Update (January 28, 2012): I’ve decided to remove password protection from this post and open it up to the world.

I just completed my first semester at the University of Pennsylvania. The past three months have brought me many joys: new friends, new experiences, and new knowledge. It’s been a rollercoaster of sorts—the cycles of stress due to impending exams, strange sleeping patterns, and a litany of decisions from picking courses to prioritizing assignments. It has been, however, rewarding.

For those who have not yet left the warmth and comfort of a family home, the most important thing to know is that university life is quite unlike high school life. (You probably knew that already, but I wanted to confirm it nevertheless.) Yes, there will still be classes with people you know, but lectures are much bigger, and it is entirely possible that TAs and professors will grade your papers/tests without ever meeting you face to face. Of course, university life is also different in that you will be running your own life. I’ll elaborate on this later.

For those who are experiencing university for the first time as well, it will be interesting to compare your experiences to mine. Every university has its own unique atmosphere, level of academic rigour, diversity of students, breadth of opportunities, and social climate. Of course, there are some common traits, such as students’ immense freedom, increased responsibilities (not only in time management, but in eating well, shopping for basic living needs, doing laundry, etc).

To anyone who is reading this post, I want to make it clear that anything subjective I write is only my personal opinion. My perception of Penn, or of college life, may differ significantly from that of someone else in a different social circle, program of study, or undergraduate school; it may also differ from that of someone who is living a (virtually) identical life. Even if I am experiencing something joyful at Penn, I cannot guarantee that you would make the same conclusions after the same experiences. The same goes for anything I complain about. Still, this post will contain objective information about the educational experience at the University of Pennsylvania.

Locust Walk, University of Pennsylvania

Notice of Americanism: I will use the term ‘college’ to refer to four-year institutions, like the University of Pennsylvania, interchangeably with the term ‘university.’ Don’t let this confuse you, my non-American reader.

Let’s jump right into how I feel about life at university in general.

College Life in General, and Independence

Hanging out with friends. Finding a solitary spot in a silent location to read. Grabbing breakfast on the go. Running across campus between classes. Studying together for an impending midterm. Going downtown to shop. Attending a show by various campus performing arts groups. Doing laundry—and rushing to catch the washing machine before someone else claims it. Sleeping after 3 a.m. Learning to deal with loud neighbours.

Those are just some of the things that seem to define college life. There is so much flexibility and freedom that students must take advantage of, which, of course, come with a great burden of responsibility. There is no longer a parent looking over my shoulder, telling me to sleep, calling me downstairs to dinner, or worrying if my whereabouts are unknown during the wee hours of the night. Meeting with friends is a decision to be made on my own; there is no one to consult anymore.

I enjoy this kind of lifestyle. Many high school students seek the sort of independence that living on their own provides. Going to school very far from home certainly adds to that aspect of independence. It’s also different, I would surmise, even for those who are accustomed to life at a boarding school, since there are few boundaries or rules enforced by the institution with regards to a student’s personal life and activities.

A very real problem for college students—at least, those who care.

It’s important, as an independent young adult, to balance my priorities, just as it is for all others undergoing post-secondary education. College life invariably means some mixture of academic work with extracurricular involvement and socializing. Sleep is in the list of three things to pick from mostly because it is a biological necessity. At times, it truly takes effort to complete a lab report, write an essay for Intro to Bioengineering, prepare for a physics quiz, and get enough sleep (but not too much, since the lab starts at 9 in the morning)—all in one night.

Academics at Penn

 That brings us to the academics. Penn is, of course, an Ivy League peer, and has a reputation built on its standards, in addition to its opportunities. (That’s not to suggest that other universities, such as Stanford, MIT, Duke, Chicago, or Berkeley, do not match or exceed us in their own ways.)

The University of Pennsylvania offers a full range of programs, from the oft-ridiculed Communications major in the College of Arts and Sciences (henceforth “College” with a capital C) or the Finance concentration that might as well become Wharton’s core curriculum, to the typical pre-med Biological Basis of Behavior (BBB) major with an 88% med school acceptance rate, to such competitive cross-school dual degree programs such as the Jerome Fisher Program in Management & Technology (M&T), the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business, and the Vagelos Program in Life Sciences and Management (Vagelos LSM). Penn’s most heavily burdened (you might say overworked) students are often found in M&T, the Vagelos Scholars Program in Molecular Life Sciences (Vagelos MLS), and the dual-degree program in Nursing and Health Care Management. Then there’s the new Integrated Studies program, in which students live together and learn to approach problems from an interdisciplinary perspective, just like the polymaths of the Renaissance.

