Penn Tips

Study spots:

  • Meyerson B5 = big board room that’s always open. All Penn students have access to Meyerson’s ground floor 24/7. I had my philosophy class here and the kid across from me sometimes left gum under the table, so watch out.

  • During Steiny D’s normal operating hours, there is a big board room near the printers on the ground floor. Rooms 116, 205, 217 are almost never filled (not guaranteed though).

  • The second floor of the Inn at Penn next to University Club is open 24/7 and has massive, beautiful wooden tables. Gorgeous spot. Rarely ever used.

  • There are a lot of empty open rooms in Vance Hall whenever it’s open. Just walk around and you’ll find space.

  • Fisher Bennett is open most hours during the weekdays, and on weekends if you wait long enough by the door, a musician/english student will walk in or out. Room 310C is a big conference room that has no lock on it. Great meeting space if you’re near engineering.

  • Room 322 and 320 also in Fisher Bennett are large conference rooms with chalkboards. Open 24/7. Seats ~20 people. Great for review sessions.

  • There’s a big room in King’s Court on the 2nd floor that is almost always empty. Go up the stairs and head to the right.

  • Outside Sangkee Noodle House is another big board room table. Pro tip: order takeout at Sangkee and take it there to work, so that you don’t have to pay tip. Unfortunately, there is no wifi here.

  • The Bookstore Starbucks is one of my favorite spots on campus. The long tables have outlets underneath them, and there’s a quiet Benjamin Franklin reading room upstairs.

  • Located on the 3rd floor of the law building, Penn Law Library is one of the quietest study spots on campus, even quieter than Fisher Fine Arts. To get in, make sure you flash your Penn ID very quickly at the desk because they don’t allow non Law students there. Usually not a problem.

  • I’ve heard that there is a nice Dental School Library next to Qdoba, but I have never been. My friends say it’s snug and tall.

  • The second floor of Fisher Fine Arts has small individual study booths reserved for grad students but they are always empty. Go here if you want a beautiful spot and also want to be completely removed from everyone else.

  • Though no one knows it, everyone has 24/7 access to Stiteler, where you’ve probably taken an exam or two. Inside, there are big lecture rooms where you can host impromptu meetings. If you swipe and go straight, you’ll find the Silverstein room, the big glass fish bowl-like room that has long tables and a projector. Also open 24/7, though it looks weird because there are no window shades so the police look at you funny sometimes. annie su dropped her laptop (on the screen) in this room at one point. Haha.

  • Addams, the Fine Arts building, is a 24/7 spot. The basement has big iMacs and is never locked. There is also a conference room on the 1st floor that (again) if you poke around, you can find the combination to. If you don’t have a Fine Arts account, register for a random FNAR class then drop it; you keep your account for the rest of Penn, and I believe after Penn too.

  • If you have a friend in Domus, they have GSR’s on the 1st floor. And a pool table.

  • Levin has study booths in the basement. It is also very far from campus—but a nice spot if you live on Baltimore.

  • Go to the 3rd floor of Van Pelt and walk all the way down. You’ll arrive at three rooms, all reserve-able but many times during the day empty. One of them is a big circular table if you have a writing workshop/more intimate meeting ahead, since everyone is always facing everyone else.

  • The 3rd floor of Steiny D has a big conference room facing Locust. This is the big circular window you see from the ground level. Walk through the Finance department and around the center to get here. Nice spot for last minute cramming.

  • Levine 337 is a god-send. Enjoy. This is my favorite spot in Engineering.

  • The Ed Commons, though far away, is a beautiful spot to study facing Penn Park. It has bean bags for naps and big conference rooms as well as reserveable GSRs.

  • Perry World House has two big glass rooms that are always open on until 11pm every night.

  • Perelman’s Poli Sci building has a lot of open tables on the upper floors that are usually empty. Unfortunately, these are not accessible on weekends and you might get kicked out.

  • Elixir Coffee at 3675 Market St. has a tall wide beautiful window that lets lots of natural light in. Decent amount of table space and study spot. Not many people go here since it’s out of the way. Thanks @Tiff Chang for this one.

  • From @Zach Goldberg: 2nd floor conference room in the Sign Center is frequently left unlocked. Great study space. Big Table. Cool room. Comfortable chairs. Custodian may kick you out.

  • From @Spencer Collins: 3401 Walnut (the new Engineering office) has a bunch of space. Usually occupied by ESE/CIS students.

Misc:

  • Huntsman’s 8th floor almost always has a door left open, so you can get a nice 360 view of the city. Beautiful spot to hangout.

  • If the post 12am auto-timeout lights in the Wharton Comp Labs bother you, complain to Wharton. Please. It’s so annoying.

  • The spot between Education Building and Huntsman is a beautiful courtyard to hangout outside, away from everyone else.

  • There are a lot of different printers on campus, including higher quality ones for your cheat sheet needs and ways to get free printing. Poke around—these things exist.

