A Message from the Dean
Dear Members of the Class of 2011,
The time has finally arrived: you are going to Penn. You’ve been thinking about college for years, worrying about getting in, and now you are accepted. Now what happens?
What happens next is an adventure, I promise you. Your four years in the College of Arts and Sciences will astonish, anger, amuse, and challenge you. You will surely find everything you need here to blaze your way to a brilliant career, but we hope you will also experience the pleasures of learning for its own sake. This is the one time in your life when all we ask of you is to learn, to think, to experiment, to dream.
This web site and your Class Handbook provide much of the practical information that you need to know to get started at Penn and to plan your way through the next four years. It can seem like a bewildering excess of information, since the College offers nearly 2,000 courses and approximately 50 majors, but with the aid of your teachers and advisors and your own intellectual curiosity, you’ll come to make sense of it. If you would permit, I’d like to offer the following advice of my own.
Never underestimate yourself. Seek the most challenging courses and programs of study, and never assume that you aren’t good enough to succeed in them. The faculty are there to help you stretch your intellectual muscles and train them. If you get in over your head we can help.
Take chances. One of Penn’s strengths is the breadth of its academic programs, in both the College of Arts and Sciences and the professional schools. Go beyond the subjects you studied in high school and explore new territory: try a new language, explore an unfamiliar part of the world, or follow new directions in science with researchers who are making ground-breaking discoveries.
Plan ahead. When you explore, it’s best to have a map in hand. For example, many majors require that you take preparatory courses in their own and other departments. If you want to study abroad you should think about your language courses. Your academic advisors and the faculty stand ready to guide you.
Think outside the classroom. Learning at Penn happens everywhere: in the classroom, to be sure, but also in the college houses, at lectures from world-renowned speakers, in concert halls and museums, and in the Philadelphia community. Take advantage of the resources available only at a great university like Penn, set in an extraordinary city.
Do your own research. It’s one thing to learn about discoveries in science, social science or the humanities. It’s quite another thing to make your own discoveries. Our graduates report that one of the most valuable aspects of their Penn education was engaging in a research project, whether an experiment in cognitive neuroscience, a study of a rare manuscript, or an analysis of South American trade policies (just to give a few examples). Our Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships can help.
As the faculty, advisors and staff of the College of Arts and Sciences, our
goal is to guide and inspire you in the next four years. It is widely recognized
that a liberal arts education is the strongest foundation for success in business
and most professions. What is just as important, however, and what will remain
with you for the rest of your life, is the excitement of discovery and the
pleasures of the life of the mind that are at the core of that experience.
Bring to Penn all the considerable talent, energy, and intelligence we saw
in you when you were admitted, and we promise you will not be bored. I look
forward to meeting you during the next four years and hearing the stories of
your own adventure.