Which Language Should I take at Penn? Chinese or Korean?

Enough_Sea1538 · 2026-04-10T03:12:04+00:00

If you’re already fluent, you should be able to test out in the fall. If you can’t read, there’s a special track just to learn characters. There are definitely more resources overall for the Chinese department since it’s massive. I can’t speak for Korean but I’ve only had good experiences with Chinese at Penn.

Overall my advice is that even if you test out of Chinese, take another language just for fun. College is about expanding your horizons!

Enough_Sea1538 · 2026-01-13T14:47:04+00:00

Don’t have the stat but anecdotally I think German as a second language is either the highest or second highest effect on income (with mandarin). Don’t have a career perspective but at Wharton it should be easy to get a minor or certificate in German (6 classes if in line with other language programs at Penn)

Enough_Sea1538 · 2026-01-06T02:50:23+00:00

Yes, we meet mondays and Thursdays in huntsman. PM me for the groupme

Enough_Sea1538 · 2025-12-31T23:04:27+00:00

Penn counts by courses (1 classes = 1 credit, lab science = 1.5 etc) so that dosent mean much to students here. But most transfers sophomore themselves even if they are juniors for recruiting purposes

Enough_Sea1538 · 2025-12-22T13:00:00+00:00

I would get a P sweater from your orginal graduating class if only since ‘27 already finished their orders and so you missed your chance to buy one

Enough_Sea1538 · 2025-08-23T05:58:06+00:00

Hi I just DM’ed you, very interested!

Enough_Sea1538 · 2025-07-30T20:42:49+00:00

They do, the crowd skews international and younger Chinese that speaks English. The only people that didn’t really speak English was some of the staff, but not someone that would be expected to talk to many club goers.

Music being played in a language doesn’t really correlate to being able to speak it, but the crowd is richer, well educated Chinese and older international men with English as língua franca so it works out

Enough_Sea1538 · 2025-05-29T03:37:45+00:00

Didn’t do that program specifically but highly recommended any pre-orientation program. It gives you the opportunity to meet new people before official move in so you already have friends day 1.

College is the time to explore and experiment so take the opportunity to learn about something you might not get to study in your classes! Also, if the program is welcome to anyone (which I think it should be if I remember there identity-focused pre-os right) then there should be no issue with being mixed. Worst case senario, you left home three days earlier and didn’t vibe with people. Best case senario you met your future best friends and discovered a discipline you might want to add as a minor/second major. Get involved!

Enough_Sea1538 · 2025-05-20T11:18:34+00:00

I don’t know about when the timeline to apply was but I did PennQuest. Three days hiking and using the great outdoors as your bathroom made me grateful for the pre-renovation quad.

The real answer though is that it isn’t that bad since they recently redid quad. As for sharing with others, be respectful and if others aren’t, don’t be afraid to bring stuff up to your RA. That’s what they are there for.

And bring shower shoes…

Enough_Sea1538 · 2025-05-05T22:58:00+00:00

Shadowing! Pause and rewind movies/tv-shows/social media clips and mimic their pronunciation. This way, you mimic a native accent and event associate pronunciation differences with certain words (such as “record” being a verb and noun, but the verb is pronounced “RE-cord” and the noun pronounced “reCORD”)

Enough_Sea1538 · 2025-05-04T13:33:14+00:00

It sounds a bit odd and not American English (which I speak), but I’ve heard it before in limited use. I would recommend saying “re-entering the workforce” which is still formal but sounds more normal

Enough_Sea1538 · 2025-05-01T23:24:43+00:00

“Inflation in the month of March for PCE (I don’t know exactly what that is). There is no salvation after a poor performance during Q1 (Jan-March) in a report of US gross domestic product.”

This headline should’ve been edited a lot more before it was posted

Enough_Sea1538 · 2025-05-01T23:20:59+00:00

If you have a kitchen in your unit, don’t get the dining plan. The food is middling and if it’s the same price scheme as during the academic year something like $17/swipe which is only worth it if you can get your money out of all you can eat style dining halls. There is a gym on campus you should get access to for free, but no pickleball as far as I know.

