A Day in My Life

There really is no "typical" day at Penn (especially since you never know who or what you might see on Locust Walk!), but here’s a little glimpse into my life as a Psychology student at Penn.

9am: Wake up and make a quick breakfast in my apartment. My go-to is oatmeal with peanut butter and bananas since it’s quick and dorm-friendly!

10am: Meet my friend, Ellie, to walk over to class together.

10:15-11:15am: Social statistics lecture. Every psych student has to take statistics. I highly recommend SOCI 120 because it is geared towards the social sciences and really prepares you to participate in research!

11:30am: Grab a quick lunch from Pret or Gourmet Grocer and bring it back to my apartment to eat while doing some work. I have a few cases to read for my Legal Studies class on Tuesday, so I get started on that.

3:30pm: Marketing 101 lecture. A really awesome part about Penn is that you can take classes in any of the four schools (and even the grad schools, too!). I am pursuing a minor in Consumer Psychology, a joint degree between the College and Wharton, so I study the intersection of marketing and psychology! It’s super interesting and supplements my liberal arts education with more of a pre-professional focus.

5:15pm: Developmental psychology lecture. This is, hands down, one of my favorite classes I’ve taken at Penn! Our professor usually brings in guest speakers in careers related to psychology; we’ve had a clinical psychologist, family lawyer, and child life specialist come to our class, just to name a few!

7pm: Meet my roommates at Commons to eat dinner. We chat about our day, share funny stories, and enjoy taking a break from schoolwork. My favorite foods at the dining hall: turkey burgers, mac n cheese, and the chocolate cake!

8-10pm: Dance rehearsal! I head to our campus gym, Pottruck, to rehearse for an upcoming football game performance with my dance team, the Quaker Girls. It’s a great way to let off steam and be active.

10pm: Head back to my apartment and finish up some work for tomorrow or chill with my roommates if I finished everything for the night.

Midnight: Bedtime! I have an 8:30am tomorrow so I try to get as much sleep as I can!

- Jules P.

The Best Spots on Campus for Every Type of Study Session

There’s a varied spectrum of study styles and moods; sometimes I need a silent environment, but sometimes I want to be surrounded by other people. No matter your preferences, Penn has got a spot for you!

The midterm cram session:

Need a place to really hunker down and get your work done? Van Pelt is the obvious choice. Every Van Pelt frequenter has strong opinions on their favorite floor: some say the 6th is super quiet, while others are partial to the basement. Try out the different floors to find the best fit for your study mood. Pro tip: reserve a GSR or booth ahead of time to get a quiet, private space. Other solid options are the Hill study lounge and Penn Museum Library.

The unproductive, yet fun group study session:

If you’re anything like me and my friends, group studying usually means we talk more than we study. For a chatter-friendly spot, I recommend Panera, Houston Hall, or a high-rise rooftop lounge!

The “romanticize-your-life” study session:

Fisher Fine Arts Library—duh! The red hues, ornate windows and wall carvings, as well as the domed ceiling, give off major light academia vibes! It’s like a little slice of Hogwarts right here in Philadelphia.

The “coffee shop” study sesh: 

There’s certainly no shortage of Starbucks and Dunkins around campus, but for insta-worthy pics and pretty decent coffee, there’s some better alternatives. United By Blue has a cozy ambience and plenty of seating. Bonus: you can fuel your essay writing with one of their vegan treats! For more minimalistic vibes, Joe’s Cafe is a great spot to work. The best part? They take dining dollars!

The “gotta get out of my room” study session:

There’s nothing quite like studying outside on a sunny day. Besides the laptop glare and lack of access to outlets, studying outdoors is the best way to take advantage of the few days of good weather. Lucky for us, Penn has a ton of green spaces! In the springtime, I love to set up shop in the corner tables tucked away by Annenberg because it’s surrounded by tulips! Other great spots are the bio pond, high rise field, and the tables next to Fisher Fine Arts.

Spruce up your studying by trying out a new spot. Who knows! It might amp up your productivity and become your new go-to!

-Jules P.

