Episode Notes | Episode Transcript | AskTheGuest
Seth Shapiro is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, “Penn” or “UPenn” for short, with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics.
Seth’s tale is one of clarity & pursuit. Seth combined his broad range of interests and activities in high school with his Dream of going to Penn, to create a compelling profile. This resulted in an Early Decision to Penn.
Hi-Fives from the Podcast are:
Episode Title: Seth Shapiro: Penn attracts Smart, Ambitious and Friendly Students.
Episode summary introduction: Seth was quite clear that he wanted to go to the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). So sure that he applied for Early Decision.
Seth Shapiro is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics.
In particular, we discuss the following with him:
Topics discussed in this episode:
Our Guest: Seth Shapiro is a graduate of University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics. Seth subsequently got an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Memorable Quote: Seth on leaving home for college: “It is a little bit of a shock to go from coming home & having your meal prepared, and having a set schedule by which you live most of your life by, to having a little bit more autonomy.”
Episode Transcript: Please visit Episode’s Transcript.
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Transcript of the episode’s audio.
And when you step onto campus, you have a real sense of being present, you sort of escape the world around you. Some people may call it a bubble. Other peoples’ may call it something. Again, you think there's a positive connotation with that or not, it's up to you. But it's great because you can totally absorb yourself in the campus.
But if you want to get away, and you want to explore the city, or you want to do something separate, or whatever your motivation is, it's it's a 20 minute walk to downtown Philadelphia, a 10 minute cab ride a a 3 minute train ride in your riding one of the biggest cities in the US!
Hi! Welcome to this episode of College Matters. Alma Matters.
Seth Shapiro is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, UPenn or Penn for short, with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics.
Seth knew very early that he wanted to go to Penn. In fact he was so sure, that he applied for Early Decision.
Seth joins us on our podcast today to share his undergraduate experience at Penn.
Before we jump into the podcast, here are Five Highlights (we call them “High-Fives”) from the podcast:
[Monumental Period]
I look back on my experience at Penn very favorably. It was absolutely a monumental period in my life. They usually say college is the best four years of your life. I think life gets better overall. But those were four very, very good years.
[Choosing Penn]
I went to a Penn Model Congress trip. I think it was either my freshman year my sophomore year, I'm drawing a little bit of blank. Uh huh. This, this is what age comes. Yeah. And I and what that basically meant it was a lot of people know, sort of like the UN just more for the US. And I actually went to the campus on sort of a four day trip. And I was very impressed with the campus environment. The students that I met, who were Penn students who ran the conference itself, and just the entire ambience that was there.
[The Classmates]
It was refreshing and also a little bit overwhelming, if you will to be in a class of I think it's 2500 people who are equally as talented and smart as you and ambitious as you. So I think just kind of resetting the barometer and recognizing that, well, you spent all your years in high school, telling yourself and being told that you were very special and ahead of the curve to kind of come into a, into a situation where you are on par with everyone else. And now you kind of have to reset that button.
[Running Student Government]
Got involved in, in the Student Government in two ways. One was like an was an elected but, well both were elected one was more or less like policy and sort of dealing with the university administration and all different sort of facets on campus. And the other was the social side of things and the class planning and things like that I found those were kind of two different elements, both under the umbrella of something that I had always liked and felt I was good at.
[Apply Early]
It's not, it's different than some of the other schools, right, there's a very, very big focus on wanting to be there. And I found that everyone who was there was very excited about being there. And that has to come through in the application. So to the extent that you're capable of, and feel comfortable applying early decision, I would strongly recommend it. Because a Penn is well known to take more of its people Early Decision than in Regular Decision, where the numbers are very daunting.
Venkat 3:47
Now, I'm sure you want to hear the entire podcast. So without further ado, let's go straight to our conversation with Seth.
Venkat 3:56
Hi Seth!
Seth 3:59
Hi, Venkat. How are you?
Venkat 4:01
Doing well. And you?
Seth 4:02
I'm hanging in there.
Venkat 4:04
Great! Well, that's all we can do these days.
So let me start by welcoming you to our podcast, College Matters. Alma Matters. Thank you so much for taking the time here. And really looking forward to your stories and experiences around UPenn. And I don't know if I mentioned this, but our audience is essentially international students. And I think your, whatever you have to tell us today should be of great interest to them. So looking forward to it.
Seth 4:47
Absolutely. I'm always glad to help.
Venkat 4:49
Fabulous. So I was thinking that maybe we could get started with maybe just an overall impression. Now that It's been a few years looking back at your undergrad years at UPenn. Maybe your takeaways, maybe what you remember what you think were sort of the highlights?
Absolutely. Well, it's funny, even though, even though it's been many years, and far more than I probably would like to I, I look upon, I look back on my experience at Penn very favorably, it was absolutely a monumental period in my life. They usually say college is the best four years of your life.
I think life gets better overall, but those were 4 very, very good years. And so much of what I took away from there still stays with me today from the lessons I've learned in the classroom, to the friends that I still keep in touch with, the brand name that comes with going to a top university in the United States.
Venkat 6:00
Maybe we can sort of start with, why you ended up going to Penn. I mean, what, as you were, in your senior year, and trying to make some decisions, why UPenn?
Interestingly enough, my introduction to Penn started way earlier than my senior year. So it was actually, I believe it was an eighth grade. So I wasn't even in high school and a close family friend had actually gotten in Early Decision. And I was very, I always looked up to her, I thought she was quite smart, very accomplished. And I said, Oh, well, this is good. She obviously has good judgment. And so, you know, that I should put on my radar.
And so believe it or not, it actually, the relationship started to build and I went on a Penn Model Congress trip, I think it was either my freshman year, my sophomore year, I'm drawing a little bit of blank. Uh huh. This, this is what age coming Yeah.
And I and what that basically meant it was a lot of people know, sort of like the UN just more for the US. And I actually went to the campus on sort of a four day trip. And I was very impressed with the campus environment, the students that I met, who were Penn students who ran the conference itself, and just the entire ambience that was there.
And then after that, it must have been sophomore year, because then the next year, junior year, I did the formal tour to campus with my parents and my sister, and a really good flavor for what that experience would be like.
And then finally, senior year, I actually spent an overnight in the fall to make sure that I was really set on applying early decision, which I want. And so it was all of those experiences that continually led me back to Penn to say, you know, I really like this place, and I want to constantly learn more.
Venkat 7:51
I guess a little bit of context would be great as to, what were your high school interests and years. What, what kinds of extracurriculars or what kind of activities in general that you engaged in during that time.
So when I was in high school, I started off like so many people in their first couple years, with varied interest, I was interested in the sciences in, in, in the social sciences and sort of everything in between. And extracurricular I was very much across the board. So I started off interested in student government, I did some many sports, I was musically inclined, and so forth.
And after once you, any high school student knows that over time, time is the limiting constraint. Yeah. And so I started to zero in more, and I ended up becoming vice president of the high school, my junior year. And then and then president of the high school, my senior year, which was sort of my most exciting contribution.
I also was, played in the all county orchestra as a French hornist. And I played piano for, for over well over a decade and was classically trained. And then, and then most and then, and also, I was on the tennis teams, the soccer teams, and I fenced as well.
So I had a lot of the main things I did. And of course, I was very involved with the community and everything else as well.
So I had a lot going for me and all at the same time while trying to make you know, maintain my good grades and, and be a good family member as well.
Venkat 9:29
So then, let's talk a little bit about the transition from high school to college. What was it like the first semester and first year, as you went to Penn?
I think the biggest adjustment, and this is the case for I would imagine most high school students, is just the idea of sort of living on your own. And while luck every college has a certain infrastructure in place that eases you into that transition. It's still a little bit of a shock to go from coming home and having your meals and sort of having a set schedule that you pretty much live most of your life by to, having a little bit more autonomy, right in general freedom to eat when you wanted to study when you wanted to not have to necessarily check into anyone.
Academically, I will say, I was, I transitioned very nicely, I went, I went to a top 20 High School public high school in the United States. And I felt that the rigor of that experience prepared me very well for the rigors of it and an Ivy League school. So I felt that was good.
And the same thing extracurricularly very much many of the interests that I had in high school I had intended to continue on with. And so for the most part, it kind of felt in a lot of ways, business as usual, with the again, adjustment of living in a new city and having a roommate, which I hadn't had my entire life and, and not seeing your folks every day, which for a lot of people is a little bit of a of an adjustment.
Venkat 10:58
Yeah, I can imagine that. Now, did you? I forgot to ask this.
Did you already have a major in mind? Or did you go in undeclared? or How did that happen?
Seth 11:11
I actually went in with the idea of going into law school after college. So I went into sort of undecided. But there were, also there was also this major at Penn. And I believe it still exists called Politics, Philosophy and Economics, or PP, pp, and E. that appealed to me for a variety of reasons. But I was fairly open with the idea that since there really is no technical pre law major I could do and study whatever I wanted.
Venkat 11:41
Tell us a little bit about your classmates, your peers, and maybe you could compare them with your high school buddies. Just just to get a sense of what it was like.
One of the reasons that Penn appealed to me and why I ultimately chose to go Early Decision was I felt there was an unbelievable balance between people who were very gifted intellectually, and who were very socially adept. And I found that I was very much myself, and it was very much a pleasant experience to to be around people who, who, who had their, their whole program together, if you will.
And I think that was a little bit of a different from my high school, which as I mentioned, was very competitive, but had a very big concentration or small consolation router, if you will, of sort of people who were like the top five to 10% of the class, and then sort of everyone else, right, there was a little bit of separation.
And so it was refreshing. And also a little bit overwhelming, if you will to be in a class of I think it's 2500 people who are equally as talented and smart as you and ambitious as you.
So I think just kind of resetting the barometer and recognizing that, while you spent all your years in high school, telling yourself and being told that you were very special, and ahead of the curve to kind of come into, a into a situation where you are on par with everyone else. And now you kind of have to reset that button.
Venkat 13:08
Yeah, yeah. And how did that go? Was that, was that an easy transition, sort of trying to figure out how to maybe not compete, but you know, collaborate and sort of coexist with all these bright people?
Seth 13:22
In all honesty, no, and it's probably still not the case. As I, as I, went to, I went on to, go to get a business degree and and, and, and working in relatively competitive fields. I don't think that level of competition necessarily goes down. You just learned to deal with it.
Venkat 13:38
Exactly. Exactly.
Venkat 13:43
How did your, How did you like your classes, teaching? The professors? How did that all go?
I was always very impressed with the lion's share of the professor's in the classes I took. I am someone who likes to do a lot of research before they go into a situation you could I guess, call me a planner, as they say.
And so I didn't like to leave too much of the chance in terms of what this class would experience would be like or how the professor would handle the classroom and so forth.
So I think that was a huge product of my of, my own doing. But I think there is still a variation. There's a gap, right?
Because you do have new as this is the case with almost any school, but there are going to be new professors, there can be younger ones and more seasoned ones, folks in certain courses or departments that perhaps the schools better well known for than others. And so you will get a little bit of that a variation, but for the most part, I found all the professors to be at a very, very high level and the more you engage with them, the more you realize they were very deep in their subjects and had a lot to offer.
Venkat 14:49
And how was the class size was that I mean, I'm assuming it was big in the early years and then probably thins out later.
Seth 15:00
So I tried to always in every semester to take a variety of classes in terms of size. So yes, you are right in the beginning courses like econ 101, or math 104, which are introductory in nature are going to, where, which is a requirement for many people across all the different majors and schools is going to be big.
But that was okay. Because sometimes you just want to be in a classroom where you sit and listen to a lecture. And, and, and don't necessarily have to be as engaged. Yeah, where my other classes that are more the writing seminars, my language classes and so forth, were highly intensive, say 15-20 person classes. And it's very hard to sit back and not participate.
And so it's I think it's good in a lot of cases to have a variety. But I know some people who only wanted to take small classes, and were able to do so and other people who prefer the larger lecture size, and were able to do that as well.
So you had a fair amount of variety at Penn to kind of chart your own path in terms of class size.
Venkat 15:59
So let's sort of segue to outside the classroom then. How, maybe we can start with the dorms, the food, and then go from there.
Seth 16:13
Absolutely. Do you want to…
Venkat 16:16
Yeah, just jump in.
Great. So okay, so bear in mind that my recollection of what happened at Penn may have adjusted a little bit, although I do have a couple cousins who went there recently. And so I think it's still the same, but again, anyone who's listening, maybe want to brush up on my, my information. Sure.
But I would say that so the food, the food, the way it works, I believe is that certainly your freshman year you are committed to a meal plan. It's sort of baked into the tuition or the fixed costs. Oh, there I think are a variety of dining halls on campus. Arguably, some are better than others. But you basically go in and you have, you know, sort of an all you can eat buffet, and there's breakfast, lunch and dinner and so forth.
I would say most people would eat dinner at the dining halls and then for breakfast or lunch, they also had sort of to go options as well. I think that is fairly popular. Some of the dorms actually have dining halls in them, and then others are more standalone. That's fine. I mean, I think it was Aramark, which is sort of a big company that provides to a lot of colleges, some meals were better than others. You certainly never were hungry. Yeah, you know, and so forth.
But a lot of people on the weekends would certainly treat themselves out to either local vendors or restaurants on campus, or certainly downtown Philadelphia, which offers you know, a large variety of places. Absolutely.
And then and then the dorms, Freshmen, I believe now that you're you are required to live on campus, both your freshman and sophomore year. And so, so that's, I think, for a lot of people nice, it's a good way to meet people, they're very social environments. There is, I will say at Penn a huge variety in terms of the style and and general structure of dorm living. So Quad, which is sort of your typical Gothic architecture is actually three college houses in one. And that's what both freshmen tend to live because it has that very Ivy League feel to it. It's very social, it's very picturesque. Most people try and get in there, if not, the second most popular one at the time I went was Hill, which is unfortunately smaller dorms, but much more communal, and has the dining hall on campus.
And all these other sort of houses as college houses as well. There's a new one that's right next to Hill, there's one that's being built on the west end of campus. And then they also have the high rises more or less like apartment style living and that is more popular with folks - their sophomore year or upperclassman years when they choose to, if they choose to live on campus.
First off there, yeah, and you know, and everyone picks and chooses what they want, but I think it's good your first year to have that fixed environment. It's a good way for you to meet friends, right? Many of them. I was I'm still friendly with today actually are people I lived nearby.
Venkat 19:14
How was the cultural and social scene and activities?
People at Penn are very friendly. They're very outgoing. And again, this kind of goes back to my point about sort of having a good social side to folks as well. Yeah.
They are very eager to get to know people folks like to go out all throughout the time. I mean, obviously your freshman year, you need to focus on your studies and kind of find your academic grounding, but frankly, you wanted to go out in a Monday night you could if that, you know tickles your fancy, but I would say especially your freshman year, people are very engaging, they want to get to know people and then there's a lot of built in social structures to kind of help that happen again, whether it's sort of living that takes place, in your your dorm or if you are interested in Greek Life, That is another way to kind of get to know people through the rushing and the pledging process.
And then obviously, through your extracurricular activities, it's just all these different communities that eventually kind of formulate your network of friends at college.
Venkat 20:15
So since you brought up extracurriculars, what kind of, I'm sure there are lots of choices. So what did you end up sort of doing during those years?
Seth 20:26
So as I mentioned, I was a big fan in high school of student government. And so I immediately got involved, I ran my freshman year, which was a funny experience, because you're asking people to vote for you who literally you’ve never met. You know, more, more or less what our politics are these days, I suppose. Yes.
But so I got involved in, in the Student Government in two ways. One was like an was an elected But well, both were elected one was more or less like policy and sort of dealing with the university administration, and all different sort of facets on campus.
And the other was the social side of things, and the class planning and things like that, I found those were kind of two different elements, both under the umbrella of something that I had always liked and felt I was good at.
I also was a member of the Kite and Key Society, which was sort of affiliated with the admissions office. So I gave tours, I did ambassadorships with, with folks who were looking to come to campus and to learn more about the school like I did.
And then, and then actually was involved in the ping-pong team once. And a whole bunch of different other things. So like I said, there's a lot of different opportunities to get involved in things that you like, I also enjoy working out. And so I would go to the park truck gym, which is very popular, very state of the art located right on campus. And so just a good way for me to kind of stay healthy. And you know, both in the mental and physical way.
Let's sort of talk a little bit about the summers while you were at Penn. What did you do the different years, different summers in terms of internships, or research or, etc.
Seth 22:06
So after my freshman year, I worked at a law firm, where, which was very much consistent with what I had mentioned about wanting to be. After that, I actually realized I was a little bit more interested in business. Part of that might have been the fact that Penn is obviously known for its undergraduate studies in business.
And so I worked at UBS in sort of the wealth management of private banking division.
And then after junior year, which is obviously an important summer when there are more structure internship programs I worked at, then Citigroup or city in the fixed income division, working on CDOs and another product, eventually, tanked shortly that, and that, and that ultimately set me up well, for when I ended up doing full time recruiting in the fall of my senior year.
So my advice to folks would be, you know, it's going to be difficult to find internships in your early years, because there are not a lot of people who frankly, want to hire folks who are on the younger side.
But if you can do something professional, and most importantly, you learn from something from it both about yourself as the world of business or whatever field you're interested in, that can go a long way in preparing you for your later years when it really counts.
Venkat 23:23
One of the one of the interesting questions I like to ask is, you know, as you look back, are there things you would have done differently, if you were to go back again, to those four years. What would those be? Or what would you have liked to have done?
I think, look, I'm very happy with the classes that I took. And I mentioned, I do spend a fair amount of time researching them and thinking about what would be the most strategic way to approach things because it's not like you can always just take the classes you want, there's obviously supply and demand.
I think, in hindsight, I probably would have taken a different a slightly different balance of courses that I felt would be even more pragmatic for my career. And that I really enjoyed and kind of almost draw a line between the two.
You know, classes are going to require a lot of work almost no matter which one you pick, obviously some more than others. But I say take this class purely because you love it and you enjoy the subject or because you think it's going to be beneficial to you, in your post college career, whatever that is.
Anything in between, I think is going to be somewhat frustrating. Now, I'm sure you can't make that happen in the most accurate way possible, but to the extent that you can, you can do that, I think it would or I could have done that. I think I would have been slightly happier again. Still very happy but might have been a different that's all hindsight is always 2020.
Venkat 24:49
Of course, of course. The other one I actually I you know, classes are one thing. What about the internships that you did? I mean, you know, if you had your pick Can you could do something different would you have? What would you do differently? Oh, do you think that those kind of really added up in a nice way for you to where you kind of ended up doing what you're doing today?
Seth 25:12
I was pretty happy with how it all played out, I'll be frank with you, I didn't have a ton of options, my first couple years of sort of take what you can get to become, to be completely frank.
And you know, I learned a lot, I had some really good experiences. In fact, I actually keep in touch with a couple of my bosses from then. So you know, I would say, let me put it this way. If there's anything I would have done, it would have been something totally off the wall. Yeah. But I kind of knew I was going down this path at a certain point. And so I don't think I guess I would have changed that.
I think, I think that's, that's probably how I would look at it.
Venkat 25:48
Fair enough. Fair enough.
It's always it's always interesting, looking back and saying if I'd done this or that, and it's great. I mean, I think I think what you're saying is absolutely true. I mean, at the end of the day, it's the opportunities that you had, or what you thought you had at that point. In terms of internships, etc. I mean...
Seth 26:06
Maybe one, maybe one thing that just does come to mind is, again, this is much easier in hindsight, but I would have stressed less about grades I did very well.
But I think every, there's no, it's easy, again, easier to say now than then. But one quiz, one paper is not going to make you or break you. And important to kind of keep that in mind.
Because College is a four year experience for the most part. And it's, it's more or less a marathon than a sprint. And so taking a step back and realizing that, that all of these things are cumulative in nature, and would I think take a lot of the stress off of the experience in general.
Venkat 26:51
That's well put.
Venkat 26:55
So now, I know that you're heavily involved with the alumni. At Penn alumni committee, you were saying the other day.
So what would your advice be to aspiring students looking to apply to pan and hopefully and hoping to get in? What, what is it that you would tell them based on both your experience and whatever you've learned, over the years there?
With Penn, know that for Penn specifically, know, you want to go there. And I don't think it's a little bit different. I'll be completely honest with this community here, it is a little bit of a different approach, because it is an Ivy League school. But there, and it is obviously very well known internationally.
But it's not, it's different than some of the other schools, right, there's a very, very big focus on wanting to be there. And I found that everyone who was there was very excited about being there. And that has to come through in the application. So to the extent that you're capable of and feel comfortable applying early decision, I would strongly recommend it.
Because Penn is well known to take more of its people Early Decision than in Regular Decision where the numbers are very daunting. And so I would say do your research early, don't have to go back, go to your eighth grade year like I did to start identifying an interest, but don't leave it up to your senior year. And then rush the application, make sure you're building a deep understanding of the school, there are plenty of ways even in the current pandemic, to reach out and get to know classmates or your students and introduce yourself to the admissions committee virtually in any other way.
And make sure you have a very deep understanding of what it is you want to do when you get there. And if you can communicate that it'll go a long way in helping your chances of gaining an acceptance letter.
Venkat 28:52
Now, do you have a feel for the profile of the kind of students that Penn ends up picking? I know that changes I know that's, you know, quite broad, but is there any, are there a couple of things that you would I mean, in addition to obviously wanting to be there, and that passion coming through, or desire coming through, is there anything else that you might, you know, throw out there saying, hey, they are looking for these kind of folks, or those kind of folks, or is it not that easy?
Seth 29:27
So I do this school, the class is very diverse, right? And you'll find that a lot of the top schools so you know, I think it would be it wouldn't be fair to say there's one particular type of profile. But that being said, I do think that what would be helpful for people to know is besides obviously academic excellence, extracurricular leadership, just overall across the board strength in all components, I would say there are two things to think about.
The first is again, do you have sort of a social psyche which is again, something I noticed in all my friends And, and and what again attracted me to the school, but also recognize which school you're interested in, right.
So there are four schools that Penn, there is the engineering school, the nursing school, the Wharton School, and then the College of Arts and Sciences. And right that is important in the current application, because they literally ask you which school interests you, and why you would feel would be a good fit.
And so I will say that if there's any profile to come from Penn does the fact that it is a little bit more preprofessional in nature, than a lot of comparable institutions, which for some people is a good thing, I fall in that category. But for other people, it's less so.
And that's just by nature of the design, right? If you're going into an undergraduate school, where there's a focus on a particular discipline, it's naturally going to lend itself to people going into that field, right, Otherwise it would not with the right purpose. So I think having a very self aware sense of self awareness, where you want to go is very, very important.
Venkat 31:08
So as we kind of near the end of our podcast, I would like to, you know, ask you if there was anything else you want to add anything want to expand on something we might not have covered? Or, and or share some fond memories of fondest memories that you might have the years
What is the most important things about Penn? And look, this isn't unique in the sense that it's the only one that has this kind of feature, but it is located in a major US City, Philadelphia. And the cool thing about Penn for people who either have been or haven't been is the design of the campus. So it's 240 acre campus located in West Philadelphia, and what's Philadelphia is just over the Schuylkill River from downtown Philadelphia. It's what has this really cool makeup where when you step on the camp, it's all connected, right? There's no off camp. I mean, there's some off campus buildings. But for the most part, the campus is cohesive, and it has a very interesting architecture, it's eclectic.
And when you step onto campus, you have a real sense of being present, you sort of escape the world around you, some people may call it a bubble. Other peoples’ may call it something else. Again, you think there's a positive connotation with that or not, it's up to you. But it's great because you can totally absorb yourself in the campus.
But if you want to get away, and you want to explore the city, or you want to do something separate, or whatever your motivation is, it's it's a 20 minute walk to downtown Philadelphia, a 10 minute cab ride a a three minute train ride, and you're riding one of the biggest cities in the US. And so that's a very, very big part of the experience.
The other thing too is, you know, you are equally distant between Washington DC and New York City. So if you have relatives, they want to go visit another city, you can hop on a train or a bus, or if you're on a plane in some cases, and be there and and it's very, very accessible.
Plus for international students, Philadelphia is a major airport. So it's very easy to get other places.
And so I found the entire idea of being in a big city, but having your city within the city was very impactful. And I can tell you, there's so many great memories I had it people are experiences at Penn, where Philadelphia was an integral part of that.
So one of the cool things, for example, is during your senior year, you have a lot of social events. And as I mentioned, I was a part of the planning for one of these things where it integrates into Philadelphia. So there's a thing called Walnut Walk, which is basically you start all the way on the east side of the city of Philadelphia. And it's like a bar crawl, if you will, and go from one one must be like 25-30 bars that are set up. Even if you don't drink, it's still fun for a lot of people and you go from one to another until you make your way back to campus. And it's usually on a Saturday, it's a great way to kind of celebrate your experience there in the city and everyone's also wearing the same Tshirt. So it's like once you spot all your classmates along the entire city, it's fun, it just shows you the influence that Penn has on the city and just how much people like being there.
Venkat 34:12
Does sound like fun! Um, so anything else you want to add before we close?
Seth 34:20
One of the other cool things that I really enjoyed and this is very unique to me was when I was in the Student Government. There was a big issue about this very particular but to arrange for buses to get people, like how to design a bus service exclusively for students who are looking to get home for either the Christmas break or Thanksgiving.
And the meetings usually started around 9pm on Sunday nights. And this was such an exciting moment and such a great opportunity for us to have an impact on the, on the the community at large that we ended up staying there debating one another on what the right format wasn't About two or three in the morning. And we just hold back a time. But we were very excited. And this was a type. And this was one moment when I recalled just feeling excited to be in a place where I was met or embraced with folks who are equally as excited, but had very different opinions from my own. And I just thought that, to me, that was one of the most rewarding times at school.
Venkat 35:22
Sounds Sounds great.
So, Seth, I want to thank you again for doing this podcast with us. Certainly, hopefully, you found it enjoyable going down memory lane here.
Certainly, I think it's going to be of great use to all our students out there.
So thank you once again, for being part of this podcast. And I'm sure we'll talk more and probably dig deeper into some of the things you said but for now, take care and be safe.
Venkat 36:03
Hi again!
Hope you enjoyed our podcast with Seth Shapiro.
Seth’s tale is one of clarity & pursuit.
He was impressed with Penn even before he was in high school. Seth combined his broad range of interests and activities in high school with his Dream of going to Penn, to create a compelling profile. This resulted in an Early Decision to Penn.
I hope this motivates you to check Penn out further.
For your questions or comments on this podcast, please email podcast at almamatters.io [podcast@almamatters.io].
Thank you so much for listening to our podcast today.
Transcripts for this podcast and previous podcasts are on almamatters.io forward slash podcasts [almamatters.io/podcasts].
Many thanks to the Counseling firm Admissionado for introducing me to today’s guest, Seth Shapiro.
To stay connected with us, Subscribe to Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Spotify or visit anchor.fm forward slash almamatters [anchor.fm/almamatters] to check us out.
Till we meet again, take care and be safe.
Thank you!
Summary Keywords
US Colleges, College Admissions, Ivy League, University of Pennsylvania, Penn, UPenn, Extracurricular, International Students, Model UN, Common Application, Common App, PPE, Politics Philosophy Economics, Early Decision, Regular Decision, Philadelphia, Kite and Key Society.