Dear Spectrum,

As a former UB student I read “Public versus Private,” Jill Gregorie’s look at the benefits of a state school education with great interest, though I found one important perspective lacking from the article: students who have made the leap from a public university to a private school. Currently, I am a transfer student at the University of Pennsylvania—a member of the Ivy League, not Penn State—and I‘m experiencing first hand the differences between the two.

To begin with, there are many obvious advantages that I have found at Penn that were simply not available to me at UB. Our class sizes are substantially smaller, giving students more face time and individual contact with professors. Classes are also seldom—if ever—taught by graduate students. Our student body is more diverse; including many international students like UB, but also a made up of a general population that draws from all over the country, not just heavily from one state or region. I could go on and on, but this really isn’t my point.

What the article truly failed to mention, aside from the one Harvard kid who talked about networking, are the many intangible benefits that an Ivy League or elite private university can afford its students.

When I go to class, I know I’m going to encounter animated and lively discussion, and that everyone there will have done the work. This is a far cry from my days of UB classes filled with awkward silences during discussion sessions and lecture halls that were half full because going to class just didn’t matter. Also, in addition to simply being with students who want to learn at Penn, it’s invigorating to be on a college campus that actually looks and feels like a college campus. Large, historic stone buildings, big trees, grassy quads, and tons of places for students to hang out all serve to create a general sense of community among the students. The industrial, post-penal colony look of UB’s academic spine, coupled with its complete lack of meeting places on campus, isn’t a very conducive environment to that community feeling. I see students conduct themselves in a certain way at Penn—call it school spirit, school pride, elitism, what have you—that was just plain lacking at UB. Everyone who goes here wants to go here. They work hard, they take pride in their school, and they are generally appreciative of the fact that they’re able to go to Penn.

In closing, I’d just like to say that UB is a great school and I enjoyed the time I spent there—but it’s important to keep a sense of perspective when comparing it to other institutions.

Cheers,

Christopher Ahearn

Former Editor in Chief and Jacob Drum’s AA Sponsor

Christopher,

I’m sure you are proud! After burning your parents’ money on crystal meth for three years you needed a school to have “small class sizes” and “grassy quads.” You fucking poser. Because you convinced yourself that you utilized and drained UB for all it had to offer, you now find yourself among students who are “generally appreciative of the fact that they’re able to go to Penn.” Oh, that’s all it took?

Just like the kid with the new bike down the block, you needed that big expensive school with the “big trees” to excel with your goals in “comparative lit.” Never mind the extra $30,000 a year that might front you, mom and pop will pay for it.

Oh yeah, and thanks for sticking around for the blizzard last weekend. I had your wool blanket on the couch and bought your favorite beer from Consumer Beverage, but you were with your new friends. And you don’t care anymore.

Learning to Forget,

Peter Scheck