Penn Face

One of the most intimidating things you hear about going into the University of Pennsylvania is the illustrious "Penn Face." Penn Face is a very real thing; everyone around you will seem like they have a concrete plan for their future, and that they know exactly what they're doing in life. It certainly gets very overwhelming at times.

During our current transition from online courses to in person classes, it has been a very rough adjustment period. In one of my chemistry study groups, there was one night where we all sat and talked about our mental health and the problems we were experiencing. This is definitely one of the most unifying experiences I have had so far at Penn. It reminded me that we're all just students on an even playing field trying as hard as we can to succeed. It's very helpful to remember that we are all going through struggles, and we're never truly alone. 

-Adrien W.

My Experience with ISP

Coming into the College, I was interested in many different subjects in humanities and science. With my diverse interests, I applied to the Integrated Studies Program (ISP) to explore different courses while completing Gen Ed requirements.

The first semester was hard. Being both at home and taking online classes, I missed out on one of the main benefits of being in ISP: tight-knit community and living in Hill. Initially I had considered myself a “humanities person”, but nine grueling essays later I was contemplating dropping ISP after the first semester. I told myself that being in the program was a mistake. 

Eventually I decided to stick with the program, just because I was interested in the material taught during the second semester: religious despair and positive psychology. For context, each ISP course takes up 2 credits of your freshman year school, and you take one course in the fall and one in the spring. Each course is taught by two professors from different “streams”, or areas of expertise and the purpose is to think about the courses as a whole to discover new insights. The two streams in each semester vary year by year. 

While I can’t say that BFS was the best experience, I appreciate how the material engaged me and taught me to think from other perspectives. Writing essays challenged me to be a better thinker and reading the books required made me think beyond my current struggles. Doing BFS also made me realize that I didn’t enjoy humanities as much as I thought I did, and that I was actually more of a STEM person!

- Leilei H.

Up Close at the Penn Museum

One of my favorite things about Penn is that we have so many resources and opportunities, whether they be in arts, culture, or STEM, at our fingertips to enhance our classroom educations. Instead of heading to the classroom in Williams Hall for my Art History recitation, the past two Fridays I have taken the slightly longer walk to the Penn Museum, where we had class in the galleries. My TA lead our class through the Ancient Near East galleries, where we looked at cylinder seals, cuneiform tablets, and other amazing artifacts from the royal tombs of ancient Mesopotamia.

The next week, we held class in a collection room, where papyrus scrolls from ancient Egypt had been laid out specifically for our class' close observation. Because of COVID, this was my first experience having a college class outside the classroom, and as a lover of museums in general, it couldn't have been a better one. It was incredible to be able to read about artifacts in the textbook, hear my professor describe them in lecture, and then only a few days later take a ten minute walk and see those same artifacts in person.

Spending time at the museum and seeing the objects up close added to my experience taking an Art History class because it made the art and the civilizations that we had been discussing that much more real, and I think it's awesome that Penn students get to supplement classroom experiences with such cool outside experiences. I will definitely be going back to the museum on my own time, but I hope I'll get to go again for classes as well. 

- Lucy K.

Finding Your Major through Intro Courses

Going into college I always thought I wanted to be a doctor. At a young age, my vascular surgeon grandfather would force me to sit down and study surgeries with him. Since then, my love for health care and medicine only grew.

But when I got to Penn, and took CHEM-101, all of that changed. I was struggling to keep up with the problem sets and understand the complex way chemicals interact with one another. I toughed it out in Chem but luckily, during my second semester at Penn I got exposure to a new major that I had never heard of: Health and Societies. My major advisor told me I should take an intro HSOC course and I truly fell in love. I was able to look at healthcare from an entirely new perspective, focusing on populations instead of individuals and making a larger impact on the world.

With 6 different concentrations, HSOC is so broad but you have the ability to focus on whatever you feel most passionate about. This experience taught me the importance of keeping an open mind. Just because you think you might know what you want to major in, doesn't mean you should close all other doors. It is also important to keep in touch with your advisor. They are here to help so use them as resources!

- Alexandra M.

So, What's Your Major?

“So, what’s your major?”. For many, this is just an ice-breaker—a go-to query to prevent awkward lulls in conversation—but for those of us who are undecided, it’s the dreaded question we constantly have to field at family dinners and introductions. All of freshman year I attempted to formulate an answer that didn’t make me sound like a flounderer with commitment issues:

“I’m not sure yet. Maybe anthropology?”

“Criminology looks cool, but I don't know” (fun fact: Penn is the only ivy to offer a crim major!)

I switched so many times that my roommates began asking what my “major of the week” was. They thought that was funny. Me? Not so much. The problem for most of us that fall under the undecided umbrella is not a lack of interests, but too many. This produced somewhat of a dilemma when course registration rolled around: I wanted to take everything! Politics of Food? Sign me up! Infectious Diseases? Seems topical. Sex with Shakespeare? Sure, why not? Without a major to guide my choices, I didn’t feel pressure to pursue only one path. I dipped my toes in just about everything, satiating my curiosity while allowing myself to give each subject a fair shake.

While psychology turned out to be “the one”, I don’t regret any of the courses I've taken. Each one refined different skills and offered opportunities to connect with a new set of professors and students—that, my friends, is the beauty of a liberal arts education. *Eyeroll* I know, but the College is the perfect place to be undecided (even if you have to field the dreaded question until you finally figure it out).

- Julia P.

My First Superlab Experience

Signing up for a lab course where you have to design your own research project sounds intimidating, but the lab class I am taking this semester has been so much more fun and enriching than I could have ever expected. I had taken all kinds of lab classes before, particularly the intro biology, general chemistry, and organic chemistry labs. These classes were oftentimes fast paced and it was hard to build connections with other students besides your own lab partner. So when I signed up for BIOL 425 - Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics Superlab, I was expecting a very similar lab environment.

To my surprise, the lab environment of the class was extremely friendly and collaborative, facilitating great connections between me and my classmates. Although I work closely with my lab partner, we always share resources between tables and ask questions ranging anywhere from “What buffer are we using?” to “Can I look at the data you collected?” Something I particularly did not expect was how often we would actually use and analyze data from other groups in the class to make meaningful comparisons with.

Another thing the class does really well is normalizing running into problems when doing science: we come up with an idea for an experiment, try it, find out what doesn’t work, and try the experiment again with some changes. My lab group has run into our fair share of issues, whether it be accidentally putting antibodies in a negative control or having an antibody not bind to cells like we expect. However, there are never any “failures," and Dr. Wagner and Dr. Punt maintain a very positive environment while we problem solve and refine our experimental methods. They help guide the individual research projects each pair in the class is pursuing, and their insight and interest in our work is so inspiring.

Still to this day, my friends are always shocked to hear how excited I am to spend 6 hours in class (3 hours twice a week!), but it honestly is a class I would highly recommend to anyone interested in biology research!

- Viktoria B.

My Experience with the College Advisors

As I sit at the first lecture of my Intro to Data Science class I realize a wonderful thing about the College. Somehow, maybe by magic, my classes all compliment each other. However, this is no magic, rather a mix of great academic guidance.

In the College, you will have three different kinds of advisors throughout your academic career. One is the peer advisor; an upperclassman who helps you figure out where your classes are, advises you on which classes to take, as well as gives you survival tips (for example, what the best way to arrange your classes in PennInTouch is). The second is the Academic Advisor. These are advisors in the College Office who aid you in exploring possible majors. The third is the Major Advisor, which you get when you (surprise) choose a major. 

Fresh out of High School, I was completely baffled as to what I wanted to do in my time at the College. Luckily, I put time and effort into building a strong relationship with my Academic Advisor, so he could get to know me, my skills, and my potential career interests. Doing that allowed me to have a solid start to my career and academic path.

Now, looking back at my transcript, I remember the way each class complemented and balanced each other out. The knowledge I gained from my Modern Latin American History class prepared me for in-depth discussions on my U.S Intervention in Latin America class. My Intro to Psychology class facilitated my understanding of addiction, which we dove into at my Addiction: Understanding How We Get Hooked and How We Recover class. Now, as a junior, I realize that my Major Advisor’s advice on taking a language course, along with a data science course allows me to challenge myself and think in different ways.

I am thankful the College provided me with these awesome advisors, who have played a key role in my search for my passions and interests.

- Majo R.

Did I Choose Research or Did Research Choose Me?

In the fall semester of freshman year, I applied for and got my research opportunity. I would be

working in the Wenqin Luo lab in the Perelman Department of Neuroscience. Her lab focuses on

studying somatosensory behavior in mice, with a special interest in itch behavior. I was so

excited to get research experience so early, especially because at Penn, an unofficial

requirement set by Penn students is that you must get research experience by the summer

before sophomore year. Of course, I didn’t believe this because 1) research doesn’t define you,

2) it’s very hard to get research jobs because EVERYONE is trying to get one or researchers

aren’t hiring someone of lower qualifications, and 3) not everyone wants to do research. For me,

I was just happy I was getting experience so early, especially as a premed student.

Because of COVID, I wasn’t able to work in the lab until December 2020 and even that was

restricted. I was there maybe once a week or every two weeks because we were just beginning

the research process. The research stalled heavily after that because there were a few

difficulties with our original design (we needed to build a 3D camera arena to house and record

the mouse). Around March, I realized that I had nothing to do in the summer. Since high school,

I’ve always participated in some sort of academic summer program. With this in mind, I kind of

started freaking out because I knew that I needed to do something that would build my resume

and make my med school application stand out.

Then, I met my current close friend. She was a friend of a friend and I met her by chance in Hill.

We were talking about research and then she brought up autism research she was doing at

CHOP. I was so excited for her because autism research is something I’m extremely passionate

about and hope to do post-graduation. She then urged me to reach out to her linguistics

professor, who told her class about the research, and ask him if I could apply. I wasn’t too sure if

I would get it because I wasn’t his student but she sent me the email and I decided to try. Fast

forward, I’m now working at the CHOP Roberts Center for Pediatric Research doing autism

research. Soon after in May, my PI at Perelman offered me a full-time research job for the

summer to continue the mouse itch research and as a bonus, I would help a Ph.D. student with

his own research, making it a 2-in-1 opportunity.

I went from having half a research job to having three in the course of a couple months. It’s an

understatement to say my summer was extremely busy, commuting 1 hr and 15 min from

Northeast Philly to West Philly at 7 in the morning to work from 9-5 at both labs. It was very

challenging but very rewarding as well. I’m now participating in my fourth research project at

Annenberg and I couldn’t be more blessed and happy. So, what I would say to incoming

freshmen and current underclassmen is: you don’t need to be like me and be working in four

labs. If you’re lucky enough to get one, do extremely well in it and if you can’t get one freshman

year summer, don’t worry! You have so much time to get into research so just take your time

and enjoy college.

- Joyce D

Grit Lab

Taking a course with a world famous psychologist feels intimidating, until you actually start

learning from them. When I originally heard about Dr. Angela Duckworth’s inaugural version of

Grit Lab, I was intrigued. The syllabus claimed that this class would teach you about the basics

of grit and teach you how to apply it to your own life, and in turn, maybe some certainty about

what you want to do with your life after college. I wanted to learn more about what makes

people successful and content in their jobs. As a sophomore on the verge of declaring my major,

it felt like a good fit.

I applied and miraculously got in through a completely random lottery system. The course had

generated a lot of buzz before course selection had even opened up, demonstrating how badly

college students want assurance and certainty about their lives before they even happen. I felt

lucky, but a little bit uncomfortable—what was I going to do with this exclusive opportunity to

learn from the best of the best about grit and positive psychology as a student not majoring in

psychology?

As I felt with most new things, I walked in with intimidation. I didn’t know what to expect from

this class, or the larger program it was housed in, the brand new Stavros Niarchos Foundation

Paideia Program. We were quickly assigned seats (which, even for a grown woman, felt oddly

relieving!), given notebooks, stickers, pins, and a copy of Dr. Duckworth’s influential book, Grit:

The Power of Passion and Perseverance, which would serve as our textbook. The format would

be simple: weekly meetings consisting of three hours, which would be broken up into sections

and peppered with breaks (even as a person who is no longer considered a child, I can’t bring

myself to sit down for 3 hours straight!).

