New Student Orientation

From Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) to West Philadelpia:

There are several ways coming from Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) to West Philadelphia, where University of Pennsylvania is located, if you failed to find someone come pick you up from the airport.

By taxi:
You will find taxi following signs from baggage claim area, directing you to taxi pick up area. The total cost including tips ranges from $25 to $30.

By airport shuttle:
Airport shuttle service is very convenient to use. There are also signs direct you the airport shuttle service. There are phones connect to different shuttle companies. Making a call indicating the address you are going to, and you can wait for your shuttles to come. It usually costs ~$10 including tips.

By train R1 (not recommended to students coming from China directly):
Taking trains is a little less convenient if you have big luggages. But there is one stop close to the international terminal. Again, following signs and you can arrive at the train entrance. Take your time locating ticket vendor (a machine selling train tickets). You need to have $20 or less bill to buy tickets from vendor. Or you can buy ticket after boarding the train. That costs a little more. One-way R1 ticket from airport to 30th St. station is about $5~6. 30th st. station is a major connection to many other public transportations. Subway (blue line) and subway-surface (green line) go to west philadelphia. Please check SEPTA homepage for the detailed routes and schedules.

After settle down yourself, go to your department to have yourself registered with the department. You can find the department address on your admission letter. Bring all the materials with you, including I-20, admission letter, passport etc.

If you are coming during June/July to attend ITA programs, please read this

If you are coming during August/September, please read this

Coming in June/July

Ask the front desk how to open an email account. It will be the cheapest and fastest way that you contact with your family back in China. You will also find a lot of computer labs on campus that you can use for free as long as you have your own Penn net account.
If you get a checklist from the department, follow the checklist. Otherwise, please follow the procedure listed below:
1. Go to OIP (Office of International Program) at 133 Bennett Hall, 3340 Walnut Street with your I-20, I-94 card which you will get when entering USA customs and your passport. OIP is an office providing services for international students and scholars. You will get a package contains a lot of useful information. You will need the campus map immediately and keep the rest materials for future use.
2. Contact ELP in the same building, 21 Bennett Hall, 3340 Walnut Street to be enrolled in ITA program.
3. Go get your social security number (SSN) from Social Security Office. You will get detailed instructions on how to obtain social security number when you visit OIP.
4. Open a bank account. You will need social security number to open a bank account. You can use the temporary SSN number which was a 9-digit number given in one of you letters from your department begins with 999-, or you can wait until your permenant SSN arrives which will take couple of weeks ~ months to arrive. If you do the former, please remember to inform the bank of your permenant SSN when it comes.
  There are 4 banks on Penn campus:
  - Commerce Bank
    119 South 38th Street
    Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA
    215-387-1000
  - Mellon Bank East/PSFS
    135 South 36th Street
    Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA
    215-387-1900
  - PNC Bank
    3535 Market Street
    Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA
    215-387-5120
  - Sovereign Bank
    3131 Market Street
    Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA
    215-382-8005
  Another choice is U. of P. Federal Credit Union at 3401 Walnut St.
5. New student orientation:
  Both OIP and CSSAP will hold new student orientations. However, the major functions are not the same. OIP is willing to help you to get familiar with the campus as well as the city quickly. CSSAP aims for helping you getting to know the Chinese community at Penn. So, please pay attention to the date of the orientations. We wish to see you then.
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Coming in Auguest/September
Penn hold registration/enrollment service called CUPID every year. CUPID is always held for ~5 days before Fall semester starts. You can basically done with all your enrollment and registrations there, including registration for classes, obtaining most of the on campus information, buy health insurance, openning bank account, getting email account and so on... There are also a lot of souvenirs you can pick up for free.
However, you still need to visit OIP at 133 Bennett Hall, 3340 Walnut Street and probably go get your social security number at social security office. You may also wish to attend the new student orientation held by OIP, helping you to know the campus and Philadelphia.
If you find yourself not being able to be at Penn during CUPID, please check back, ignoring the ITA part.
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Off-campus housing
If you have already found a long term lease, you are lucky! Please skip this and go to calling rate. If you are still hunting for long term lease, there are several sources you may want to use:
1. Off-campus living office (OCL)
2. CSSAP/CSSAPGENERAL email lists
3. 'tin', a newsgroup supported by Penn-net. You can always access it by entering your UPenn email account through telnet. After setting your vt type, key in 'tin' and look for 'upenn.forsale' or 'upenn.forsale.sublet'.
Considering you are going to live there for a whole year or at least 9 months, please be very careful about the place you choose. OCL provides thourough tips on housing hunting.
Telephone
Now it's time you have telephone service installed in your home. Call Verizon at 1-800-640-4155, listening to the voice directories carefully and choosing "ordering new service". There are several plans for local service, please choose the one best for you. Generally, I would suggest you use the lowest price service for a while and see if you would like it.
Calling rate
Having local telephone service doesn't mean that you can make international phone calls or its calling rate may be very high (could be as high as $3.00 per minute). If you get special plans, you can call back to China for as low as $.35 per minute or even lower. Inter-state calls can be as low as 5 cents a minute. Another way is to use calling card. Calling rates vary for different calling cards, please choose carefully.
Safety
It may not be safe for you to go out after dark. UPenn provide security shuttle/bus services for Penn students during night from 6:00pm to 3:00am except for holidays. We strongly recommand you use the services during night. And the service is for free. For the information, please check Penn security service.

Wish you start a happy life here at Penn.

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