Exploring Academics
So, here’s the deal: Penn has four undergraduate schools that each offer unique opportunities. When you apply, you’ll need to choose which of our four schools you want to attend. This doesn’t mean you’re choosing a major or limiting yourself—interdisciplinarity is in our DNA, so students are welcome to take courses across all four schools (and they’re all within walking distance from each other!)
At Penn, a big part of what you’ll do is try. We want you to give yourself permission to try everything that seems interesting and cast off all the things that don’t quite fit. We want to help you find your way as you explore the roads that lead to unexpected places and the ones that lead to places that aren’t exactly what you thought. Try a class that relates to a major you never thought you’d pursue. See what happens. Why? Because you’ll have the flexibility to try so many new things and of course, we’ll be here to help along the way.
And before every first, there will come a first-time-you’ll-try-this, which could be followed by a second-third-and-fourth-time-still-isn’t-the-charm. These new experiences will enable you to uncover new knowledge and new understanding about what matters to you.
As you begin to explore academics at Penn, you’ll find that the best ideas come when you veer from the expected direction and find a new way. When concepts from different disciplines collide. When you plunge headlong into the unknown. See what happens when music brushes up against physics, or when healthcare bumps into entrepreneurship. At Penn, we encourage you to find out where you’ll go by asking bigger questions and demanding better answers.
So, here’s our advice: start with the areas that are most interesting to you and figure out what you *might* want to pursue from there. And remember, you’re never stuck or bound to anything here. All of your passions and interests will find a home right here at Penn.