Undergraduate Students

Six people sitting on a stage during discussion.

Documenting refugees

A documentary film by Penn junior Sonari Chidi and a panel discussion at Perry World House focused on the depiction of refugees and immigrants in the media.

Louisa Shepard ・

Student sitting at a table next to a window.

And the Oscar goes to…a Penn sophomore

Claire Sliney is a co-executive producer of one of five films nominated for an Academy Award in the Documentary Short Subject category. “Period. End of Sentence.” explores the stigma of menstruation for girls in India and Sliney’s work to address the issue.

Louisa Shepard , Louisa Shepard ・

The four Y-Prize winners with their trophies.

Infection-resistant catheter plan wins Y-Prize

The team of four undergraduates propose reinventing the catheter to prevent urinary tract infections at the source, using a wrinkle printing technology developed at Penn.

Gwyneth K. Shaw

A group of college students sitting on a street between colorful buildings.

Seeing health care disparities firsthand in Chile

A senior in the course Health and the Health Care System in Chile reflects on lessons from a 10-day Nursing Study Abroad winter break trip, which offered a holistic view of the South American country’s health system.

Michele W. Berger ・

Penn students visiting a temple in Japan

In Japan, students learn to savor the moment

Nine students spent a week in Japan though a Penn Biden Center program. After a whirlwind tour that included a visit to Hiroshima and a home stay, students say the experience was life-changing.

Gwyneth K. Shaw

Student looking closely at a rare document in a plastic sleeve he is holding, while seated in a library.

Walt Whitman up close

As part of the Penn Manuscript Collective, students transcribe rare documents and original works by Walt Whitman in the University’s collection. Their discoveries will be included in an international symposium at Penn this spring, Whitman at 200, led by the Penn Libraries marking the anniversary of the poet’s birth.

Louisa Shepard ・

Kyle Oden

‘A Home for the Holidays’

On Dec. 31, Kyle Oden, a junior at Penn from Inglewood, Calif., and his family will be featured as part of a nationally televised holiday special: “A Home for the Holidays—the 20th Anniversary” celebrating families whose lives have been changed by adoptions.

Penn Today Staff ・



In the News


The Washington Post

College internships matter more than ever — but not everyone can get one

Almost 90% of students who graduated from Penn in 2023 completed an internship during college. Barbara Hewitt of Career Services says that the race to get talent early has resulted in a focus on getting early practical experience through many ways in students’ academic careers.

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The Wall Street Journal

Harvard University applications fall by 5%

Penn received more than 65,000 undergraduate applications for the Class of 2028, the most in its history.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

Penn will remain SAT optional for the next admission cycle

Penn will remain standardized test optional for the 2024-25 admissions cycle, with remarks from Dean of Admissions Whitney Soule.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

With one jump, Scott Toney set a Penn pole vault record, and topped his late brother’s mark in a fitting tribute

Scott Toney, a Wharton School fourth-year and pole vaulter from Mountainview, California, recently broke the Penn program record in a tribute to Marc Toney, his late brother and fellow pole vaulter.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

Meet the Masterman junior who just represented Brazil in the Youth Olympics

Masterman junior and Youth Olympics speedskater Lucas Koo, the son of Hyun (Michel) Koo of the School of Dental Medicine, hopes to attend the Wharton School after graduation.

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Popular Mechanics

How severed cockroach legs could help us ‘fully rebuild’ human bodies

David Meaney of the School of Engineering and Applied Science oversees an undergraduate bioengineering lab that uses cockroach legs to teach students to work with human prostheses.

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