NORTHEAST REGION SCHOOLS

 

University of Pennsylvania
Penn's reputation is primarily wrapped up with its 12 graduate schools, especially the prestigious Wharton School for business administration, the Annenberg School of Communication, and the well-known law, medical, and veterinary schools. Three of four undergraduate schools - engineering, nursing, and the undergraduate division of Wharton - are also professionally oriented and offer an education that's hard to beat anywhere. The undergraduate College of Arts and Sciences has come into its own in the past decade or so and provides students with high-quality instruction as well as the chance to run into a Nobel laureate here and there.

Penn offers no co-op programs and discourages full-time internships for credit, remaining true to the Ivy League belief that learning is best done in the classroom. Those who want to explore more exotic classrooms may study abroad at one of Penn's numerous overseas programs. Freshmen are encouraged to participate in a seminar program that explores various areas of academic interest, and also in the Penn Reading Project, which involves student and faculty discussion of a common text.

Greek societies claim 30 percent of men and women, and the campus is rife with traditions befitting an Ivy League school. With an emphasis on civic involvement Penn is an Ivy that still makes sure not to divorce the inheritance of classical knowledge from the need for the public betterment.

State University of New York - Geneseo
For those seeking a public alternative to private liberal arts colleges, SUNY-Geneseo offers a comprehensive educational experience that emphasizes strong professional programs and a traditional liberal arts core. Geneseo operates on the semester system, and the college's offerings balance between several professional programs and the traditional liberal arts.

Special education is the most popular major, followed by business, biology, psychology, and English. The John Wiley Jones School of Business boasts a strong program; 3-2 MBA programs are available with Pace, SUNY-Buffalo, and Syracuse; and 3-3 programs are available with the Rochester Institute of Technology. Geneseo still has an outstanding education program that offers a teaching certificate. There is also a 3-2 program in engineering.

The flexible core curriculum requires two interdisciplinary humanities courses and two courses in each of four categories: Natural sciences, social sciences, fine arts, and critical reasoning, as well as one course in non-Western traditions.

Sixteen percent of the men and 10 percent of the women belong to fraternities and sororities, which keep life on campus from getting too humdrum. Intramurals are popular, and there are nearly 200 other student-run organizations, including a newspaper and radio and television stations. All in all, SUNY-Geneseo offers a quality education at an affordable price.

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