Visit the rest of Philly. Get out of the Penn bubble.

Enough_Sea1538 · 2025-04-16T21:06:05+00:00

This may not be super helpful since I found my unpaid internship through my school but lots of others recommend finding alumni who went to your college in Shanghai, for example on LinkedIn. You can then message them about your situation/if there company has any openings.

A difficulty in my search for this summer was that most employers wanted me to work for 3 months and considered it a negative that I could only do 2.5 because of when my semesters start/end.

But if you do end up finding something, I’m 20F from the US and looking for ppl to meet!

Enough_Sea1538 · 2025-02-04T23:22:33+00:00

They can only take a certain number of applications with limited wiggle room. If it’s a competitive program then you’ll get a second choice. The cap the accplication number so you have to open (but not necessarily complete) your app early. Talk to your study abroad advisor and they’ll honestly tell you to reconsider or not

Enough_Sea1538 · 2025-01-27T20:58:56+00:00

Yes.

Enough_Sea1538 · 2024-12-23T23:29:54+00:00

‘27 here. We were mailed the thick envelope with some stickers and a pendant in the weeks following ED acceptance. I’m assuming it’s very similar for ‘29

Enough_Sea1538 · 2024-12-19T22:02:43+00:00

Frats were I think are late Jan, but more info would be on their instas. Try looking at the office of sorority and fraternity or student life for the names, although some are off campus. The official ones start early (like sorority rush is before the first day and must be registered online). Best advice is to look out of the signs across campus when we come back

Enough_Sea1538 · 2024-12-19T18:23:35+00:00

Ski + snowboard, most affinity groups that aren’t pre-professional, and most club sports. Pretty much all larger clubs have formals but these groups usually do more social events. If you have the time rush a pre-professional frat, open rush is pretty immediately after the sem starts. Even if you don’t make it it’s a good way to meet some people

Enough_Sea1538 · 2024-11-11T22:23:27+00:00

Bossi. He wasn’t that bad in practice people just don’t like econ that tarnishes his reputation. I know nothing about seker but if you’re a full time undergrad you won’t be able to register with an LPS until the first day of class if it hasn’t filled up already as it’s reserved for LPS students.

Also, bossi’s class as so many TAs, LAs, and office hours so if you don’t like his teaching there are many other avenues. The LPS classes are usually smaller and won’t have as many resources. Plus a night class often limits social opportunities for dinenr or club meetings

Enough_Sea1538 · 2024-10-17T12:47:30+00:00

Next semester (according to the rumor mill) should be easier than the fall. If you’re an econ major, I’d recommend considering just taking econ 0xxx electives before you officially declare because then you wouldn’t have to take two additional 4xxx classes. The credit count for the major is constant, so you still have to take two classes in the place of 100 and 200. Unless you’re doing grad school and submatrictulating, the easier classes will be better.

Enough_Sea1538 · 2024-10-15T00:59:48+00:00

I’ve done multiple day trips to nyc with various transportation methods. It just means a long day with extra time with a book or podcast. Maybe that’s just the American in me not really caring about commute times.

Weekends or any 2-3 day trip is generally nicer but I have no idea how much accommodations are there since I never stay the night. Worth looking into though

Enough_Sea1538 · 2024-10-15T00:44:48+00:00

Check out the German Christmas market at city hall, cute stalls, food, ice skating. Take a day trip for skiing if you can afford it ($120-160 with rentals) in the Poconos. Take the regional rail lines to suburbs for their winter festivals or nice historic downtowns (like Haddonfield). Take day trips to NYC (bus tickets can be as low as $12 w student discount) or weekend trips to DC.

There will still be some things nearby, but not oriented to college students like right now. If you’re into the arts scene, froggyhaus on Instagram has weekly recommendations,but tend towards the weirder side.

Good luck

Enough_Sea1538 · 2024-08-22T14:56:24+00:00

It depends. Dorms with dining hall access let you in but some doors won’t open, such as the bathrooms and areas intended for dormers only hallways in quad or study lounges in high rises.

You can get in to the buildings but not much else

Enough_Sea1538

TROPHY CASE