The first section would consist of a lecture from Dr. Duckworth, followed by a discussion with a

new person each week. We were told that each week, in order to facilitate conversations, we

must sit next to a different person each week. The discussion would sometimes be facilitated by

our teaching assistant—mine was a former NFL player turned Ph.D student (nuts, I know!). The

last section would consist of a Q&A with a Penn alum who Dr. Duckworth felt embodied

principles of grit, alums like Kathryn Minshew (CEO of The Muse), Sophie Beren (founder of

The Conversationalist), Brett Perlmutter (founder and CEO of Google Cuba), and Kayvon

Asemani, (Product Manager at Facebook).

I won’t spoil the class for you in the case that you come to Penn and decide to take this class

yourself, but even though it got interrupted by the COVID–19 pandemic and had to transition to

the virtual space, the wisdom still wasn’t lost. I found myself more motivated than ever to

identify my passions, work hard to follow through on goals derived from my passions, and ask

for lots of advice along the way.

- Karin H.

Cogno Interview Series: My Friend Michelle

One of my favorite things about Penn is being able to meet people from all walks of life. I met my friend Michelle at our annual Student Activities Council (SAC) fair, an event that exposes students to all the different clubs at Penn. We struck up a casual conversation at a club booth and became friends through that club. Like many students, her time at Penn has been unique, so I thought I would ask her a few questions.

1) What year are you and where are you from?

A: I am originally from Jackson, Tennessee and I am part of the Class of 2023.

2) Why did you choose Penn?

A: I chose Penn mainly because I fell in love with the city of Philly. Living in a city has enhanced my college experience, and I know I made the right choice. 

 3)  What are you studying?

 A: I am on the pre-med track majoring in medical sociology with a minor in neuroscience. 

 4) What is your favorite course that you have taken?

 A: My favorite course was a Poverty and Inequality freshman seminar with Regina Baker. I thought I wanted to be a neuroscience major, but taking this course made me realize my interest in sociology. I really want to learn more about the intersection of healthcare and inequality.

 5) What club do you enjoy the most?

 A: I really enjoy the new club of UNAIDS, which is a club I helped start with a girl that went to my high school. 

 6) What do you like to do in your free time?

 A: I don’t have much free time, but when I do, I love to exercise to work off stress, hang out with friends, listen to music, and bake.

 7) What advice do you have to give to incoming freshmen? 

A: The advice I would give a freshman would be that you need to learn how to be alone. There is a common feeling of “imposter syndrome” and “FOMO,”  especially among freshmen. However, a little bit of alone time can be good to recuperate and recharge. 

- Ami I.

Cogno Interview Series: My Friend and Roommate, Emilie

I met Emilie our first year through the Wharton Latino Undergraduate Association, which is basically a group for Latin American students (although you don't have to be in Wharton or be from Latin America to become a part of it!). Initially, we bonded because of the similarities in our cultures, as she is from Puerto Rico and I'm from Mexico, but our friendship now goes beyond that. I enjoy talking to her about classes because of how different the curriculum for our majors is even though we're both in the same school at Penn.
Q: What are you studying?
A: I'm studying Neuroscience, with minors in Chem; Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies; and Healthcare Management.
Q: Why did you pick your major?
A: I picked my major because it's really aligned with what I want to study. I'm pre med, so I thought neuroscience really brought in all the aspects of science, but also anatomy and physiology. I also think it's really interesting to learn about the brain, so that's why I picked it.
Q: What extracurriculars are you involved in?
A: I'm Marketing Director for Manana, which is basically a nonprofit that works for celebrating underprivileged kids' lives. I do research at the Center for Neurobiology and Behavior—I'm researching the genetics of psychiatric disease. I'm in the Penn Women's Biomedical Society in the membership committee, and I'm in Wharton Latino.
Q: What do you like about the College of Arts and Sciences?
A: You can take classes that are so different from each other. For example, my Neuroscience classes are super different from my Gender Studies classes. For me, I knew what I wanted to study when I got into Penn. But I know for a lot of people they like that they can explore different areas before choosing a major. I also like that, even though I already came in knowing that I wanted to be pre med, I could still take classes that were completely different to that.
Q: What piece of advice do you have for incoming first-years or prospective students?
A: I would say keep an open mind. I think that definitely, when I got to Penn, I kind of just stayed in the STEM mindset. And then as I got older, I realized that there's so many more cool classes in the College that aren't necessarily aligned with what I want to study. But that really interests me. So I would say definitely, every semester, look for at least one class that you find super interesting, even if it's not directly related to what you want to study because you could find out so many things about yourself through taking different classes.
Q: How did you meet people or make friends at Penn?
A: Yeah, so originally the first people from Penn that I met, I met them at an event for accepted students that they had back home in Puerto Rico. So those are the people I knew coming in, but really the majority of my friends I met through clubs, like Wharton Latino or through my classes, like the pre-meds, and things like that. I would say mainly clubs and classes.

