Eric Najera | We should be grateful to attend Penn

As we approach the holiday season, we are reminded that this is a time to be grateful. We should always be grateful for health, loved ones, food, and a roof over our heads. But one thing that we may forget to be grateful for is attending Penn. For starters, 17 million people in the United States are enrolled in college, but fewer than 1% of college students attend an Ivy or Ivy-Plus school. Attending a prestigious college is an amazing opportunity that we forget we have at times.

Globally, we may feel that our school is not given the same recognition as HYPSM. Our school's name — University of Pennsylvania — does not help with name recognition. When telling people where we go to school, I think at one point we have all  had to explain the difference between Penn and Penn State. 

However, what others think of our school should not matter! According to the U.S. News and World Reports, Penn is ranked the sixth best university in the nation. According to QS World, Penn is the 12th best university in the world. The Wall Street Journal ranks Penn as the best university in postgraduate salaries; Penn is also ranked number one for both undergraduate nursing and business. In terms of graduate schools, U.S. News and World Reports ranks Penn as the fourth best Law School and the third best Medical School. Our school may not be given the same recognition as other top universities, but it is one of the leading universities in the world. Despite these rankings, I know many students who still wish they attended a different school.

My friend, who is in the LSM program, still wishes he got into Stanford. He claims that the name recognition and the ability to attend the best university in the world is much better than Penn. 

Stanford is a great university and may have better name recognition, but attending Penn is an achievement in and of itself. More importantly, attending a different university does not guarantee better outcomes; as previously stated, Penn graduates have a higher post-graduate salary and have access to the massive Penn alumni network which can lead to many opportunities. We would not know if “better ranked” schools are better than Penn because we won't attend, so we shouldn’t care. In terms of attending the “best school,” it is an opinion and you should not care about a label.

Every year, thousands of students apply and are not given the chance to attend Penn. There are thousands of students who wish they were able to receive the same education as we do, yet people are not fulfilled. Penn by no means is a perfect school; no school is. But, we should still be proud to attend Penn and have access to its abundant resources.

Interested in research? Try cold emailing professors in Penn’s several different schools, or look on CURF for assistance. Looking for a book? Penn has access to millions of books. Looking for a place to study? Try Fisher Fine Arts Library or any one of Penn’s 19 libraries. Penn has funds to support many of our endeavors and world-class faculty to assist us. The academics at times may be rigorous, but if we want to learn we have to be challenged. 

Do not forget that there is a reason you applied here. Make the most of your time here at Penn. Focus on making your time here great — we are only here for a few years. Remember the joy of receiving an acceptance and be grateful to be able to call Penn home. When we graduate, we will be a part of a legendary alumni community and will be able to say we attended Penn. We all worked very hard to be here and are working even harder to receive our diplomas. Never forget the amount of famous people who have walked down Locust Walk and have sat in the same classrooms as we now do. This holiday season — and always — be proud to call yourself a Quaker!

ERIC NAJERA is a College sophomore studying history from Rolling Meadows, IL. His email is najerae@sas.upenn.edu.