Hella

In order to get an idea of what a daily walk would be like, I decided to make the trip on foot from my Center City hotel to Huntsman Hall. It took me about 45 minutes total, including a stop at Starbucks. I can already feel that I’ll probably be hooked on making this morning stop.

With coffee in hand, I made my way over to Huntsman. I took the escaltors down to the Baker Forum level and was greeted with my registration folder. I signed up for a Follies ticket since the first 50 registered got a complimentary ticket. At this desk, the person in charge of gathering my financial aid documents confirmed she had received my mailing. It was so nice to already have people knowing my name :) After quickly reviewing the schedule in the registration packet, I made my way up to the third floor.

In the third floor office, I met up with some of the other Round 1 Admits. It was a small group at this point and there were plenty of staff members there to greet us and answer our questions. We mainly had a talk about the weather, but also about housing. It was nice to see so much energy from the academic counselors.

At 10:30 we had a quick orientation where we were introduced to our “mini-cohort” leaders for the week’s events. Rose gave a quick welcome and AlexBr. was also there. After hearing a little bit about what to expect for the next three days, the leaders spoke briefly about backgrounds. One of them, a big soccer fan, said he was lobbying for the name of the program to be changed from the Wharton School of Business to the Wharton School of Soccer and have a business club.

Next was a cohort ice breaker where we played some name games and chatted while waiting for lunchtime to roll around. In attendance were Jumping Jeanique, Active Azim, Jammin’ Jim, me, Swimming Sumit, Rockin’ Ricardo, Acting Anil, Canoeing Chris, and Making Music Megan. As a group, we decided on mexican food at Mad Mex and, coming from Texas, I was curious to see what it would be like.

After lunch, I followed my cohort leader to a class on entrepreneurship where she is the TA. It was quite an interesting 80 minutes as the students were constantly engaged and commenting. A small case was discussed, along with a very short bit of lecture. The instructor then left time at the end for three groups to present their business ideas. Other students gave feedback and asked questions about the proposed ventures.

From 3:00-4:30 I attended a panel discussion of four students on the topic of Academics at Wharton. Each of them offered their personal experiences to the many questions of the admits. It was nice to hear the current students be so candid about things.

The highlight of my day was the welcome cocktail reception on the 8th floor of Huntsman. The view of downtown is very nice and it was a nice change to feel the pace of events slow down. I spotted TanniaH as I was going for a refill and she took me over to be formally introduced to FF and AlexBr. After the conversation, I made a swift walk back to the hotel to change and go to a club social and I got to meet several other people I have been emailing over the past couple of months.

Today I took a bit of a rest after the club socials and nightlife from the previous day, but I was saving my energy for the Dean’s Dinner. Prior to the dinner there were cocktails and some mingling in an adjacent room at the Inn at Penn. I met one of the students in charge of organizing the very helpful Housing Guide and discussed his experiences so far at Wharton.

Dinner consisted of a help yourself buffet with salad, a dinner roll, beef, chicken, fish, pasta salads, and a selection of pastries and fresh fruit. Towards the end of the meal, one of the Winter Welcome co-chairs (there are 3 co-chairs this year), gave an introduction followed by short welcome speeches from Rose, Dean Harker, and Rodney. These three students organized the entire Winter Welcome event in the span of about two months.

Off for more social activities for the evening. Hopefully they won’t leave me with such a late start as I had this morning!

Filed under: B-School