Penn provides the opportunities for a motivated student to learn to his or her heart’s content. There’s also a great amount of flexibility to take classes in other undergraduate schools. For instance, although I am enrolled in the School of Engineering and Applied Science (henceforth “SEAS” or “Engineering”), I am taking a macroeconomics course in the College, a statistics course and an accounting course in Wharton next semester. Strong undergraduates are also able to take graduate-level (e.g. MBA or Master’s) classes with approval. Benjamin Franklin Seminars, too, provide enrichment at a level unusual for undergraduate education.

None of this, however, means that classes are insurmountable. 4.0 GPAs are, at least through the first year or two, achievable—and in tough classes, too. Due to the holistic admissions process, the student body is diverse enough to comprise individuals who are, variously, strong in academics (96% of students were in the top decile of their class in high school), leadership, or athletics (and not necessarily all of the above). The grading policies, which usually grant grades on a curve, also account for variations in difficulty across sections and courses. Consequently, the “true” academic stars—especially those who find little trouble adjusting to university—will continue to receive top grades, even if they elect to take Honours classes or place out using AP credit. (Students whose marks in high school were inflated, or who are valuable to the university community for reasons other than academic excellence, may be disappointed to learn of their actual achievement at Penn.)

While Penn lacks the kind of core curriculum that other institutions such as Columbia, Duke, and Chicago have embraced, each of the undergraduate schools at Penn (College, Engineering, Wharton, Nursing) has designed common requirements that encourage a balanced education. All freshmen must take a writing seminar. Most undergrads, except those in Engineering, have a foreign language requirement as well. Wharton freshmen take a portfolio of classes across departments so that they can sample the various concentrations before focusing their path. College students have General Education requirements such as Formal Reasoning & Analysis to build a reasonable liberal arts foundation. Engineering majors also need to fulfill Social Science and Humanities requirements, including a depth requirement in one specific field.

Fisher Fine Arts Library, University of Pennsylvania

Academic Support & Resources

I’ll just summarize some of the amazing resources that we have access to:

• A tremendous library system, with interlibrary loans within the entire Ivy League + MITas well as another exchange with colleges in the neighbouring Pennsylvania region
  • Thorough access to online scholarly databases, electronic guidebooks and collections
  • Study spaces that can be reserved for group collaboration in all of the libraries, many College Houses, and some buildings where classes are held (notably Jon M. Huntsman Hall)
  • Powerful computing hardware and software, with multimedia suites and even rooms for film/audio editing
• Countless free tutoring services for students who need help and a centre for learning disabilities, another for writing, etc etc etc…
• Professors, many of them enthusiastic and knowledgeable about their fields of teaching and research, who are directly accessible during office hours
• A center for undergraduate research to connect students with such enrichment opportunities
• Academic enrichment in College Houses through residential programs and coordinated activities (for example, certain professors who live in Ware College House help students with paper-writing)
• Faculty advisors and peer mentors who guide students through course/curriculum planning—some are unhelpful, but my faculty advisor is knowledgeable and amazing
• Study-abroad and exchange programs to broaden students’ perspectives
• An office for career services to assist with career planning, graduate admissions, and employment search—from the time of matriculation to the end of an alumnus’s life

Sound like an ad? This isn’t meant to be; I’ve personally seen and/or used many of these resources. When a university is this great, students like me become their best salespeople.

4-year graduation rate: 92%
6-year graduation rate: 96%

Student-to-faculty ratio: 6:1

To put it succinctly, if you are a high school student with your sights set on elite American universities, do not dismiss the University of Pennsylvania.

Living & Social Life

“Okay, I get it,” you say. “Penn is a great school. But I don’t want my four years just to be about my education—I want to meet people and have fun too!”

You’re reading the right post.

