Wharton Winter Welcome Debrief

Last week was Wharton's Winter Welcome for R1 admits. It was a whirlwind, but really fun. I met a ton of really cool people, but didn't even sniff meeting everyone at the event. But I am certain that the class of 2010 is going to be really good based on the people I did meet.

Some random thoughts:
-Philly cooperated in true Philly fashion by providing a "wintery mix" storm the night before the event began. I personally had a horrible time getting home from work and ended up with a migraine for my efforts. I'm sure those flying in from all over the world had a lovely time trying to get in to our lovely airport.
-Thomas Caleel has some great ties.
-Follies is really funny and provided a great student view of the MBA life. Even though we didn't get half the jokes, all the admits were quite entertained. It also showed how talented Wharton people are and how much fun the next 2 years are going to be.
-The Financial Aid presentation generated the most questions of any session the whole event. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one confused.
-The curriculum seems designed to make you want to kill your learning team in the first quarter, only to decide you love them by the third quarter. I swear every first year had this same story.
-A club that demands 2 hours of your time a week is not considered a big commitment. I guess that makes sense in the scheme of things, but then you realize that most people are in 5+ clubs and the hours really start to add up. I'm going to have to be careful to prioritize and balance my commitments between academic-related activities and fun ones like Dance Studio (hmmm, hip hop or salsa?)
-Someone at the first Wharton event I attended told me that Wharton is extremely organized and well run in almost everything they do. This was certainly evident during the Winter Welcome. It seemed like they thought of everything. They even put a list of attendees and contact info in our folders so we wouldn't have to scramble to collect it as we met people. My only complaint was the bar for the last party was a bit too loud and crowded and wasn't very good for socializing with people you'd just met.
-I am horrible at remembering names.
-Warning to April Welcome Weekend attendees: the schedule does not allow for a nice 8 hours of sleep each night. Plan to be exhausted by the end.
-Preterm actually sounds really fun, despite the existence of Math Camp.
-Commuting into the city was not fun. I felt like Cinderella having to be home by 12 (because of my train schedules). And my morning commute required getting up a lot earlier than if I lived downtown. We went out on Saturday to look at some Center City apartments. It was really fun and we're both really excited to live in the city. Though it's gonna be tough to downsize from an 1800 sq. ft. townhouse to a 800 sq. ft. apartment.

One last note. I have wondered how anonymous I am going to be once I start to meet people. As it turned out, at least 2 people figured out who I was right away (and there might be more that didn't tell me). Clearly, I give enough personal info on here that anyone I meet and tell my "story" that also reads this blog is going to make the connection. And I'm ok with it. I don't say anything on here that I wouldn't say to my friends. So I'm just going to assume that if you have met me, that you now know that this is me! I'm not going to totally reveal my identity quite yet though ...