- Fernanda B.

Cogno Interview Series: My Friend Alea

I met my friend Alea ('21) sophomore year when we both joined Penn's Medical Emergency Response Team (MERT) as EMT's. Through our shared shifts and meetings, we have grown extremely close. Alea has an interesting path of study which I thought would be great to highlight!

Q: What is your major/minors?

A: My major is Health and Societies (HSOC) with a concentration in Global Health. I am also minoring in Neuroscience and Chemistry.

Q: How did you pick your major?

A: I picked HSOC after taking HSOC 010 on a whim with the amazing Andi Johnson. I went on to take HSOC 150 with her and her courses inspired me to pursue a thesis in the dept. However, I’ve also always been intrigued by the sciences and ended up taking neuro classes out of pure interest, so I ended up deciding to minor in it.

Q: What extracurriculars are you involved in and why did you join them?

A: I am involved with Penn Symphony Orchestra, GlobeMed at Penn, and Penn MERT. These clubs, all of which I have been involved in since freshman/sophomore year, represent my three passions – music, global health, and emergency medicine. I’ve played the violin since elementary school, and PSO has been one of my strongest communities at Penn since the first week of my freshman year. Both MERT and GlobeMed have allowed me to engage with the Penn community from a service perspective and motivated me to eventually pursue an MD/MPH.

Q: What is your favorite thing about the College of Arts and Sciences?

A: I really appreciate how the College allows us to take pretty advanced classes outside of our major without having to complete multiple prerequisites beforehand. For example, I am currently enrolled in my first Near Eastern Language and Civilizations (NELC) seminar ever on Middle Eastern migration. It’s only a 15 person class and involves topics which I’m not super familiar with; however, it’s given me the opportunity to pursue classwork I’m deeply interested in, even if it’s outside my major (I wrote my HSOC thesis on healthcare for refugees in Philadelphia, many of whom migrated from MENA countries).

Q: What do you wish you had done differently or what advice do you have to incoming freshmen?

A: I wish I had given myself more of a chance to explore certain College gen ed classes to help me decide on a major rather than jumping straight into a certain curriculum. I declared HSOC pretty late in my sophomore year, and I wish I had discovered HSOC courses earlier so I could take more of them across my time at Penn.

-Kaitlyn B.

Sci-Fi Literature

I’m a second semester senior, but it doesn’t feel real. I still think I’m a freshman or sophomore with all the time left in the world, when in reality I am currently taking the last set of courses I will ever take at Penn. There are so many classes I wish I could still take, like Existential Despair (fitting), Positive Psychology, Nutrition in Nursing, anything in Wharton; however, I did manage to take one class this semester that I have had my eye on for a long time. 

Sci-fi literature taught by Dr. Kate Dorsch is a course in the Science, Technology and Society (STSC) department. I found the class on our course database simply by typing in the phrase “science” and scrolling through the results for something exciting to take my senior year. As a huge reader and a massive sci-fi fan, I knew this would be the perfect class for me. 

Each week, we read excerpts or watch clips from some of the greatest sci-fi works in history, starting from as far back as pieces from the Industrial revolution to modern movies such as Black Panther. Assigned novels for the course include some of my all time favorites like Orwell’s 1984. Dr. Dorsch explained that the syllabus changes each time she teaches the course, as she allows students to make suggestions for changes and new novels to include. 

