[Mick]

I didn't find many posts on the board suggesting that Penn was a bad place to go to school.  The worst we saw was people argue that the weather wasn't very good.  As with any place, it has its benefits and drawbacks vis-a-vis any other place (such as Stanford).  Since this is a sample that skews towards Stanford alums and sympathizers, you will get a lot of people saying that they'd come to Stanford because of [weather, academics, etc.], but that is a very personal decision. Penn is an excellent school; my best friend from high school went there and was happy and is now very successful.  I interviewed there for medical school, and was quite impressed, though I did not get in. I would be thrilled if my kids got into either school; gotta start taking notes from Mick.

BC

Some of you may have heard the anecdote about the mother of a boy taking piano lessons.  She asked the teacher how to know if the boy was going to be a musical prodigy, clearly desiring such an offspring.  The music teacher replies "It depends on how you nag him."  She says "What do you mean?"  He says, "If you nag him to practice, he's unlikely to be a prodigy.  If you nag him to stop practicing, then you may have a prodigy."

Same was true for my youngest.  At least twice a week during the school year, Mrs. Mick would be on him at one or two in the morning to knock off the studying and homework.  It usually turned into a "discussion."  He is driven in a way that I don't really fathom.  Probably why I ended up at SCU... :D.

BTW, if any of you have junior high or high school kids and are curious about preparing your child for the college admissions process, I'm happy to share our experiences (and my perspectives on other students who were admitted or not), just drop me a line in my in-box.

[Mick]

I didn't find many posts on the board suggesting that Penn was a bad place to go to school.  The worst we saw was people argue that the weather wasn't very good.  As with any place, it has its benefits and drawbacks vis-a-vis any other place (such as Stanford).  Since this is a sample that skews towards Stanford alums and sympathizers, you will get a lot of people saying that they'd come to Stanford because of [weather, academics, etc.], but that is a very personal decision. Penn is an excellent school; my best friend from high school went there and was happy and is now very successful.  I interviewed there for medical school, and was quite impressed, though I did not get in. I would be thrilled if my kids got into either school; gotta start taking notes from Mick.

BC

Some of you may have heard the anecdote about the mother of a boy taking piano lessons.  She asked the teacher how to know if the boy was going to be a musical prodigy, clearly desiring such an offspring.  The music teacher replies "It depends on how you nag him."  She says "What do you mean?"  He says, "If you nag him to practice, he's unlikely to be a prodigy.  If you nag him to stop practicing, then you may have a prodigy."

Same was true for my youngest.  At least twice a week during the school year, Mrs. Mick would be on him at one or two in the morning to knock off the studying and homework.  It usually turned into a "discussion."  He is driven in a way that I don't really fathom.  Probably why I ended up at SCU... :D.

BTW, if any of you have junior high or high school kids and are curious about preparing your child for the college admissions process, I'm happy to share our experiences (and my perspectives on other students who were admitted or not), just drop me a line in my in-box.