The student population at Penn is diverse. Some people excel at certain academic areas, while others have non-academic skills in networking or community service. Some are boundlessly passionate about politics, while others might focus their passion on computing and technology, and yet others choose music and the arts. Some come from Philadelphia, while others hail from halfway across the globe. Some are the first in their families to go to college, while others are the sons and daughters of doctors, lawyers, or professors. Some receive federal Pell Grants and Penn’s generous no-loan financial aid, while others’ families pay tuition and fees in full. Some are staunch atheists, while others are devout Christians; yet others make up a large Jewish population. While we each seek out friends with whom we share commonalities, we also learn to appreciate them for their differences.

In my first semester, I realized how much I loved my College House. For those of you who are unaware, Penn’s residence system isn’t just a bunch of dorms and buildings; immense communities exist within them, and they are often freshmen’s first place to make friends. Residential programs, such as the Study of Infectious Diseases floor in Ware (in which I currently reside), create clusters of like-minded individuals who have common interests and who take part in enrichment activities. Study breaks, hall brunches, house dinners, orchestra/ballet outings… all serve to foster student communities that are inextricably linked with the faculty of the House.

Stepping outside the safe haven of the Quad, one finds 468 student organizations, with clubs for people of every background and interest. Ethnic groups, faith-based groups, performing arts groups, student government groups, civic groups, publications, LGBT support groups… the list goes on and on. Those who are so inclined may party with the fraternities and sororities and pledge starting in the spring of freshman year. Those who don’t crave these groups will still build their own friend groups out of shared interests and existing friendships; I know my friends and I are totally capable of enjoying ourselves on our own.

Alcohol and drugs are, like at any other university, a part of some students’ lives. (Alcohol more so than drugs.) One might even say that it’s part of the act of networking. Even aside from frat parties, clubs usually have casual BYOs at restaurants, creating chances for students to socialize in a different kind of atmosphere. It speaks volumes, however, that students take part in mandatory alcohol/substance education prior to freshman year, and those who choose not to partake in these activities are in no means obligated to; there is no widespread campus culture of substance abuse. Although underage drinking is illegal, the university seeks to rehabilitate rather than punish students who do so. Disciplinary action for underage drinking in the College Houses usually consists of a mandatory session with a trained counsellor, and rarely progresses much further. A liberal medical amnesty policy ensures students’ safety and health above all concerns of disciplinary responses.

If you want something to do aside from student clubs, house activities, parties, and BYOs, there’s always downtown Philadelphia (Center City) a few subway or trolley stops away. Restaurants, malls, the orchestra and ballet, and classy as well as quirky shops can all be located on the other side of the river. If you like to play sports, Penn Park was recently built and boasts tennis courts, soccer and baseball fields… not to mention the picnic area.

Penn Park

What does all this mean?

Allow me to be blunt and straightforward:

I have greatly enjoyed my first semester at Penn, and cannot wait to see what the next three and a half years will bring.

If you are a student in high school, I want you to come to Penn. I don’t know what effect this post will have had on you, but I hope you get the idea: I love it here. I think you would, too.

Back in the days before I applied to Penn, I posted about the 5 best university admissions videos. If nothing else, I implore you at least to take a look at Penn’s.

This last video isn’t targeted to admissions, but it also captures the university in film.

Happy New Year’s, everyone.

- Frederick J. Ding

Accounting for stops and detours, and the little walk I took at the lake shore, Google Maps estimates a 17.4 kilometre trip, or 3 hours and 32 minutes of walking time if I had walked continuously.

Timeline

According to the audio clips I recorded in Evernote, text messages and instant messaging chats…

• 10:00 exactly — Arrived at Finch Avenue & Yonge Street
• 10:14 — spent almost exactly 15 minutes at Staples, bought a pack of pens
• 10:37 — bought a 1.5 L bottle of water from Shoppers Drug Mart
• 10:40 — reached government office and got out at 10:45
• 10:58 — took a detour around the Yonge/401 intersection because that’s how the sidewalk works on the East side of Yonge Street
• The next half hour-ish — walked through sparsely populated area with huge houses, hills upon hills, and large open green spaces/parks
• 11:38 or so — arrived at Starbucks in an affluent uptown area and ordered a light ice green tea lemonade; by the way, the wifi signal is really weak at this place

Light ice green tea lemonade from a certain Starbucks

Amount of ice left over -- not bad!

