The Daily Pennsylvanian :: Cassandra Tognoni

Brown kids are hippy pot smokers, Columbia kids are artsy and deep, Harvard kids are arrogant pricks, but what are Penn kids?

Are we even important enough to garner any sort of stereotype, whether negative or positive? I visited four other colleges (Drexel, Brown, Yale and Princeton) to find out.

I first ventured across the street to Drexel's campus, where students jumped on the opportunity to discuss their superior counterparts.

"Jewish," said sophomore Mary Ruddy.

"They're all rich kids. But they're good people," said a Drexel freshman, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of getting "beat up."

"They're stuck-up assholes. They think they are better than everyone else in the city," said another disillusioned Dragon.

"No offense," he added. None taken, I assured him; other than for this article's purpose, I have no interest in or respect for Drexel students' opinions.

Indeed, our arrogance was a defining characteristic for most Drexel students I talked to.

A junior recounted a time he walked up to a group of girls at a Penn party. Somewhere in the midst of his pickup line, one of the girls said, "Oh my God, you're wearing Old Navy; that's disgusting."

The girls all laughed and the guy walked away. (Note to these girls: just because you starve yourselves so you weigh as much as middle schoolers doesn't mean you can act like them).

But for all our pretense and pre-teenage tendencies, we sure know how to throw a party. Almost every Drexel guy spoke to this subject.

One senior said that he actually prefers Penn parties to Drexel's: "They don't charge, they just say 'here's a beer, girls are over there.'"

My trips to Brown, Yale and Princeton were significantly less fruitful and less impassioned. Most of the kids there said they hadn't really thought about a "Penn stereotype."

The sentiment "You guys are kinda just there" was echoed over and over again. I was starting to feel demoralized.

But every so often, I was redeemed by hearing how hip and cool I was, even if less intelligent and important.

"I think of Penn as the Ivy that is easier to get into that is not Cornell," a Yale freshman said. "So the kids are the most normal and some of the coolest. They don't have super-brainiacs, but they're not retards."

Not Cornell and not retards. I'll take it.

Though some did, I was expecting more Yale and Princeton dorks to belittle our lack of inclusion in "The Big Three." (Even after I explained it wouldn't offend me, because I go to Wharton, "The Big One" of undergraduate business schools).

But instead, they just kept focusing on how "chill" we were.

"Penn kids seem more fun and chill than the typical Ivy League kid," a jealous Princeton junior told me. "I'd rather hang out with a kid from Penn than someone from Harvard or Yale."

Those at Yale and Brown would also rather hang out with us than Harvard or Princeton students, and most everyone said that out of all the Ivies, Penn ranks up there with the most fun.

A Brown senior said, "Out of the Ivies, I feel like if Brown and Penn were people, they would be friends." And if this kid's brain were an egg from one of those anti-drug commercials, it would be on the frying pan (though to be fair, pot isn't really considered a drug at Brown, but rather "sustenance").

Students at Yale and Princeton were particularly impressed that Penn was in a city, a fact which classified us as "urban."

And again, rumors of "Penn parties" spread throughout the Ivies to Brown, Yale and Princeton. About three-quarters of the students that actually attempted to answer my question commented that our ability to "throw-down" was one of Penn's few notable distinctions.

This was the only truly surprising thing I came across on my travails. I get that we're arrogant, we're Jewish and we're not as smart and important as "The Big Three."

But I thought other Ivies would at least try to claim our title of "Party Ivy," or, after having been to a less-than-thrilling (read: typical) Penn party, changed their mind.

Or maybe I am just missing something.

So I'm off to find this elusive awesome Penn party. And this time, I'll remember to keep the Old Navy at home. Psh. As if I owned anything from Old Navy.

Cassandra Tognoni is a Wharton junior from Andover, Mass. Her e-mail is tognoni@dailypennsylvanian.com. Skirting the Norm appears on Mondays.

Comments (23)

I'm not sure if you're actually a self-centered, egotistical Whartonite, or if you're reiterating a negative stereotype that Penn students are shallow, but I think you've just done both. How about an op-ed about an op-ed columnist wasting ad space??

Someone is awfully proud of themselves. This trash is one of the worst things I have ever seen in the DP. This columnist should be fired if for none other than reinforcing all the negative views the rest of the world holds against Penn.

You and Jackson should both be fired.