My advice for current and future Penn students is to start taking classes you are passionate about earlier on during your time here. While I don’t think my experience was lacking (I thoroughly enjoyed all of the 400 level Biology classes I took for my masters and journalism courses for my minor), I definitely wish I had begun exploring all of the incredible departments here much sooner. 

- Kaitlyn B.

The Importance of the Staff and Faculty in the Penn Community

Something that will naturally occur during your college experience is building relationships with faculty and staff, which has probably been one of my favorite aspects of Penn. The staff and faculty have been able to get me through some of my toughest times in college. 

My go-to place on campus to get lunch (during a normal semester) is a salad place in Houston Hall called Ivy Leaf. Because I am a regular at  Ivy Leaf, I have been able to develop a relationship with the workers there- specifically a woman named Dawn. Dawn is like my mother away from home because every time I see her, she has a radiant smile on her face and greets me with her signature warm bear hug (obviously during pre-pandemic times). 

One of my fondest encounters with Dawn was back in February. It was one of those days where everything that could possibly go wrong went wrong- I was running a slight fever and had scheduled an appointment with Student Health Services later that day, I had performed poorly on a midterm, and on top of that, I was having some friendship drama. I stopped by Ivy Leaf to get lunch on the way to my work-study job, and naturally, I was greeted by Dawn and her warm smile. She automatically sensed something was wrong when I approached her and left her workstation to talk with me. She then fixed me a free bowl of soup and crackers and reassured me that everything was going to be alright. Her gesture of kindness and compassion meant the world to me, and it is an amazing reflection of the staff and faculty at Penn. Dawn is just one of the many great people in the Penn community that make this campus an amazing place. 

-  Ami I

Pre-Professional Greek Life

Before coming to college, I was unsure about a lot of things, but one thing I knew for certain: I would not rush Greek Life. I thought I would be too busy as a pre-med student, and did not want to go through the rush process. If I could tell my younger self now that I am now a proud sister in a sorority, she would be shocked. 

In addition to normal Greek Life, Penn has a wide variety of pre-professional sororities and fraternities, many of which are co-ed. There are several pre-law and pre-med co-ed fraternities, as well as a community service co-ed fraternity and an environmental co-ed fraternity. 

In the fall of my sophomore year, I rushed Alpha Omega Epsilon (AOE), a sorority for women in STEM. Since coming to campus, I had searched for a group of supportive girls who shared my same passion for science. I found this in AOE. 

AOE has been the best of both worlds for me. We do “typical” sorority events such as big-little week and formals, but we also do things such as professional development and mentoring with Penn grads in STEM fields. I have made incredible friendships and bonds with my sisters in AOE. For anyone looking for a great community of like minded, passionate individuals, pre-professional Greek life is an amazing option. 

- Kaitlyn B.

Small Bites, Enriching Experiences

As a freshman, I wanted to take a big bite out of Penn, enjoying everything it has to offer all at once. However, I quickly realized attempting to do this is undoubtedly a choking hazard. 

With a whopping 650 clubs at Penn, choosing which ones I wanted to join was overwhelming. So after thoughtful deliberation, I decided to take a smaller (and more manageable bite) and chose a couple of clubs that I really wanted to focus on.  

Back home, I run two organizations that contribute to my local community in Tampico, Mexico. I avidly searched for clubs on campus that allowed me to continue supporting my homeland and Latin America from Philadelphia. That’s when I found Wharton Latino! After an application process, I became part of their Philanthropy Committee, which heads the logistics for one of the club’s biggest fundraisers, the Rose Sale. 

In February of every year, you can hear Latin music blasting on speakers, and cheers of passionate members of the club selling roses on every major point on campus. This, for me, is what makes the Rose Sale so successful every year. Wharton Latino members are the best, and most energetic salesmen. That, plus their willingness to help a cause close to home, makes them the most persuasive and enthusiastic rose sellers. 

The roses are brought all the way for Colombia, and delivered around campus (on some occasions even to other cities)!  All the money raised is donated directly to the club’s designated annual charity. Last year, it was Proyecto Mayú, a charity in Venezuela providing citizens with medical aid.