• 11:57 — observed person walking by with a Harvard T-shirt
• 12:21 — reached Elginton Avenue & Yonge Street and at last observed lots and lots of people
• 12:27 — light drizzle; first hints of impending rain
• 12:50 — reached St. Clair Avenue & Yonge Street; things are looking okay for a short moment
• 12:55 — suddenly heavy rain begins; ran a distance holding umbrella before pausing under a bridge
• 13:00 — reached another Starbucks; ordered a sweetened iced coffee with soy milk that came in this cup:

Is that blood?

• 13:25 — okay, enough rest (although still hungry!); the rain stopped a while ago, so I returned to walking down Yonge Street
• 13:35 — reached Bloor Street & Yonge Street; this is such a vibrant part of the city
• 13:44 — reached Wellesley Street & Yonge Street
• 13:50 — passed College Park and got to the construction site at Gerrard Street & Yonge Street; the crowd is getting bigger
• 13:56 — beginning of a one-hour–long visit to the World’s Biggest Bookstore and a nifty little place called BMV Books right next to it

A not unordinary sight on a Toronto street

A whole row of APA Publication Manuals!

After I left the bookstore around 14:55, I stopped keeping track of where I was at given points in time. After eating lunch, I proceeded down Yonge Street, used my receipt from a previous Starbucks purchase to buy a light ice black tea lemonade for $2 + tax…

… and walked all the way to the lake, arriving at around 15:40.

Lake shore at Queen's Quay & Yonge Street

I walked around a little near the lakefront area before returning home. There’s a video on Google+ if you’re a friend.

Reflections

Taking this walk through Toronto allowed me to appreciate the city once more for its diversity, its liveliness and the rapidity with which things are changing. This is still a city I love and one to which I hope to return.

It was interesting to note the pockets of activity along Yonge Street: a busy block in North York from North York Centre to Sheppard; an uptown district north of Lawrence; a heavily business-oriented area around Eglinton; general shopping facilities between St. Clair & Bloor; an area of total randomness south of Bloor; huge crowds south of College; even denser population moving about the Eaton Centre; a banking/corporate region near King… Each region gradually faded into the next, with some exceptions. (It was uneventful in some of the areas—especially between the 401 and Lawrence; there aren’t a lot of buildings around in those parts.)

If you’re a Torontonian (or someone who lives North of Toronto) with a day to spare (preferably a weekday…), consider trying this walk. Make sure you bring sunglasses (I forgot them), an umbrella just in case (I had to use mine), sunscreen, water (I bought a bottle and a bunch of drinks) and probably some snacks (I brought along chips).

(By the way, this entire walk is a lot more fun when one has someone with whom to talk! So if I know you in real life, we can try doing another one of these this month!)

Toronto is a city worth exploring. This is just the beginning.

I ran into this puzzling CAPTCHA today. Although I clicked the refresh button to get a new image, I’ve been wondering whether I should have just typed in

\sum\limits^\infty_{m=1} \text{Itithe}

For those of you unfamiliar with LaTeX: that code is rendered as

But a few minutes later, anyone looking out would see an immensely beautiful rainbow spanning the dusk sky. This is the rainbow at dusk, after the storm.

A beautiful rainbow panorama

I don’t purport to be a photography expert, but this is a beautiful rainbow. Click on the picture to see a larger file.

Richmond Hill High School

This was a photo that I took of Richmond Hill High School on March 15, 2008. It was originally meant for my international exchange application, but when I realized how nice it was after getting it (and 94 other photos) developed at Costco, I decided to share it.

The same photo has also been uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, with the filename “Richmond Hill High School.jpg”. I’ve also edited the Wikipedia page for the school to add this picture.

You are free to re-use this image however you wish, compliant with the licensing terms I’ve outlined on the page at Wikimedia Commons: if you live anywhere outside of Canada, you are subject to the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. If you are a Canadian resident, you may choose between the terms of that license and the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada License.

You can find more pictures that I’ve uploaded to Flickr by going to my profile.