Advertisement
Published: July 10th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Dear All,
Lessons Learned:
GPS systems are not always accurate.
Traffic in big cities may delay estimated time between schools. Plan on visiting no more than two schools in one day.
Having said this, I did make it to all three schools today, but it was an adventure! Haverford was not a part of my satellite mapping system. My notes for University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore and Haverford follow in short form.
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA www.upenn.edu
Information Session
This urban campus located in the heart of Philadelphia is a safe and BEAUTIFUL campus.
The campus is walker-friendly. You can walk from one end of the campus to the farthest end in 15 minutes.
There are four schools within the university (Nursing, Engineering, Business and Arts and Sciences)
Penn is known as a “social Ivy” because students are so active in life outside the classroom (clubs, Greek life, athletics etc…)
Professors teach all classes. There are currently six Nobel Prize faculty members
Admissions Counselor said they look at five things: transcript, test scores (including Writing), three letters of recommendation (from college counselor and from two teachers in a student’s junior or senior year), extra curricular (well rounded
or “lopsided”) and essay(s). Note: Admissions counselor said essay is second, after transcript in order of importance. In short, she is saying they receive so many well qualified academic candidates that the essay can often serve as a tie breaker.
Housing is guaranteed only if students meet housing deadline. 99% of freshmen live on campus; 60% of the entire student body do. Freshmen live in “The Quad”. These dorms reminded me of some castles I have seen. They looked spectacular from the outside.
Interesting Question Asked During Information Session: How easy is it to transfer from one school to the next? The Admission Officer said, “It is much more difficult to transfer into another school within UPenn than it is to gain admissions”.
Tour
My tour guide (MM) recently graduated from UPenn, and still enjoys working for the Admissions office. In a few weeks, he will attend medical school at Penn State.
A few interesting/humorous stories from the tour follow:
Alumnus who designed auditorium on campus received an “F” on the original design of this building which he first offered while a student at Penn.
In between third and fourth quarters of home football games, students throw
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore is part of an arboretum. I loved this view of a grassy ampitheater. toast on the field. With delay of game penalties adding up for their struggling Div. I football team, a student designed a Toast Stromboni (?) to pick up toast more quickly. The football stadium is impressive and use to be the site of Philadelphia Eagle football games and the Army/Navy game.
The fitness center is open from 7:00 am-2:00 am. If it is raining and you cannot get to the Center, you still have no excuse. I am told each dormitory has its own workout center.
SWARTHMORE COLLEGE www.swarthmore.edu
Swarthmore is 20 minutes away from Philadelphia and in a very nice residential area.
Information Session
Families in the Information Session asked about the “stress level” on campus. The admissions officer described several “systems” in place.
Systems: No grades are offered first semester of a student’s freshman year. Instead, faculty write evaluations (anywhere fromone to as many as five pages in length). They discuss their comments with the students and offer a “shadow” grade.
A cumulative grade point average is not calculated unless, at the end of a student’s four year experience, he/she needs it for graduate school purposes.
Admit rate -16%
Writing is stressed. Students must
take three required writing courses. First draft of papers are reviewed with a WA(Writing Associate). The professor will receive first and last student draft as he/she seeks to improve a student’s writing skill.
SAM—Student Academic Mentors—are located on each hall to assist incoming freshmen and others with time management and any other academic related issues.
With endowment of $1.4 billion, the admissions officer said the school looks to support any and all ideas/clubs a student may wish to develop. Currently there are over 100 clubs and organizations.
Dining Services provides free coffee and snacks on weekends at 10:00 pm
Students call faculty by their first names.
Professors are very accessible. One student emailed a teacher at 1:00 am and received a response by 2:00 am.
Tour
Xiaxia, from Auburn, Alabama led our tour.
The campus is very green and full of beautiful gardens. Loved the grassy amphitheater we saw at the end of the tour. Xiaxia repeated much of what we heard in the Information Session, but added the following:
Students can elect to take up to four Pass/Fail classes after freshman year instead of getting a grade. Students do this for classes which may be required of them and which may be difficult for them.
Swarthmore seems to attract students who enjoy volunteering in the community and who like to debate issues.
HAVERFORD www.haverford.edu
With limited time and a need to get to New Rochelle before nightfall, I met with two student ambassadors and did a quick walk through of the campus. While my description is brief, I loved what I saw of the school (it’s pretty) and was impressed with the students I met both in and away from the admissions office.
From my conversation with students (Eli and Joe), I will remember the following:
Strong Honor Code—great trust exist between students and professors. Exams are rarely proctored. No need to lock things up.
Customs Teams: When a freshman arrives, he will live with 11 other freshman and eight upperclassmen. Upperclassmen will assist freshman with academic and social adjust issues.
Capstone project is required of students before they graduate.
Story: One teacher bakes cakes for students who receive a grade of 90 or higher in her class. Apparently, such a grade is rarely achieved, but students still love her class.
From a Bed and Breakfast in New Rochelle, New York, I am signing off. Stay tuned for visits to Iona, Columbia and New York University. My notes may be delayed until Sunday or Monday as I will be returning to New Rochelle on late night trains following Broadway plays these next two nights.
Best,
Kirk
Advertisement
Tot: 0.072s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 12; qc: 52; dbt: 0.0421s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb