My excitement and UPenn!

Hello! This is my first official post (the testing one does not count) so I'll be sure to make it good.

Since its less than 2 weeks until the Columbia program, I'm already starting to pack! I'm so excited, I can't wait to go. Especially since I'm going to New York to take a chemistry program at Columbia University. It's hard to know what to expect since I've never been to New York. I wonder what the dorms will be like when I get there. I hope to be able to visit the Museum of Modern Art as I love seeing different types of art that are prevalent in MoMA. Also, there's going to be an exhibit of Aernout Mik's work throughout the museum until July 27th. I would also like to visit the New York Hall of Science, a hands-on science and technology museum. An interesting fact is that it was built for the World's Fair in 1964 but it wasn't torn down afterward like most exhibits constructed for the World's Fair.

While in New York, we'll also be visiting other colleges besides Columbia U.; Bard, Vassar, University of Pennsylvania and possibly New York University.

The University of Pennsylvania is a university in the city of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania. The building was originally erected in 1740 as a charity school in Philadelphia. Benjamin Franklin took and used the building to open a new school that was not focused on only educating clergymen. Thus the institute was opened to students in 1751 as the Academy of Philadelphia. The name was later changed to the College of Philadelphia in 1755 until 1779. The college was again renamed in 1779 to University of the State of Pennsylvania and remained so until 1791 when it was merged with the The Academy and College of Philadelphia under the name of the University of Pennsylvania. It is known for being the first university in the United States as it was the first to become chartered as a university when it changed it's name to the University of Pennsylvania.

Currently, UPenn has four undergraduate schools (including the Wharton School of Business and the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS)) and many more graduate schools. UPenn is well known for it's business and nursing school, having been ranked in the top 3 business and nursing schools in the U.S. by U.S. News & World Report since U.S News began reviewing college programs. UPenn's programs in arts and sciences are also well received. Since it's founding, UPenn has been affiliated with 19 Nobel laureates. The first was Otto Fritz Meyerhof who won the prize for Physiology/Medicine. The most recent Nobel laureate is Harald zur Hausen who won the prize in 2008, also in the category Physiology/Medicine. In fact, eight of the nineteen Nobel prize winners from UPenn won it in the category of Physiology/Medicine. Six won the prize in Chemistry, four in Economics, and three in Physics.

It is rated Green by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) as being a university whose policies exceptionally protect free speech. UPenn was also the first medical school in the U.S. and the first university teaching hospital. The University of Pennsylvania can boast another first, it was the birthplace of the first student union and student union building, the Houston Hall, in America. UPenn has had a long history of starting the nation's first liberal arts curriculum. It was Benjamin Franklin's goal that the university's goal was more than just educating clergymen. He wanted to educate the business and governing class as well and break away from the tradition form of teaching by teaching practical subjects such as natural history, geology, geography and modern languages instead of Greek and Latin. As stated before, UPenn is well known for its business school, the Wharton School. Wharton School was the world's first school for business when it was founded in 1881. Wharton is highly selective and one of the most competive business schools in the U.S. It currently offers more electives than any business school in the nation, nearly 200, and has churned out many successful businessman (and billionaires!) such as Donald Trump and Warren Buffett.

All in all, I very excited to go visit the University of Pennsylvania. While there, we'll also be having lunch with June Chu, the director of Pan-Asian American Community House (PAACH). I look forward to meeting her and hearing what she has to say about UPenn and the Asian-American community there.