Hella

The final day of Wharton Welcome Weekend was a more restful one. From 9 to noon, there were panel discussions and presentations on a variety of topics including career management and academics. Since I’d already sat in on some of these during Winter Welcome, I opted to attend only the career management session. It was run by the Director of Career Management and it is clear that this aspect of the MBA experience is taken very seriously. Major industries are headed up by professionals who have actually worked at the places and in the positions we’ll be seeking for internships and full-time employment. I got to speak with one person in charge of the marketing/CPG areas at the Marketing Club Social on Friday night and it was great to know we’d have access to people with such depth of knowledge in the careers we’ll soon be pursuing. At the social, some current students focusing on marketing told me how he’s at so many Employee Information Sessions and always there to help them out, even sometimes when events are later in the evening.

Another box lunch was planned but I instead chose to wander over to an Asian place just off campus. I walked in and saw a Follies cast picture from last year on the wall and as I went to sit down, I recognized the recruiter from the Joe McKinsey skits during this year’s show.

After lunch, I decided to wander back to the hotel and start resting up for the closing dinner and final party. I got dressed and started walking back to campus a little after 6 and arrived there with 30 minutes to spare. The time passed quickly as I watched some informal tennis matches and then headed towards the museum.

Inside the museum around 7, one of the students in charge let us know we could begin heading up the stairs to meet the Director of Admissions and the Dean of the Wharton School. I thought I’d arrived way to early, but it was nice to be able to shake hands with each of them. I learned from people who arrived later that they had to bypass this as the line was extremely long.

Before dinner, we mixed and mingled among the treasures of the museum from the Royal Tombs of Ur. Several make-shift bars were spread throughout the 2 or 3 rooms and wine and beer were available for the taking. After about an hour, we started to make our way for the tables. Each table had one place-setting marked as reserved so we assumed someone official would soon be there to join us for dinner. Indeed, a finance professor took the seat with us.

No one seemed to want to go to the buffet lines even though we’d been told they were open, so the O4B folks busted right out on over there. Soon the people were swarming and the lines were long and I was thankful to have been one of the first through the line. The food at this event really outdid what we had at the Dean’s Dinner for Winter Welcome. There was beef and fish, several types of bread, pasta salad, a ceasar salad, and a few things that I couldn’t really decide what they were. We also each had a sizeable piece of cheesecake waiting for us back at the table.

Dinner conversation was great as most of us at the table already knew each other pretty well. We’d met each other at the O4B social on Thursday evening and had been partying together every night (well some of us had been catching a bit more sleep!). The GLBT group at Wharton is really strong and welcoming and it’s nice to have so many allies outside the group itself.

The closing dinner began to draw to a close and we were told that buses would be shuttling us over to the party over in Old City. Rumor had it that the venue was even smaller than last night and I knew it was pretty packed then. Four of us huddled together while we weighed our options; we decided to catch a cab back to Center City and go for a more relaxed time at a small Irish place I’d been to many times already. Yeah, I pooped out on the party again, but I must say that I didn’t really want to be packed in like sardines, fight to get to the open bar, and try to yell at the people I was trying to get to know because the music was too loud. The Irish place turned out to be less crowded than normal and we had a fantastic time.

Filed under: B-School