than the state of cattle.
Shawn Kelly | Spirit in the material world
However, there is one thing that tends to separate athletics from other extracurriculars: risk of serious injury. I can think of few other extracurriculars where there is a real possibility of suffering injuries such as concussions, torn ligaments and broken bones, including the spine.
The challenges of finding a long-term provider after CAPS
Establishing a relationship with a long term care provider can be difficult, even with the help of the referral coordinator.
Emergencies abroad: how Penn keeps students safe
When disaster struck in Paris last week, Penn Abroad went into emergency mode.