U Penn Official thread of the CLASS OF 2010

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U Penn is awesome!!!!!!!
Give me $$$ plz
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Members don't see this ad :)
I'm in...kind of seems like there's a dearth of acceptances to Penn on SDN this year. Any explanations why?
 
I heard that they took less people this year, and are taking more from the waitlist. (This is just an SDN rumor.)

Otherwise, I think that when these threads are started on the main forum board and then are transfered by the moderator, more people post.
 
I think the rest of us are too busy "recovering" from our acceptances...

Are most people going to the preview weekend? It sounds like fun, but it's at a terrible time. Rumor has it, though, that this is a good time for meeting potential roommates. Any thoughts?
 
Anyone considering Penn versus other top-tier schools?

Any thoughts on why Penn?
 
NoSoupforYou13 said:
Anyone considering Penn versus other top-tier schools?

Any thoughts on why Penn?
Click to expand...
Yes. I'm also currently looking at Columbia and Michigan, and still possibly interested in Hopkins though on the alternate list.

I really enjoyed my experiences at Michigan and Penn. I got the best 'feel' for these two schools and their students. However, I think that Penn trumps Michigan (1) Because of its location in an actual urban environment, and (2) Because of the 1.5 year truncated basic science regimen.

I also like Columbia for its urban location, but I have to admit that I am not particularly fond of NYC, be it the financial district, the upper east side, or Washington Heights. So Penn trumps based on Philadelphia's more spread-out and less-expensive housing.

Finally, I'm only holding onto multiple acceptances because I need to hear financial aid packages before I make my decision. All other things being equal, I will be at Penn for sure. I'm in love with the place.

I'll go into depth later if people want to talk more about this, but I want to grab lunch first.
 
Wake up future Quackers! Seriously, I love Penn (this is probably as Ideal as any school can get) and am having a tough decision deciding where to go. Although I am a Cali resident, Penn is looking more attractive to me by the second. I love to experience new things and philly might just be the right place. Tell me what you love about Penn.
 
infiniti said:
Wake up future Quackers! Seriously, I love Penn (this is probably as Ideal as any school can get) and am having a tough decision deciding where to go. Although I am a Cali resident, Penn is looking more attractive to me by the second. I love to experience new things and philly might just be the right place. Tell me what you love about Penn.
Click to expand...

Actually it's the Quakers, not Quackers. We are not ducks or interestingly, fake doctors. I guess it was a Freudian slip . . .haha.
 
infiniti said:
Wake up future Quackers! Seriously, I love Penn (this is probably as Ideal as any school can get) and am having a tough decision deciding where to go. Although I am a Cali resident, Penn is looking more attractive to me by the second. I love to experience new things and philly might just be the right place. Tell me what you love about Penn.
Click to expand...
I went first. Your turn. :D
 
infiniti said:
Wake up future Quackers! Seriously, I love Penn (this is probably as Ideal as any school can get) and am having a tough decision deciding where to go. Although I am a Cali resident, Penn is looking more attractive to me by the second. I love to experience new things and philly might just be the right place. Tell me what you love about Penn.
Click to expand...

I think the top ten lists provided by the students and faculty on the status page pretty much sum it up. And as a life-long philly resident I can tell you that the city has never been a better place to live than it is now. And the feeling is it will only get better in the next few years. Also, it never rains there and the people are the most beautiful of any city in the world. Fact.
 
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Thanks NoSoupforYou13 (don't worry I know you are not a duck). I don't think it would be funny if I made that mistake at the second look weekend :eek:.


I loved Penn the second I stepped on campus because you could just tell that everything around you is top notch. I love the micro neighborhoods spread out throughout philly. I love the fact that you get into clinics a year and a half into med school. I love the fact that Philly is an urban city that somehow has the comforts of a smaller town. I love the fact that I will basically be living a piece of American History. I love the fact that I will be right next door to the best children hospital in the world. I love the fact that I will be on the same campus with other professional/undergraduate students (tremendous opportunities for dating and using their facilities (i.e gym)). I love the fact that the opportunity to study or do rotations overseas abounds at Penn. I also love the fact that I will be able to go anywhere I want for residency after graduation.

Some of these were mentioned in top ten list, but it actually feels good saying it out loud (or may be writing it out loud).
 
Infiniti, I totally agree with your sentiments. Especially about the micro-neighborhoods and the urban-city-with-small-town-feel comments. Those are huge for me!

Also, as someone who wants to go back West for residency, it is really important that Penn's national reputation will allow us to have a good shot at residencies that are out of the Northeast.

I don't know if any of you stayed with students during the interview, but I stayed with a group of guys that I really got along well with. I know that's anecdotal, but in the end that subjective factor of 'your fellow students' is an extremely important one for your sanity and for your personal/professional development. I think our peers are going to be sweet.

I also appreciated the facilities; the fact that the med school is on the undergrad campus; the ease of transportation throughout the Northeast; the intense and eminent research facilities that we'll have access to. And, finally, we have Gaye Sheffler!
 
Yeah, I could I forget Gaye Sheffler! She is the best.
 
Just got my actual letter in the mail today. I really love Penn. Like, a lot. I may go ahead and get my MD/JD; then I can change some laws and finally marry it.
 
Anyone notice Penn is now ranked #3? I know people say the rankings are not that important, but I'm going to venture that's just because their schools aren't on the up like Penn. Take that, Duke!!!

Hopefully my mediocre MCAT score won't make them go back down next year...
 
Withnail said:
]
Hopefully my mediocre MCAT score won't make them go back down next year...
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:laugh: No chance.... mediocre MCAT right here and at least 5 other people in my class I know.. :)

Seriously though, Penn rocks in my opinion... Want specifics? Ask away.. and Congrats!
 
javert, why do you love Penn so much?
 
Withnail said:
Hopefully my mediocre MCAT score won't make them go back down next year...
Click to expand...
With your MCAT and my GPA, we'll definitely bring the school down a few notches. It'll keep the ranking-****** away.
 
javert said:
:laugh: No chance.... mediocre MCAT right here and at least 5 other people in my class I know.. :)

Seriously though, Penn rocks in my opinion... Want specifics? Ask away.. and Congrats!
Click to expand...
Javert,

Nice to see you in this thread. I keep wondering about housing - is it worth going on preview weekend to meet potential future roommates, or is that not really how first year housing works? Of course, you're MSTP so you probably had a bit more incentive to come to preview weekend ;)

Also, how useful is Philly public transit near the med school?
 
Centinel said:
Javert,

Nice to see you in this thread. I keep wondering about housing - is it worth going on preview weekend to meet potential future roommates, or is that not really how first year housing works? Of course, you're MSTP so you probably had a bit more incentive to come to preview weekend ;)

Also, how useful is Philly public transit near the med school?
Click to expand...

Yes. Public transportation is near the med school, which is on campus. Philly is more similar to NYC than Boston, LA, or DC. You can pretty much walk anywhere.
 
Centinel said:
I keep wondering about housing - is it worth going on preview weekend to meet potential future roommates, or is that not really how first year housing works? Of course, you're MSTP so you probably had a bit more incentive to come to preview weekend ;)

Also, how useful is Philly public transit near the med school?
Click to expand...

I wasn't asked, but I'll chime in anyways:

Meeting roommates at Penn Preview is a fine idea. I found my first year roommate on SDN (we were both waitlist admits). The best places to find housing are Craig's List, Penn's Office of Off Campus Living, and www.phillyweekly.com (RE for rent classifieds). Make sure you look at whatever you're going to move into. I'm always startled at the number of people who sign without seeing the place they're moving into first hand. They're almost always unhappy with what they get.

As for public transit, the closest thing to the med school is the green line trolleys. I take them every day from 13th and Market to 36th and Sansom or 37th and Spruce. They're pretty reliable and fast. From center city to the med school is around 15 minutes. The bus is not so reliable, and even though I live very close to 2 bus lines that drop off right next to the med school, it's faster for me to walk 4 blocks to the subway. Also nearby is the market frankford line (blue line), though that's a good 6 block walk from the med school. It's good to get to rotations, and I was fortunate to not have any rotations (so far) that required me to use other than the subway or the regional rail trains. Strangely, most first years are pretty scared of the city and live as close to Penn as possible, and this doesn't change much as things progress. The vast majority of the students live within walking distance and walk to school every day.

Also of note in this thread, ever since I started as a student here (3 years ago), the average MCAT of the entering classes has been increasing by ~.2 per year.
 
Nueronix -

Do you know if most Penn Med students live in Center City or West Philly?
 
I love the idea of living in center city but I think prefer to live in a house converted to apartments (as opposed to high rise living). Is it possible to live in center city and still live in a house or apartments like those. Thanks. I will also be grateful if you could give me names of good places to start searching for.
 
Neuronix said:
I wasn't asked, but I'll chime in anyways
Click to expand...
Thanks, Neuronix. Were you from the Philly area before you came to Penn med?
 
