Is it just me, or do west coasters really not know what/where Penn is?

[pacbum]

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seems like most people I talk to think that Penn is Penn St. They're always telling me that Hershey is a cool place, and talk about Penn St. football. Funny that it doesn't have the same reputation out here as on the east coast.

 

[Zanderale6]

Haha ... so true.

If you go to Penn's bookstore, you can buy T-shirts that say "Not Penn State" on the front. I think a lot of people confuse the two schools.

 

[PreDentHopeful]

My husband went to Penn (we live in AZ) so when I got an interview for Penn, he was obviously excited and began to tell his coworkers about it--- even some of his fellow-west-coast-doctors didn't really have a clue about Penn's rep... They kept confusing it w/Penn State...

 

[Cymbidium]

A lot of people don't even know it's an Ivy leaugue school.

 

[PChemGrad]

Never knew the difference until I meet someone from PA and that took a long time.

Its just in the West University of STATE is a public institution and UPenn is private while Pen State is public. Its not normal. I never knew it was an Ivy school until someone told me. I guess people in the west don't really know the east all that much. I know I dont, well I should learn come this fall.

 

[nate28]

I live in California, and I honestly didn't know anything about Penn until last summer. That's when I found out Penn is 1 of the 8 Ivy schools (I can name the other 7 too), and is in Philly. I've never been there, but I heard that they have a lot of their grades go into some type of program after they get their degree.

 

[wigglytooth]

seems like most people I talk to think that Penn is Penn St. They're always telling me that Hershey is a cool place, and talk about Penn St. football. Funny that it doesn't have the same reputation out here as on the east coast.

I'm at Penn undergrad, and yeah even some people in the northeast don't know about it. And it's a topic that always comes up with the entering classes. If someone who doesn't know the difference asks me where I go to school, it's really awkward to explain the fact.

 

[1992Corolla]

Thats because everyone calles it Penn. You should say UPenn...at least that is what got my west coast brain confused (I too was guilty). Now a philly resident I have learned the error of my ways.

 

[medlife]

Many people don't know about anything outside their own lives. I only expect people to know about top schools if they've ever picked up a copy of US News and/or tried to go to top schools. Many of these schools aren't exactly in the PAC 10 and don't otherwise get lots of media attention. Only Harvard really, really gets notoriety in the general population. Lots of health advice are given in the media by a Harvard doctor. CSPAN has Harvard economists. ...etc.

 

[johntara04]

I am from out west and I always thought UPenn and Penn St. were the same thing. All we know about Pennsylvania is that Joe Paterno coaches a team that sounds like Penn.

 

[wigglytooth]

Thats because everyone calles it Penn. You should say UPenn...at least that is what got my west coast brain confused (I too was guilty). Now a philly resident I have learned the error of my ways.

Sad thing is, the official moniker is "Penn" and will always be "Penn." All Penn merch has "Penn" on it. It sounds silly to me to call it UPenn, but that's just me. Honestly, I don't care most of the time about people thinking I'm at a state school... It would just be kind of nice for people to get it right. Even when I say UPenn, I have to say "in Philly...." and sometimes I still get the blank look.

 

[crazy_sherm]

It's like how many people realize and/or care Cal and Berkeley are the same? Probably not too many outside of the Pac-10. Oh, and Stanfurd sucks! Go Bears!

 

[proline]

Sad thing is, the official moniker is "Penn" and will always be "Penn." All Penn merch has "Penn" on it. It sounds silly to me to call it UPenn, but that's just me. Honestly, I don't care most of the time about people thinking I'm at a state school... It would just be kind of nice for people to get it right. Even when I say UPenn, I have to say "in Philly...." and sometimes I still get the blank look.

Washington University in Saint Louis also doesn't seem to be well known outside of the midwest. There's even a t-shirt "150 years and they still don't know we're in Saint Louis!"

 

[dentalman]

UPenn is to west-coasters is what Cal State is to East coasters: Very prestigious and elite(but only the people on that coast know it is). Do people in Philly know that Uof Washington dental is more difficult to get into than UPenn statistics wise? No. So get over the PAC 10 not knowing about UPenn. We will continue to live in our own little separate worlds.

 

[pacbum]

you'd think with the rep that Penn gets on this site that everyone knows what it is. but guess not. doesn't really matter, cuz i know it's a great school, and i'm not all about the name. so whatever, just gets kinda annoying when you have to explain all the time

 

[crazy_sherm]

UPenn is to west-coasters is what Cal State is to East coasters: Very prestigious and elite(but only the people on that coast know it is). Do people in Philly know that Uof Washington dental is more difficult to get into than UPenn statistics wise? No. So get over the PAC 10 not knowing about UPenn. We will continue to live in our own little separate worlds.

Haha, I guess even west coasters get it confused. Cal State is not Cal (UC Berkeley). 😱 So can it really be that surprising not everyone knows UPenn and Penn St are different? People who care will likely know the difference.