Today we toured the University of Pennsylvania.
The weather was awful, and since I'm already really stuck on Columbia it was bad news for Penn in terms of its status on my College list.
I learned a lot about the history of the school, what its strongest programs are, and what type of student they're looking for, but the tour was a total turn-off.
Our guide wasn't peppy or loud, it was pouring rain, and I just couldn't see the beauty in the school. Fortunately the group of college students we met with helped make Penn a lot more appealing. They were really nice, took us to a great philly cheesesteak restaurant and gelato place, and were all around fun to talk to. They still confirmed what I thought though, Penn isn't the school for me. However, I'm SOOO happy I went or I never would have known this.
The trip did get much better at lunch when I had my chicken philly cheese steak! AND AMAZING GELATO!!!
Then, after the train ride home, we went to suite dinner at Planet Hollywood which was AWESOME, THEN WE WENT SHOPPING!!! My day seriously picked up and I FINALLY got my salsa dress :-D ! [Yueming and Michelle might be the only ones to get that one] I had a good day overall, but I really wish we had gotten all of the college tours out of the way at the beginning. It's not that they aren't awesome, it's just that the Columbia program has such AWESOME things to do on the weekends (museums, plays, all kinds of field trips) that we totally feel like we're missing out. Definitely keep that in mind for next year!
Beulah,
ReplyDeleteWell, this trip to the land of the Quakers wasn't a total waste. You learned that UPenn isn't right for you and you got a nice sandwich and gelato.
For the record, though, and I don't care what they may have told you, having a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich with chicken instead of beef is but a mere imitation. For all intents and purposes, you were cheated. It may have been a good sandwich but they just shouldn't have called it a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich.
At least the latter part of your day went well.
We hear what you say about lumping the college tours all at the beginning and end of the trip to free up your weekends. I hope you understand, though, that adding a day at either end costs us about $350 per student. Add it all up for the 29 of you and we're talking about better than ten grand. For that kind of money, we could send most of two more students back East. Even with the tours, you all were still given six days completely to yourselves for shopping, museums and such. At the end of the day, we need to keep in mind the purpose of sending you to these schools. We want o maintain a balance, though, to allow the locale to soak in as well as the book learning.
Beulah,
ReplyDeleteI almost forgot: I'm so glad you included that great photo of Michelle. The look on her face says it all.