How do UPenn and Notre Dame compare in campus size and overall campus layout?

UPenn feels more compact and urban, while Notre Dame feels much more expansive, residential, and traditional in layout. Penn sits within West Philadelphia as a dense city campus where academic buildings, dorms, dining, and student spaces are packed fairly close together. Notre Dame has a large standalone campus in South Bend with broad quads, lakes, long sightlines, and more physical separation between different parts of campus.

At Penn, daily walking tends to happen on a tighter grid. Locust Walk is the main pedestrian spine, and a lot of student life clusters around it, so classes, club meetings, dining, and libraries often feel very interconnected. Even though Penn has distinct areas like College Green, the high-rise area, and Penn Park, the campus blends into the surrounding city and usually feels easy to cross on foot without the sense of being in a huge enclosed campus.

Notre Dame gives a different physical impression right away. The campus is known for its open green spaces, iconic Main Building and Golden Dome, residence halls spread across a broad area, and a more self-contained environment. Walking around can feel calmer and more scenic, but also more spread out, especially if you are going between dorms, academic buildings, athletic facilities, and the edges of campus.

That means the everyday feel is quite different. Penn often feels energetic, fast-moving, and integrated with off-campus city life, while Notre Dame feels more like a classic college town campus where most of student life happens within a clearly defined university space. If you are picturing pure walkability in a compact setting, Penn stands out; if you want roomier grounds and a more open campus experience, Notre Dame fits that better.