r/UPenn • u/Nirijenn CAS '25 • Mar 17 '20

How is life at Penn for a FGLi student

I'm an international student who got into Penn ED. I'm thankful for the chance to go to this school, but I'm worried about how I will cope at Penn when right now at home, I often think that we may lose our home? I don't have to affluent to enjoy my time at Penn, right? Do people look at you different if you don't have money?

15 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

29

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '20

[deleted]

7

u/hogwharts Mar 17 '20

I think the only thing that sets you apart is whether or not you are able to afford certain social activities. So if your friends all want to go to Fogo de Chao you probably would be left out to due to financial constraints. Not that you have to limit your friends to people of your own economic class— plenty of affluent students at Penn are also cheap.

6

u/jbece23 Mar 17 '20

As a FGLI student myself, one thing I highly recommend is to reach out to SFS and other on campus resources as much as possible. Don’t feel afraid to ask Penn for help in anything you may need. It was initially hard for me to do this as I felt guilty for asking for more help besides the help they were already given me, but I learned to ask as many questions as I felt necessary. Keep on fighting/asking for help until someone helps you/provides you with the help you need.

2

u/pennclass2022 Mar 25 '20

Most people don't care about your status. Challenge is mostly mental rather than from other students.