University of Pennsylvania by Fintan O’Toole
In my freshman year of high school, I never thought my dream university would be eight minutes from my front door. I dreamed of the sunny skies of Stanford, the roaring crowds of Notre Dame, and the beautiful greens of Virginia- but never the West Philadelphia haven that is University of Pennsylvania. However, four long years later, I find myself no longer dreaming, but in fact living the reality as a Penn student. The first thing that strikes you as a student of Benjamin Franklin’s proud University is the instant immersion into a history and tradition of which you are now a member. The beautiful architecture of College Hall and Fisher Fine Arts Library dot a College Green landscape that has been bustling since 1740. A quick turn left and you are staring at Locust Walk, a one of a kind city block covered in Ivy Day stones connecting the classes of the past centuries. Whether it is throwing toast at the end of the third quarter at Franklin Field or warily navigating your way down the Colosseum-like steps of the Palestra, the sports tradition is something in which we pride ourselves. Every step on Penn’s campus can be uplifting due to its historic precedence, and on stressful days it is truly difficult to stay down when you have this campus surrounding you. As a student, I am privileged to take courses in some of Philadelphia’s most historic and aesthetic buildings taught by some of the area’s brightest minds, providing a pretty tough defense against EVER skipping a class. Declaring College of Arts and Sciences as an Economics major equips me with the ability to quench the thirst for knowledge in all aspects of my personality; my freshman year enabled me to take courses in Mathematics, Economics, Greek History, Health Care Management, and so much more. The work is at times very difficult, but it is the pervasive collaborative culture at Penn that ensures everyone will be just fine. People may say certain colleges are most appealing because of academics, party atmosphere, sports culture, or a thousand other reasons. In my mind, however, every college kid wants to, above all else, find a home away from home. And though my actual house may only be a mere 8 minutes away, University of Pennsylvania has established itself unequivocally as my second home.
