Penn!

So, I feel like I won the lottery.  Actually, I feel like I KEEP winning the lottery!  I got into the University of Pennsylvania!  Woohoo!  On the other hand, I did not get into Harvard (big surprise), which I'm really not upset about in the least.  Anyway, I got up in the middle of the night last night because I wanted to call Penn's admissions office.  I was worried that they either sent my decision letter to Taiwan by postal mail (bad idea) or had, ya know, forgotten about me!  I was worried because they'd sent me an email over a month ago saying that my application was under review and then I hadn't heard anything since.  And also because there's this website I check where people post when they get into programs and judging by the archives, most ed. masters had heard by now last year.  Anyway, tmi.  Point is, I was going to call them, but I decided to just check the application website one more time first.  And, sure enough, a link to my decision had been posted!  Along with admission I received a $6,500 scholarship and a $3,500 assistantship.  So cool!  So, first I'll show you so photos, then I'll give you the pro/con breakdown.

I think this is my favorite campus photo.  Love the green building and white trees.

Nice fall foliage would be great after missing it entirely this year.

There's another library that looks pretty ugly to me (a surprisingly big deal to this girl), but this one is beautiful.

Most of the photos I came across were with nice fall or spring foliage.  But, let's be honest, it would probably be more like this most of the year!

Apparently they're building a huge park connecting the campus to the river and downtown.  According to the article I read, which was written in March 2009, it was supposed to be finished in 2 years.  Maybe it'll be open by fall semester.

Ok, so there's the campus preview.  These pictures look pretty great, but of course there are always parts of every campus where the buildings are just cement blocks, usually built in the 70's.  But I'm feeling pretty good about the campus.  Here are the pro's and cons:

Pros:

• Um, it's a freaking Ivy League!!
• It's plenty highly ranked
• With my $6,500 scholarship & $3,500 assistantship it is much less expensive than GW but a bit more expensive than Vanderbilt (since I posted about it I've received a 1/3 tuition scholarship + $2000 scholarship from Vandy)
• It's a 1 year program!!
• Tom's brother, Bob's, family is moving there around the same time because he just got accepted to Penn for a postdoc.
• Philadelphia seems like a pretty cool city
• Lots of other cool cities within a decent distance
• Nice countryside pretty close by
• It would be nice to be in somewhere like Philly over Nashville after living in Evansville, Jackson and Tulsa
• The fitness center is right across the street from the Ed. building
• Will Smith's hometown (important to Tom) - maybe they could be friends :)
• We could sing the "Fresh Prince" theme song as we drive into town

Cons:

• Cost of living is maybe about the same as GW, but significantly more expensive than Nashville
• While this is a worry with any city, our budget might land us in a more seedy area than we'd like
• Winter
• Probably hard to find parking
• I have a much less comprehensive understand of what the area is like than any of the other schools

Well, that's all I've got for now.  Plus, poor Tom would like to finally get on the computer.  So, to close, we're still waiting to hear back from UCLA and Columbia, although I think Columbia is pretty much out of the running because it's exorbitantly expensive and they're not traditionally know for being generous with funding.  We are ecstatic to hear back from another school because we are SO anxious to begin making this decision and to know what we'll be doing a few months from now!  Thanks for reading, this is very therapeutic.  

The End