The University of Pennsylvania

Philadephia is a dangerous city. Very dangerous. I had some incidents which led to me confining myself to campus as much as possible. Even on campus, it was not safe. The local people (welfare people) would come to campus and commit crime. And the homeless problem in Philadelphia is unbelievable. The whole place smells like urine. Do not leave campus in groups of less than 6 males.

Job recruiting and career planning at Penn were half-arsed. You better have your own goal, direction and self-management. Do not expect the school to help.

This is a school that prides itself on graduating the leaders of business, finanance and industry. And it graduates some of them. But the other 90% of the students are ripped apart by the experience. I would say that more than half of the students suffer from depression but try to put a happy face on it, pretending that everything is great. The administration does not care because they are at Penn for a 3-5 year stint and then will move on to another university and a higher paying job.

Financial aid at Penn is modest to meager. Realistically, you need to be either poor or rich but not in between. The students from poor families got everything for free. And that was often a joke. Students from restaurant families simply reported no income on their taxes for a few years and got a free ride even though their families owned several rental properties through trusts. The financial burden on the middle class is crushing, with parents emptying 401(k)s and taking out private loans to cover school costs.

Wharton is a great place to get into the Wall Street scene. The College (liberal arts) is a waste. Engineering is great for those who already know the first 2 years of material, but not for a regular Joe. Then there is a diversity issue. Non-diverse students are constantly pummelled with propaganda which implies that they are somehow bad and must make up for it by making room for and supporting less-qualified and unqualified diverse students. When I went there, the diverse students had scant chance of graduating due to being cognitively underpowered for the task.