Most of this Web site is about this collegiate division, even though it's the smaller of the two departments of the University. The first medical school in the nation and still the most prestigious, the medical department has hundreds of students enrolled in it, over half of whom are from the south and all over the United States. Admission to the collegiate department is a relatively informal process with very little competition. According to the Catalogue of the Officers and Students , students must be at least 14 years old to gain admittance to the University. Until 1828, furthermore, the typical student needed only three years to graduate, so most students could be graduated from Penn by the time they were 17.
Students have to study Spanish, French, or German, however, if their parents demand it.
This is one way in which Penn stands out from our contemporaries, who largely offer only the traditional Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. In teaching modern languages, Penn thus teaches practical skills, as its founder, Benjamin Franklin, wanted his Academy to do. Although there are no electives or majors in the coursework, there is a classically and scientifically-oriented curriculum. The courseload includes Rhetoric, Algebra, and Horace, for freshmen, and Cicero, the Iliad, Elocution, Trigonometry, and Chemistry for sophomores. We also have suggested reading lists for the students' spare time.