I went to Penn in term 1 of 2019/20, via u-wide programme offered by OAL. I was in the final year of LLB (year 4) and I did not defer and just graduated on time ;P. I stressed this cuz I was deterred a lot by the rumors that exchange will 100% prevent a law student from graduating on time before going, and this is NOT TRUE. So if any law students here, you can be relieved now cuz you CAN have amazing exchange experiences without swallowing one more semester/year’s suffering of law school (!), as long as you pick the right time, right host uni, and right courses to transfer.
Just post my study plan for your information, all compulsory law courses except conveyancing and IRP will be pre-assigned by cu law fac and completed before year 4, and conveyancing is in term 2 of year 4 (Do confirm with fac cuz it may change!) with IRP in either term. I had 5 law electives to be done at that time, and I transferred 4 of them from Penn. So it is pretty worth it cuz I only need do 3 law courses in my last graduating term XD. My friend, another law student, went to exchange in year 3 and he had to do 5 law courses in the last term to make up for the four law compulsory in year 3 term 2. And just FYI, the four courses I had at Penn are: Negotiations; Blockchain/cryptocurrencies: business, legal and regulatory considerations; Justice, law and morality; Law and social policy on sex and reproduction — none of which are legit law courses (2 from Wharton, 1 from Phil Dept, 1 from Gender Studies) but I still got them transferred. So the takeaway is as long as cu law is concerned, they are not too strict with the courses you transfer back, though do confirm with them beforehand. They also publish a list of law courses transferred by previous students somewhere on their website.
But in any sense, the exchange experience is just so amazing that even deferring is definitely worth it.
ACCOMMODATION
Penn provides accommodation on campus and they offer choices after your admission. Rodin was pretty popular among exchange/international students and thus very convenient for exchange students to hang around and study tgt. But no one told me that so I randomly picked a small hall, Gregory, which was much more local but still I made amazing local friends.
Dinning plan was compulsory. Buy the cheapest one!!! You will come back to thank me.
LIFE ON CAMPUS
In some sense I may have made more friends within three months in US than I did during the whole three years at CU. From my personal experience grade inflation in US was real, and I was only taking that semester as a break. So I spent as little time as possible on my courses (surprisingly results turned out really good so..), and spent as much time as possible meeting people, joining societies, making friends, and ofc, going to crazy parties. University life at UPenn can be a lot of fun. Countless exciting societies, activities and parties to explore. Just be brave to try everything!
TRAVEL
Penn does not have much holiday for fall term (but still I recommend fall cuz exchange student would join the orientation week with Penn's freshmen - great chance to meet people and familiarize with Penn). But I still utilized weekends to their most and went to ten cities in US (at expense of course work XD). Traveling/transportation around east coast is fairly convenient and easy. And nothing to fear if you have already made a bunch of friends to travel with.
CONCLUSION
I would say it was definitely the highlight of my 4-year uni life. I can't imagine how big a shame it would be if I decided not to go on exchange and how I would regret over my undergraduate study. Hope you don't regret! And feel free to ask me any Qs (English or Chinese).