  • From @Kunal Abichandani: Free printing at Weiss Tech House (although limited to 15 pages a day), as well as free printing at the BE lab (including color printers!!!)

  • One of the more public EDAB initiatives was allowing Engineers to print directly from laptops. Check it out here.

  • If you’re a slow move out-er, volunteer for graduation. You get free extended housing until commencement day.

  • From @Effie Guo: You can check out a free 15" MacBook Pro from Education Commons if you ever lose your laptop/break it

Best bathrooms at Penn (requested by @Spencer Collins):

  • The best place to use the bathroom in Engineering is the Towne basement or Skirkanich basement. Enjoy the complete solitude.

  • 6th floor VP bathroom is beautiful… Like, wow.

  • The VP 3rd and 4th floor have solitary bathrooms now above the Lippencott section.

  • Towne’s 2nd floor woman’s bathroom has a couple couches. Lol.

  • From @Kate Ballard: There’s also a couch thing in the women’s bathroom on the second floor of Moore and people just hang out in there??? And then act like I’m weird for using the bathroom as a bathroom. [I asked her if I can post this and she said] Yeah lol But I don’t want MORE weirdos hanging out in the bathroom tho

  • DRL 4th floor bathroom is really nice. Yep, you read that right.

  • Huntsman forum bathroom outside G06 is always empty.

  • From @Natalie Aziz: Bathrooms on the second floor in the law school are the best. You can literally live there lol. (they are single bathrooms, with plants, a shower and couches lol)

  • From @Luke Yeagley: Don’t think u included it but second floor of Arch for men. My go to #2. Rarely used cu’z its the curf floor.

Food:

  • The Halal Food Cart at 38th and Walnut takes Venmo for a fee if you don’t have cash. The one outside DRL usually gives extra food (although Halal is already a lot by itself).

  • Beat the rush at Don Memo’s, Yue Kee, Sangkee, and Honeygrow by ordering ahead of time online. The former two only accept cash.

  • If you want Double Knot Sushi at Franklin’s during rush hour, order pick-up online using eatyour.fish ahead of time. But outside the hours from 11:30a-12:30p, this is probably unnecessary. They’re super fast. Thanks @Jake Fine.

  • Blaze Pizza on Drexel is open until midnight on weekdays if you’re pulling a late night in Engineering. It is also definitely the best pizza on campus hands down. @Spencer Collins and @Jake Fine disagree, they say Smoke’s pizza and Zavino’s Happy Hour are far better. They are wrong.

  • From @Spencer Collins: Waterfront Gourmet has very good sandwiches with side salad. Try the Turkey Addiction, Classic Chicken, or the chicken pesto.

  • From @Spencer Collins: Terry’s food truck in between upper and lower quad gate has the best breakfast sandwich (better than lynn’s) for $3.50. get chicken chicken and eggs no cheese on everything bagel for a little less grease

Piano:

  • On the west end, Du Bois has a usually free piano.

  • Rodin 8th floor has a piano room if you can get someone in the hall to swipe you in. Thanks @Jared Winograd heh.

  • Fisher Bennett and Lerner both have online piano rooms you can reserve ahead of time, but this is unnecessary for most hours. Do the reservation process once and you’ll get access forever, since the keycodes stay the same. Note that you might be kicked out if you don’t reserve. There are other nice pianos in these two buildings, but most the ways to access them are not allowed (poke around and you’ll figure out how to get to them though).

  • Sweeney Alumni House on Locust has a baby grand that’s fun to play on from time to time.

Forbidden Content (aka stuff Penn will stop if they find out):

  • Best way to figure these things out is to ask around. There are a lot of rooftops, constantly refreshed storage rooms of free stuff, free printing access spots, private boardrooms, easy-to-find keys & room codes, etc. at Penn.

Academic or Professional:

  • I’ve copied and pasted my responses here to a password protected page. They’re only protected because I am wary about giving out incorrect information, which this probably contains. Message me to see it; I’ll give you a big “warning, my opinion only” spiel. Here’s what I have:

    • My favorite classes at Penn

    • Pros & Cons of M&Transfer

    • Thoughts on internships/recruiting/OCR and other commitments

    • How to approach clubs at Penn

Things to fight for !

  • Either remove the 4 school structure or remove the internal transfer process. It would do little to affect Wharton’s brand externally but could fix the exclusivity hierarchy internally. People shouldn’t feel like they’re living in someone else’s shadow after already getting into the school.

  • Remove frats from Locust Walk. Note that this is different from removing greek life. The literal center of campus is Castle. Turn it into a student center. The loneliness & depression problem, aka “Penn Face”, is difficult but solved through communion which has no designated home at Penn. Don’t wholly delegate structured socialization to clubs and student activities.

  • Fix the asymmetry of the Penn crest logo or explain why it should stick.

Last updated 04/21/2021

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