Wharton Journal

Issue date: 2/19/07 Section: News

As Murphy's Law would have it, the coldest weather of the season arrived just in time for Winter Welcome and 150 Admits and partners from the class of 2009. You saw them wandering Huntsman Hall - nametag-sporting groups of unfamiliar faces here to meet potential new classmates and get a sense of Wharton life. Most important, some were here to decide if Wharton would be the right business school for them.

The Winter Welcome attendees were a diverse and accomplished group. Some of their achievements include biking across Cuba, founding a hip-hop culture center and singing in the Sydney Opera House. The class of 2009 came to Philadelphia from all over the United States, from the usual places like Washington D.C., New York and Los Angeles to lesser-known towns like Plano, Texas. Admits even flew internationally to attend, coming from the likes of Milan, Tel-Aviv and Rio de Janeiro. However, it was a male admit from Kuwait that won the award (and a Wharton luggage tag courtesy of Thomas Caleel) for traveling the farthest to attend Winter Welcome.

From Wednesday, February 7th to Saturday, February 10th, admits experienced every aspect of Wharton life. On the formal programming side, they heard from the MBA Program Office, Leadership Programs, International Programs, Career Management and Financial Aid. The perspective of current students was prominent and Admits had many opportunities to interact with both 1st and 2nd years through small group dinners, a club fair, panels and club-sponsored brunches. Admits even experienced Wharton firsthand during mock-classes (with Professors Bushee, Chaudhuri, Clemons and Hsieh), teamwork exercises (i.e. building the tallest freestanding newspaper tower), Pub, and of course, Follies.

Attendance at the Friday morning sessions was noticeably lighter as many admits tried to fully simulate the Wharton experience by visiting popular Center City hangouts after the previous night's bowling social. Several members of one mini-cohort reportedly stayed out until 5am.

The Winter Welcome schedule was packed with so many activities that when the formal programming ended Friday evening, many admits commented that they could not believe how much they had done during their brief visit. However, like true Wharton students, exhaustion wasn't enough to keep the class of 2009 away from Friday night's Unity Party (hosted by WHAMBAA, AAMBAA, WHALASA, WASA, Europa and the India Club). The party was so well-attended by the Wharton community that Copa Miami was literally filled wall-to-wall with people. With no cover but plenty of drink specials, the Unity Party was a fun way to celebrate the end of Winter Welcome and perfect way to welcome the class of 2009 into the Wharton family.

Winter Welcome truly embodied the Wharton value of co-production. As one of the co-chairs of Winter Welcome, I was amazed at the sheer amount of manpower required for the event to be successful. We needed volunteers for everything - to serve as mini-cohort leaders, work the registration table, host students, and participate in panels. Even with volunteer attrition due to many first-years leaving town for post-DIP week interviews, we were never short-handed. The MBA Admissions team was also invaluable in helping the event run efficiently. It seemed like every time we needed a hand with anything, they were there ready and willing to help out. We are particularly indebted to Carol Chu, Associate Director of MBA Admissions, who spearheaded things on behalf of the MBA Admissions Office. The Facilities staff also played a key role in ensuring that the logistics of hosting 150 visitors for several days was possible. For an event of this magnitude, Winter Welcome was remarkably hassle-free.

The feedback we received from the Winter Welcome attendees during and following the event has been overwhelmingly positive. Hopefully that means we'll be seeing many of those same faces around Huntsman Hall next year.

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