University of Pennsylvania
Hallmarks and Quirks
Things I'm Good At:
- Business. My Wharton School of Business is the best business school for undergrads in the country. Huzzah.
- Nursing. It's the smallest undergrad school at Penn with around one hundred students in each graduating class, but it produces top-notch nurses.
- Interdisciplinary courses. My classes combine subjects like they're cookie dough and ice cream. Or peanut butter and Nutella. Or anything and Sriracha.
- Community service. I have thousands of students running around helping out all over the place, especially in West Philadelphia. We help to make sure playgrounds are safe and neighborhoods are trouble-free.
My Top 5 Must-Haves:
- A PennCard. I need it to get into the dorms, dining halls, and the gym.
- An umbrella. Every so often in the fall and spring, it rains cats and dogs in Philly, and I don't want to be caught outside without some protection.
- My trusty pair of sneakers. It's Philly, so there's a lot of walking.
- Formal wear. Things can get super official around here.
- Coffee. For obvious reasons.
Why You Might Have Heard of Me:
- I'm not Penn State. Seriously. We're not even in the same city. Sigh.
- I was founded by Ben Franklin. Yeah, the kite-and-key guy. (We even have a student volunteer organization named after that epic electric discovery.)
- Most of my campus buildings are lined up along a single brick-paved road called Locust Walk. I'm a total fan. This one central street for studyin' makes everything feel all homey and connected.
- One of the first computers ever, ENIAC, was built on my campus back in 1946.
On a regular Saturday night, you can find me...
One word: BYOB. Well, okay, one acronym/four words: "Bring Your Own Beer." As in, bring the booze of your choice to a restaurant with a couple of friends. If there's one thing that connects all of Penn, it's that almost every student organization throws BYOBs.
Food, drinks, and good company—who doesn't like that?
Favorite Hangouts:
- Van Pelt Library
- The Compass. Okay, so it's not really a place to hang out, but more like a place to meet up.
- Any of my fifty-plus fraternity and sorority houses
- Pat's King of Steaks, for the original Philly cheesesteak
Quirks:
- A couple years back, people strung Christmas lights across the trees lining both sides of Locust Walk. Then, they were too lazy to take them off, so now they light up Locust Walk every night, and it looks positively magical.
- Before juniors can officially become seniors, they have to go through something called Hey Day, where they bite off Styrofoam hats and spend the whole day avoiding the graduating seniors who try to drench them with condiments. It's weird, I know, but I like it.
- You know that statue of Ben Franklin sitting on a bench next to the Compass? Yeah, don't sit on him. You don't want to know why.
Famous Alumni:
- Donald Trump, as in "you're fired"
- Sharon Stone, actress, producer, and former model
- Elon Musk, CEO and Chief Product Architect of Tesla Motors
- Warren Buffet, super-businessman and philanthropist
- Dick Wolf, Emmy Award-winning television producer
- Elizabeth Banks, actress, producer, and director