I would say definitely go to Penn Preview... most people from my class met their roomates that way but not all so don't despair if you can't come.. (btw, I am not MSTP... if you read the bottom of my sig, I'm MD only.. aka "javert's girlfriend."). Okay why do I love Penn? Probably for the same reasons a lot of you are considering coming here... its the most chill place ever... classes are only 1.5 years so less than a year till i'm on the wards! yippee... class is taped and put online so some days (where you don't have small groups) you don't have to go to school at all if you don't want to.. i'd say like a 1/3 of our class goes to lecture on most days and the rest sleep in and watch them later... its pretty non intense as far as i'm concerned for med scchool.. i'm a major slacker and was able to get away with that at my state school for ugrad.. coming to med school, i thought i'd have to buckle down and study intensely but really its doable without too much work if you just want to pass and not honor everything... i think penn is pretty good at cutting out bs details and just teaching you what you need to know thats important... for example, my state med school has a year of pharm! penn has random pharm lectures here and there.. i'd say we've maybe had like 15 lectures on pharm total so far and its just important bare minimum stuff.. not millions of details on mechanisms of action and so forth.. i feel like with everything we've learned so far, thats how it is.. its clinically relevant and sufficient without being too too detailed.. okay i'm rambling.. and be aware this is just my opinion.. not sure what else to say except i really like philly and penn is just a great place to be.. if you have more specific questions, ask away :)
 
infiniti said:
I love the idea of living in center city but I think prefer to live in a house converted to apartments (as opposed to high rise living). Is it possible to live in center city and still live in a house or apartments like those. Thanks. I will also be grateful if you could give me names of good places to start searching for.
Click to expand...

I'm from Philly and I was there last weekend looking at housing for next year. If center city is where you want to live there are plenty of non high-rise options, especially on the west side of center city which is closer to Penn. I know there are some people in brownstones who rent out converted apartments, and I'm sure you could find others on craigslist or in the paper.

There are also alot of buildings that are mid-rises and have more character than high-rises. I was just looking at Locust Point, Locust on the Park and Riverview, all of which have alot of one bedrooms and lofts. And it really felt like the entire building was Penn grad students. The other issue with West Philly is that its not as cheap as most people assume because the undergrads drive up the prices. My younger brother is an undergrad and he had a tough time finding anything near campus. Just some things to think about...
 
Withnail said:
I'm from Philly and I was there last weekend looking at housing for next year. If center city is where you want to live there are plenty of non high-rise options, especially on the west side of center city which is closer to Penn. I know there are some people in brownstones who rent out converted apartments, and I'm sure you could find others on craigslist or in the paper.

There are also alot of buildings that are mid-rises and have more character than high-rises. I was just looking at Locust Point, Locust on the Park and Riverview, all of which have alot of one bedrooms and lofts. And it really felt like the entire building was Penn grad students. The other issue with West Philly is that its not as cheap as most people assume because the undergrads drive up the prices. My younger brother is an undergrad and he had a tough time finding anything near campus. Just some things to think about...
Click to expand...

Wow, these places you suggested look awesome. I've lived in apartments with character long enough. I figure I might as well take advantage of housing costs in Philly and live it up in a nice clean modern apartment building. I like having lots of other people around, and will definitely want a place to park my car.
 
TracksuitsRock said:
I figure I might as well take advantage of housing costs in Philly and live it up in a nice clean modern apartment building. I like having lots of other people around, and will definitely want a place to park my car.
Click to expand...

I hope you have lots of parent money. This is not typical of what one can afford on the student budget. All of the buildings listed in the previous post are pretty much out of a student budget, but are typical of mid-rise and high-rise prices in Philadelphia. Philadelphia is not a particularly vertical city (compared to say Chicago), so everything outside of a brownstone goes for a premium. Even studios in those buildings are over $1000/mo. You MIGHT be able to squeeze into one of those if you share a 2BR for $850/mo or so.

The only exception might be Riverwest or whatever they're called. They used to be The Ambassador, and was really the only affordable large building in Center City West, outside of rare opportunities. They fired all their staff with about a day's notice and gave all their tenants notice they had to buy their places or move out. It was always a pretty run down building, and I couldn't imagine paying $150,000 for one of those 400sq. ft. studios (looked up on their site). My guess is that the building is in bad disrepair and they need that assessment money to fix it up...

For kicks:
Riverloft (2300 Walnut) - Studio $1350/mo
Locust Point - 1BR starting at $1300/mo
Locust on the Park - 1BR $1400/mo
2400 Chestnut - Studio starting at $1100, 1BR $1200-$1300
For parking, add $80-$200.
Penn living budget (the most in public loans you're eligible for) assigns you something like $1200/mo to live on TOTAL.
 