Besides being able to help Latin America from afar, Rose Sale gave me fun memories. All those conversations we had as we cut thorns off roses, and all those insomnia cookies our committee heads fed us are definitely things I’ll cherish forever. 

At Penn, even clubs devoted to your old passions give you new skills, wonderful memories, and new friendships! 

- Maria R.

Asian/Pacific Islander Identity Exploration at Penn

Growing up, I did not have many opportunities to connect with my Japanese culture. When I came to Penn, I was excited to explore all it had to offer. One day, another incoming student reached out to me on social media and asked if I was interested in joining the Japan Student Association with them. We actually ended up doing this, and I was happy to find that the group welcomed students who did not necessarily speak Japanese.

Later on, a co-presenter in Cognos actually recommended that I apply for a program under the Pan-Asian American Community House (PAACH) called APALI (Asian Pacific Islander American Leadership Initiative). While I did not know much about the program at the time, it turned out to be an extremely impactful experience for me. APALI brings together students from all corners of the Asian American community at Penn to have open discussions about Asian American challenges and our cultural identities. Hearing students open up about their own experiences, struggles, and journeys changed my view on how beliefs form and develop. Additionally, APALI introduced me to a new group of students that I never would have met otherwise. Even years later, after many members of my cohort have graduated, we still keep in touch.

In an interest to continue exploring this identity, I took a course on Asian American Popular Culture. The course itself was integrated with outside activities, such as exploring the architecture of Chinatown or attending speaker events with visiting authors on campus. Throughout our discussions, we unpacked the historical context that predates our contemporary pop-culture climate. At the recommendation of students that I met through these experiences, the following year, I became involved as a mentor for the student group PEER, another PAACH organization that pairs upperclassmen with incoming Asian/Pacific Islander students at Penn. PEER, like APALI, introduced me to yet another community of people with diverse backgrounds.

This year, as a senior, I am now a facilitator for APALI. This journey has taught me so much that I cannot fit easily into words. The people I met have continued to shape me throughout my time at Penn, and I have no doubt that this impact will continue to resonate after I graduate. I think it is important to emphasize how much experiences lead to each other at Penn. Looking back, I never would have guessed that joining College Cognoscenti could lead to my involvement in multiple student organizations and new courses. 

At the end of the day, what makes Penn unique is the people. The world is vast, but I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to explore it with other students that both challenge and empower me to understand my place within it.

- Daniel K.

Discovering My Interests at Penn

Something that I love about Penn is that it encourages its students to explore different activities and pursue their interests outside of the classroom. Even though this may look different for each student, Penn definitely has something for everyone. For some it may be joining a business fraternity, for others joining a consulting club or a performing arts group on campus, for me it was joining 34th Street Magazine as a writer. 

I always knew I enjoyed writing. Growing up, I always told my parents I was going to write a book when I was older, and writing essays in high school was always one of my favorite projects. However, I never really had the opportunity to practice my writing skills outside of academic assignments. 

When I came to Penn, I discovered 34th Street Magazine, the student-run culture magazine on campus. It wasn’t until my first semester sophomore year that I decided to apply, I told myself it was “just to see what happens,” but I was met with one of the best experiences I have encountered. 

I joined Street as a beat writer for Ego, a section in which we write profiles on students and faculty members who are doing interesting things on and off campus. For this reason, I have the opportunity to interview people each week in order to write articles on their various extracurricular involvements. What I love about Ego is that it not only gives me the opportunity to improve my writing skills, but also the chance to meet interesting people at Penn each week. Since Penn is a relatively large school, meeting new people gives the opportunity to see the different communities that are alive on campus. Each week, I am introduced to facets of Penn that I don’t have the opportunity to interact with that often, which makes interviews so much more interesting. 

Thanks to 34th Street, I have the opportunity to learn skills that are extremely valuable and gain firsthand writing experience that I can’t gain by simply fulfilling assignments for class. More than anything, Street constantly exposes me to new, unique individuals, the people who undoubtedly make Penn my favorite place.

-Fernanda Brizuela