PPS: Perhaps This Is The (Perfect) One

[The much awaited "proof post" about my immense, often irrational love for Penn.]

Continuing on my analogy on love: I think I've mentioned this before plenty of times, but I can't say it enough. Penn is my first love. I come from a college-conscious family; my parents come from an era in China where college graduates were considered "the only future," and the government fully funded all such education. My second aunt on my dad's side bought books on the Chinese "Harvard Girl," hoping my cousin would follow in those footsteps. If you asked any of my family's friends about which colleges were "good," they would answer, in a similar order, "MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Caltech, Cornell." Harvard. Yale. Big names. I knew about the prestige, but not much about where I really wanted to attend.

Falling in love with Penn is much similar to the usual way I fall in love. Something catches my curiosity, and slowly, I become so entangled in its mysteries that I find myself irrevocably in love. Maybe it's not love, but rather an enormous interest, bordering on obsession, but I like to compare it to love.

(Ironically, Owen's going to Penn.)

The first time I'd heard of Penn was in a newspaper crossword. The clue was, "How do University of Pennsylvania students usually refer to their school?" The word was five letters long, so I guessed, "UPenn."

It was the answer, but it wasn't true, although I did not learn that until much later.

Sometime after that, I had the notion that I wanted to learn more about this school. It was in Philadelphia, one of my favorite cities (aside from Toronto, obviously, and Boston, and Chicago), and I was definitely a city girl. My parents talked with me about business, about a math career, and they brought up Wharton. It was like Penn was the perfect, perfect school.

Well, my parents and I went on a one-day trip to Philadelphia some Saturday prior (more like, an eternity ago), and our main destination was, of course, Penn. My first impression of Penn (physically) and of University City was the huge metal bridge with Penn's crest printed upon it. That, and it was raining. It was raining so hard that when I got out of the car, there was a small, gushing river between the edge of the car and the curb.

The actual information session I did not remember much. I do remember it was in a huge room, and there were many, many people, from all sorts of places. Some aspects of the admissions process was talked about, mostly on what Penn was looking for, and I remember lots of mention on the dual-degree programs.

The tour, on the other hand, was quite a spectacular event. It was still raining, and we went around with umbrellas, but I could catch glimpses of lush green leaves and beautiful, castle-like buildings. It was not as exquisite as Princeton, but it had its own charm. And when I walked into Huntsman Hall, I think I really stopped breathing for a moment.

I think, at that moment, I decided that I would start wooing Penn with my love letters (i.e. application material).

We went to downtown Philadelphia next, where my mom said I would have no problem finding adequate Chinese food in case I craved some, and we saw the Liberty Bell. We also saw numerous Chinese school-kids (elementary to middle school) who were here as part of a summer camp program.

The rain had cleared up by now, and we set out for Swarthmore, as suggested by Reese. I do not understand why Reese is so excited by the possibility (which, by the way, is very unlikely, if anything) that I may be attending Swat. We drove behind a trolley car for half an hour, into what was definitely a small town, and there was Swarthmore, tucked away.

I realize most of my readers have never been to Swarthmore. If I had only two words to describe it, I would use "botanical paradise." Literally, the campus is a huge garden, from Parrish Beach to all the labeled plants (and there are a lot of them) to the outdoor amphitheater that's cloaked in an ambient green. It's amazing. I understand why Reese likes it so much.

Now if they only were less stingy about their financial aid to foreign students. I guess that's the price I've got to pay for an outdoor wonderland like Swat (come to think of it, Stanford, which is also gorgeous, is also not need-blind toward foreign students).

When the mosquitoes started biting, we left. My parents wanted to see Princeton anyway, so we went there next. I've talked about Princeton before, in which I said Princeton was absolutely stunning and perfect. It still is. I love Penn, but I've got to be honest. Princeton is amazing. Its buildings, its campus, everything. There is a sense of wholeness at Princeton, a majestic entity bestowed upon this world.

Well. Anyway. Time for my summaries of the three schools, then.

Penn:

Despite the rain, we got to see a lot, including above decent architecture (better than Dartmouth, Cornell, and Columbia, on par with inner-Brown and parts of Yale, which I will need to talk about later), great Locust Walk, and a small enough campus that I won't worry too much about transportation (although if you're talking small you can't beat Columbia). Close to downtown, which by the way is gorgeous—even NYC's got nothing on Philly. Also close to not-so-decent areas (run-down houses), and of course my parents are concerned about campus safety.

Swarthmore:

Half an hour away from Philly, it's relaxing and has a soothing beauty to it. Buildings—average. Admissions office is the only great building. Decent size, lots of cool plants, and bunnies! Always a plus. When you leave campus, there's a plaza right outside, so it's not too inconvenient. Not for me, though. I hate isolated places, and although Swat's not as bad as, say, Middlebury, it's still too quiet for me.

Princeton:

I've done this before, so I won't do it again, except to say that we also went to this fountain place (on the engineering and more science/tech side of campus) and it's really nice. The buildings are more modern, not as nice as the main part of campus, but it's integrated nicely, unlike Cornell (that place is a planning disaster).

As for my perfect school?

I think you know already.