My Experience as a Penn Student

I’d like to take this post to speak about something that legitimately surprised me when I initially arrived at the University of Pennsylvania. I went to one of those large state schools with thousands of students, where you feel more like a number than a person. I’d have issues getting professors’ time because many of them had research as their priority and teaching was something secondary that they were made to do. I expected, when arriving at Penn, that if anything this culture of students being secondary would continue.

I was wrong. I’ve only been here a short few months at this point but my experience couldn’t have been more different from that expectation. Not only am I given a direct line of access to the professors within the department functionally whenever, I was also assigned an advisor who is the head of the department. I had an advisor when I was in undergrad as well, but she was not in my field and handled many more students than just the ten or so my current one does. Not only that, but even when reaching out to professors outside of my area of study and even outside of my school, they’ve always been very cordial in answering my questions. This kind of access to incredibly bright individuals has been a huge aspect of my Penn experience and it is not an accident. When Penn talks about its attempts to create a communal, open environment they aren’t paying lip service.

I was wrong. I’ve only been here a short few months at this point but my experience couldn’t have been more different from that expectation. Not only am I given a direct line of access to the professors within the department functionallywhenever, I was also assigned an advisor who is the head of the department. I had an advisor when I was in undergrad as well, but she was not in my field and handled many more students than just the ten or so my current one does. Not only that, but even when reaching out to professors outside of my area of study and even outside of my school, they’ve always been very cordial in answering my questions. This kind of access to incredibly bright individuals has been a huge aspect of my Penn experience and it is not an accident. When Penn talks about its attempts to create a communal, open environment they aren’t paying lip service.

In fact, across the board, I’ve felt a warm thin the people and places here that was unexpected. It may be because the GSE is a particularly soft space, but I’ve loved every minute of it.