aah! i feel the same way. the intro was great wiht the discussion of what each professor is focusing, but then the project descriptions were just ridiculous!
what to do?!?!

It is really a turn off

I am interested to see it...hopefully it will be in my mailbox today? Is it the same thing that they have posted online?

Are you guys as torn over Penn as I am?
I thought it was my dream school, but the reality of the money is really setting in...

I can't wait for the open house!

its amazing how much penn has changed since i was there, class of 2003

we were on the cusp, some of us still using rapidographs on mylar pulling off a strange balancing act between analog and digital work

what a weird time it was

I'm also in the group torn about my penn acceptance. It was my dream school at one point also. I think it is good that I have some skeptisism and I can leave emotions out of my decision. I hope they sell me during their open house..

At a theory-based school, many times the project descriptions are going to sound a little bogus.

so, the concensus is that penn is theory based more than anything?
BDF-what exactly are you skeptical about?
im skeptical of a school that is so heavily theory based, and im not looking fwd to leaving nyc. pratt vs penn...pratt vs penn!!! ;)
are they having you all do the summer prep course too??

was anyone else told they have to take the summer prep studio course? how will i possibly do this AND take calculus and physics prereqs?

am i the only who who is impressed with their works?
their graphics, and their creativity are good
they are good at what they do

honestly that's not how i want to do architecture (not my style)
but i am impressed

i agree on comments about project description
explaining circulation without showing access/adj.

sparch- I am also quite impressed. I am really beginning to wonder why some people feel the way they do on here without much justification. A lot of that work is quite provocative without being intangible/ephemeral.

i too agree with sparch... it seems as if UPenn bashing has become the second most favorite sport on archinect (second only to bashing the AIA)... some threads talk about them having crappy facilities which is just plain ridiculous... and this is bashing the work produced there... i just took a cursory look at the above linked PDF and think that most of the work looks pretty interesting... i didn't read any of the descriptions but i think that you'll tend to find the same verbose language at most of the top schools... and its not like all of the work is exactly the same either... there was a fair range of stuff from ali rahim's blobby tendrils to enrique norten's cleaner modern stuff...

I have UPenn's work and Wash U's work right in front of me. I'm comparing them right now... Wash U is the winner! That's all I can say now, even though I love Penn. Someone correct me?

I'm not bashing the actual student work; I do think the way and what they show on their website is a lot better than this booklet. This book looks like it took a couple hours to make- it doesn't graphically correspond to the degree/curriculum-layering the school boasts.

U Michigan's book was a lot better organized and graphically interesting, but the actual student work wasn't as impressive. It's all how you look at it.

Further, I would be lessed concerned with what the students decide to build and more interested in the professor's way of teaching..

I like Penn

Included in people's Penn bashing is the wheather in Philadelphia. What an awful way to choose a school. Since we're going to be inside 95% of the time

And if you go to Penn, you'll be walking home at the least crimey part of the day.

If you think the "Work" book looks bad, you should see the graduation announcements. They look like menus for an adhesive convention awards dinner.