Hey guys, I was waitlisted, but I was just wondering what days Penn Preview falls on.

Thanks.
 
macadamianut said:
Hey guys, I was waitlisted, but I was just wondering what days Penn Preview falls on.

Thanks.
Click to expand...


April 27th-April 29th
 
infiniti said:
I love the idea of living in center city but I think prefer to live in a house converted to apartments (as opposed to high rise living). Is it possible to live in center city and still live in a house or apartments like those. Thanks. I will also be grateful if you could give me names of good places to start searching for.
Click to expand...


I lived in West Philly for 4 years and i've lived in center city for the past 2 years. I live in a beautiful, just redone 3 bedroom apartment in a brownstone in west center city (where a ton of medical school students live).. it has a washer/dryer, kitchen, dishwasher, 2 bathrooms, and my bedroom is a very nice size.. we each pay under 650/month and that includes water and heat. i can tell you from experience that rent in west philly is not any cheaper than center city unless you want to live above 43rd street or so. as has been mentioned before, the undergrad students around drive all the prices up.
 
blah7 said:
I lived in West Philly for 4 years and i've lived in center city for the past 2 years. I live in a beautiful, just redone 3 bedroom apartment in a brownstone in west center city (where a ton of medical school students live).. it has a washer/dryer, kitchen, dishwasher, 2 bathrooms, and my bedroom is a very nice size.. we each pay under 650/month and that includes water and heat. i can tell you from experience that rent in west philly is not any cheaper than center city unless you want to live above 43rd street or so. as has been mentioned before, the undergrad students around drive all the prices up.
Click to expand...


Thanks guys. So most students live in west center city. If I were to do a search, what neighborhoods should I list (actual names). In terms of the numbers (i.e 42nd, 43rd and so on), what numbers should I be looking for. I will like to live close to other medical students too (and no more than 25 minute or very short commute from campus). Thanks for all your help
 
Center City / West of Broad (14th to 23ish)
West Philly 34th-42nd (wouldn't go much past 42nd, it becomes a long walk and less safe)
 
Standard Penn Land (as I call it) is 18th St. west, which is considered part of the Rittenhouse Square district anywhere from South St. to Market St. This puts you within a 25 minute walk of the school. Some students live slightly north of there in the Art Museum district, major streets being Arch and Race, though few live north of the Vine St expressway. An increasing number of students live in the 20s south of south st, and this is an up and coming neighborhood (just as shady as the west philly neighborhoods listed by the last poster).

Edit: Warning! See my post a few down (thanks Withnail for reminding me).

As for West Philly, I disagree that 42nd is a particularly long walk (6 blocks?) or is particularly unsafe. I would feel fairly comfortable all the way into the high 40s (I was at a friend's party at 49th and Osage last night for example), and this is just as far a walk as 18th street. The cross streets get a little trickier out there though... Think Locust on down to say Hazel Ave.

Personally, I don't live in either of these. Neither of these neighborhoods have much going on and Rittenhouse Square district is disproportionately expensive for what little is there. The trolley will take you into Center City as far as 13th street, and that's where I live.
 
Neuronix said:
An increasing number of students live in the 20s south of south st, and this is an up and coming neighborhood (just as shady as the west philly neighborhoods listed by the last poster).
.
Click to expand...

The area south of rittenhouse around south st. is typically called fitler square, and is usually more reasonable than rittenhouse. One thing to keep in mind about this area is that there is construction planned on the South St. Bridge starting in about a year. It's going to be completely closed to cars and pedestrians for at least a year and a half, which will make getting to West Philly tougher from this area. Real estate agents won't tell you this but it's a fact. There is the Penn Shuttle however.
 
Withnail said:
It's going to be completely closed to cars and pedestrians for at least a year and a half, which will make getting to West Philly tougher from this area. Real estate agents won't tell you this but it's a fact. There is the Penn Shuttle however.
Click to expand...

I forgot about this! This is BIG NEWS for anyone who lives down there or who is thinking about living down there. The Penn shuttle only runs at night, unless they're going to expand it for the bridge shutdown? In any case, this will make walking to Penn much more difficult for anyone south of say Locust street who has to go way out of their way to get up to the Walnut street bridge. Since I'd say this applies to at least a quarter of Penn Med students, buyer beware about renting anything from Locust southward! I'm not fond of the SEPTA bus system here. It's unreliable and generally slow, in contrast to the trolley system which is generally fairly reliable and fast. This makes the Market Street area from 22nd to 13th where the trolleys run more attractive for anyone who doesn't inisist on walking.

