Pre-Professionalism at Penn

I have frequently been asked during cognoscenti presentations about Penn’s school culture, so I thought I’d write about one common question. While my opinion is just n=1, here are some of my thoughts on pre-professionalism at Penn:

Is Penn Pre-Professional?

Yes, I think so. However, I think it is mostly due to the existence of specialized undergraduate schools like Nursing, Engineering and Wharton as well as programs like LSM, VIPER, or Huntsman that seem to pigeonhole students into very specific courses of study. These specialized programs make people consider their career trajectories early on. With this, it is much easier to look for research, internships, and extracurriculars that match their interests. It’s crazy to think that out of high school, some students knew that they wanted to study life science and business, or do energy research. Good for them! That is really cool. But it’s also perfectly okay if you don’t know what you want to do.

Okay, But Are People in College Pre-Professional?

There is a great diversity in terms of levels of pre-professionalism in the College, but the curriculum is built to serve people on either ends. There are many people in the College that come undeclared, or have no idea what they want to do as a career after graduation. Tracks like BFS and ISP enable students to explore many different classes. The foundations and sector requirements are also a great way to explore classes while still completing requirements to be on track to graduation. Even after declaring a major, there are differences in concentrations or classes you can take depending on what interests you in the major. Some majors, like cognitive science, enable you to take classes from multiple departments: from linguistics to computer science to neuroscience. On the other hand, majors like mathematics include classes almost exclusively from the math department. Some people choose to complement their major in the college with a second major in computer science from the Engineering school. Others take inter school minors with Wharton (like consumer psychology) or Nursing (like nutrition) to supplement their major in the College. There are of course many people who don’t do any of that, and explore only majors and minors from just affiliated with the College.

What Do You Think Of the Pre-Professionalism Culture? 

Personally, I think a healthy amount of pre-professionalism is important at the undergraduate level. I am inspired by how driven my peers are and how invested they are towards their future career development. I have friends that I know who will be fantastic surgeons and those who are already programmers at big tech companies. Recruiters also frequently come to our campus, making opportunities like that more readily available for all students. While it could be easy to feel peer pressured into certain professions just because everyone around you is doing the same, most people I know have a passion for their interests and take their own spins on their education here at Penn to prepare them for life after college.

- Leilei H.