This article was hysterical and I'd suggest that the previous posters lighten up. In particular, the line "I have no interest in or respect for Drexel students' opinions" made me laugh out loud. So what if this article isn't the most serious piece the DP has ever published? There's a time to be a critical nit-picker and a time to enjoy what you can and try to overlook the flaws. Life is too short to get bent out of shape over something like this, especially considering the many serious problems our generation faces. Nice work, Cassandra. Thanks for a witty and insightful piece that rings true even for this tired old Penn man.

Yea, I usually hate the columns and actually thought yours was a good lighthearted column. I liked it.

This is one of the funniest columns I've read this fall. To all you angry posters, just lighten up and take a joke.

she LOOKS like paris hilton she writes WORSE than paris hilton(read her book review) this article is not hot, it's DUMB

When a column can make you laugh, cry, say aha! or hmmm.... it is worthy of an acknowledgment. Lately, I've been skimming the DP more because the topics or writing just haven't been able to hit a nerve or hold my interest. I read this to the end and laughed out loud as well. Good work.

I am kind of offended by this post. Surely, its light hearted, but its very arrogant "Even after I explained it wouldn't offend me, because I go to Wharton, "The Big One" of undergraduate business schools" - way to perpetuate the "i'm the sh*t because I'm in wharton stereotype." I'm in wharton, and comments like this disgust me.

haha. So on point. I proudly display my Penn alumni status as simply the Ivy that apparently exists, but definitely knows how to party. Save for select anamolies in the "Big Three"(who usually drop out before sophomore year), intelligence has played a supporting role to social ability when it comes to success. Party Ivy? Hell yes, and proud of it. And to all of those voicing angry protest, please realize you are anouncing your insecurity in a public (and luckily for you, anonymous) forum. But hey, stay confident ;) Bravo Tognoni.

I dug it :)

I have never bothered to comment on an article before, but this is just so awful. I knew the DP was bad, but seriously. How does this bullshit get in there?

What the...how could people think that this was trying to perpetuate stereotypes? It was nicely done, good job.

No offense, he added. None taken, I assured him; other than for this article's purpose, I have no interest in or respect for Drexel students' opinions. Is this sarcastic or genuine? Either way, it comes across terribly.

Penn kids are obsessed with tooting their own horns, but the effect is closer to sonar than fanfare, as Tognoni's stereotype-fishing trip demonstrates. Thank god the Internet is such a big place, otherwise I'd call this column a narcissistic waste of space... (Isn't this the second, "Why don't other ivies think we're the shit?" column published this year?)

[QUOTE id="f4c27060-c0e8-4b3b-84ee-8ba50fe449ca"]This article was hysterical and I'd suggest that the previous posters lighten up. In particular, the line "I have no interest in or respect for Drexel students' opinions" made me laugh out loud. So what if this article isn't the most serious piece the DP has ever published? There's a time to be a critical nit-picker and a time to enjoy what you can and try to overlook the flaws. Life is too short to get bent out of shape over something like this, especially considering the many serious problems our generation faces. Nice work, Cassandra. Thanks for a witty and insightful piece that rings true even for this tired old Penn man.[/QUOTE] WITTY? WTF COLUMN DID YOU READ?

I have no idea how you are able to write for an Ivy League school newspaper. How much time did you actually spend writing this article? It is very poorly written and you never mention how many people you asked at each university. You may have asked only two or three students per college, which doesn't represent each respective school.

You say that you have no respect for Drexel opinions? Wow, that isn't condescending or arrogant. No wonder why so many people hate Penn students. Forget about Harvard, maybe Penn is the school with the "arrogant pricks," without the drive better Ivy League schools have.

and the dp continues its decline...

[QUOTE id="5a934c53-5948-4f10-a943-821ce73374ec"]I have no idea how you are able to write for an Ivy League school newspaper. How much time did you actually spend writing this article? It is very poorly written and you never mention how many people you asked at each university. You may have asked only two or three students per college, which doesn't represent each respective school.[/QUOTE] wow....it was an op-ed, not a breaking news report. it voices an opinion and is not scientific. relax.

Wow, I'm surprised people cannot understand sarcasm. Clearly, the offensive comments were made in jest. This article actually made me laugh out loud. Great article. It couldn't have been more well done. I saw, back to the days when journalism was meant to be controversial. When things were interesting, humorous, and showed personality. Now that's what I call good writing.

This article sucked so much.

sness, Smith said. When a kid is in a hot car, he is gaining heat very quickly and there is no way to get that heat out of their bodies. The mechanisms for compensating are overwhelmed and their core temperature rises. The child becomes unconscious and brain damage occurs. A kid left even for a half hour can become unconscious and unresponsive, he said. Historically most children, 51 percent, who die in hot cars are accidently left there by a parent, Null said. It was basically an accident,

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