As for real estate listings, Withnail is right. That area in SW Rittenhouse is Fitler Square, though listing with real estate agents are going to vary from Rittenhouse Square district to Fitler Square area to Grey's Ferry area (south of south st) to South Philly to Graduate Hospital area etc etc etc... Just try to familiarize yourself with the street layout on a map or Google Earth and try to match them up.
 
For those of you who are coming to preview, we'll be putting together a video presentation on some housing options in addition to the tours (hopefully we'll get our act together). Maybe that'll help.

As for living in West Philly, I live at 36th and Lancaster, which is technically Powelton village. It's pretty cheap, 10 minute walk from school (no bridge), and a 15 minute trolley ride to most places in center city. Rent in the area will run you anywhere between 600-1000 a month, depending on your setup. And it's pretty safe around there. If you're looking at the area, PM me, or just IM me @ PostalWookie
 
Penn and Philly is amazing, and most of all, cheaper than all of you think.

My friends and I still go out 3-4 times a week, stay in and watch streaming video of the lectures from the mornings, attend small groups, and still have time in the afternoon to hit the gym, participate in 395840954485845748958 student groups, or do whatever.

ALL OF YOU, COME TO PREVIEW. I cant emphasize that enough. Its a great time. Youll see your fellow students and realize how great the student body is here - laid back, fun, eager. And most of all, youll be able to come to a huge party at Nu Sigma Nu (medical fraternity) and see how med students can still have a great time.

(I havent posted on this site in a year, nice to see it hasnt imploded yet from the millions of pointless threads every pre-med makes, me included).
 
How soon do we need to start looking for apartments if we don't want to get stuck with bad options?
 
Most apartments are posted for rent 30-60 days before they become available, though some are posted right before they become available. People are always afraid they're going to get "stuck", but I wouldn't be concerned about that. Be concerned about having plenty of time to sample plenty of places. There's alot of junk out there, and price rarely seems to correlate with quality. I'd say the most fertile time to be looking as about 1 month before you want to move in. The only things that are posted more than 2 months before are certain mid/high rises like 2400 Chestnut, and to get in there you'd probably have had to have put a deposit by now for September (I don't think I'm exaggerating).

The Philly weekly is published early Wednesday morning at http://www.phillyweekly.com/ (RE for Rent) (I think, someone please correct me on this if I'm wrong), and the absolute best time to look if you're going to use the Philly Weekly is Wednesday morning. Start calling and seeing places that morning that look promising that were advertised, because the best places go fast. I found my current place just by walking around the part of the city I wanted to live in, calling the numbers posted on the "apartment available" signs, and stopping into all the real estate offices and buildings. It's a rather low yield way of doing things (alot of landlords don't take down the for rent signs even if nothing is available and you have no idea about prices before you call), but it's another option in addition to PW, the office of off campus living, and Craig's List. Word of mouth can be helpful, but rarely does something come up on the Penn mailing list that isn't out of our price range without parent money.
 
Neuronix said:
The only exception might be Riverwest or whatever they're called. They used to be The Ambassador, and was really the only affordable large building in Center City West, outside of rare opportunities. They fired all their staff with about a day's notice and gave all their tenants notice they had to buy their places or move out. It was always a pretty run down building, and I couldn't imagine paying $150,000 for one of those 400sq. ft. studios (looked up on their site). My guess is that the building is in bad disrepair and they need that assessment money to fix it up...
Click to expand...

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: You have no idea.

My lovely apartment in Riverwest, aka. "The Ambassador", which I pay ~ $1,000 for. :rolleyes:

toilet.jpg


Edit: When I was checking out apartments, I remember that the Sterling and the Chatham seemed reasonable enough. It might be a bit of a hike though.
 
Neuronix said:
this will make walking to Penn much more difficult for anyone south of say Locust street who has to go way out of their way to get up to the Walnut street bridge.
Click to expand...
From Google Maps it looks like there's a 34th street bridge. Do you know if it's pedestrian accessible? If this is so, am I right in thinking the Gray's Ferry area will be pretty much unaffected? Thank you.
 
They all are pedestrian accessible.
 
The area around the 34th street bridge is really, really ghetto. There are no students I know of that use that bridge on a daily basis and no students I know who live down that far. All of Greys Ferry is ghetto, though it gets more ghetto as you go down. All the Penn students who live in that area live near where Gray's Ferry intersects South St and use the South St bridge. The bridges that the Penn students use are South, Walnut, and to a lesser extent Chesnut and Market. To go all the way down to the 34th street bridge would be wayyyyy out of the way. So, yeah, the south street bridge shutdown will be a huge deal.
 
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