Blackfish wrote:Thanks for doing this! I've asked this before in the Penn student taking questions thread, but what are the top five things you love and hate about Penn?
And which would you recommend for housing, center city or university city (and how would you rate Philly as a city)?
Lastly, how do you feel about the certificate programs (in particular the ones at Wharton)? Do you feel like it was valuable/helpful to you? Thanks again for doing this
Oh and not sure if you would have any knowledge of this, but any word on how the new Dean search is going?
Top 5 Love
1) school culture: friendliness, community (join wednesday night bowling league)
2) ability to get jobs (I even got a law firm job during 1L summer which paid well)
3) variety of classes (everything from art law, to negotiations wharton class)
4) ease of doing wharton certificate (you can get it for just taking 1 pass/fail class)
5) extracurricular options (sports: flag football, boxing, rowing), student groups and competitions
I think it really says a lot that you have time to do so much while in law school--they even got rid of Property for 1L fall, so students only have to take 3 graded classes. And lots of people study abroad for a semester 3L year, which is cool.
Top 5 Hates
1) difficult to get the classes you want during 2L since you're competing w/3Ls and LLM students for the spots... end up taking classes at weird times.
2) hard to register for the really fun classes at Wharton
3) the writing competition to get on a journal--you're guaranteed to get on a journal (e.g. business law, international, constitutional law) if you don't make it on the law review, but it's 2 days of hell to do the writing comp. pretty much the same at most schools, just annoying.
4) housing near campus is expensive
5) some of the classrooms are kept way too cold!
Really like Philly as a city. Wouldn't want to live here longterm because it feels a lot smaller than other cities (i.e. NYC), but it's great to have everything so close together, and there are wonderful restaurants, bars, etc. here that you can actually get into and afford.
For housing:
Law school is at 3400 between Chestnut and Walnut...
-More students live in apt. building at 2400 Chestnut than any other apt building (it's a 10 minute walk from school).
-Domus is right across the street from law school and definitely worth living in 1L year so you can focus, but it's expensive.
-Riverloft at 2300 Walnut is the prettiest (18 ft. ceilings (I lived there)), but it's almost as expensive as Domus--mostly Wharton students live there.
-Riverwest at 2101 Chestnut is most affordable option and you're renting from condo owners (studios start at 1200). Ugly building but good location.
-There are plenty of nice walk up apartment buildings, especially closer to Rittenhouse (1800 Walnut)... just make sure you get renter's insurance if you don't have a doorman!
Really depends on your price range--but I'd stay on the Center City side (1400-2400 addresses on Locust, Chestnut, Walnut, or Market) unless you want to do Domus.
Wharton Certificate is totally worth it because you just have to take one class, gives you a broad overview of what you can study at Wharton, it's pass/fail, and it's a nice resume booster. You can take 3 more classes at Wharton if you want... I think people really like the variety of certificate options. It's a nice excuse to diversify your class schedule.
Haven't paid a lot of attention to Dean search. Our Dean of Students is the one who really sets the tone of the school, and he's staying (thank god!).
Hope this helps, and please share my startup with friends:
ADMITSEE!!!