Rushing to Wall Street - Wharton Business School Student Job Seeking Practical Training

Author: Nicole Rivach
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: In the sweltering late summer of August 2003, the Class of 2007 at Wharton began to stride confidently onto this campus. Before graduating and entering Wall Street or the mahogany-paneled boardroom of American corporations, 77,000 Wharton alumni had once walked these grounds. With no one else to rely on, the new students listened intently to every word from their senior "team advisors," who would guide them through the roadmap of their next four years at Wharton through orientation sessions. Dressed in blue Wharton T-shirts and shorts, the "team advisors" gathered the new students for a two-hour advising session about course requirements and college services after lunch. Later that afternoon, the incoming Wharton freshmen filed into the building of the Baker Forum in Huntsman Hall, where the Wharton Dean, Patrick T. Harker, known on campus as "Professor Pat," delivered a welcoming address. The forum's building is a two-story circular hall with luxurious modern brick-and-mortar inside, typically used as a meeting spot for Wharton research groups during the academic year, but its 4,000 square feet are more than enough to accommodate all the new students. The hall began to fill up, with some students sitting cross-legged on the floor waiting for the speech to begin, while others excitedly made plans with their new classmates. Among a group of students, two freshmen discussed their high school drinking competitions, while another classmate sat on the floor, fiddling with shoelaces, scanning the crowd. Standing before them on the stairs were smiling Wharton faculty and administrative staff. After a moment, Susanna Kaufman de Peyster, Director of Student Affairs at Wharton, and Anita Henderson, Director of Academic Affairs and Advising, walked to the podium and skillfully captured the students' attention. Wearing blue T-shirts for Wharton's orientation sessions over their business suits, the two began their rehearsed welcome speech. "To be a part of this community, you must learn the language here," they announced. Then, they alternately spoke in the distinctive dialect of Philadelphia: "We don't say downtown; we say center city." "We don't say the Philadelphia Eagles; we say the Philadelphia Flyers." "You don't eat hoagies; you eat large sandwiches." "You don't go to the beach; you go to the shore." "You don't say hello; you say yoh!" They shouted energetically in unison. The two women then invited the students to welcome Dean Harker in the style of Philadelphia. "Yoh, Dean Harker!" the students shouted. "Yoh, Class of 2007!" he replied. Then, as if the ceremony had had no effect on him, Harker switched to a Southern accent: "Welcome to the Wharton School of Business." Harker, tall and strong, defied the stereotype of a stuffy, bow-tie-wearing dean. His handsome, well-defined face and brown hair made him look more like a former member of the college's football team. He wasn't from the South but from New Jersey—and he too had been a freshman at Penn, though in the College of Arts and Sciences. Reflecting on the early days of the college, Dean Harker discussed his