<p>I’m very strong in mathematics, but rather shy and quiet. Do I not fit in at Wharton because I am not as cut-throat as others? Will I get crushed?</p>
<p>well you can’t do business if all you do is crunch numbers… unless accounting… but</p>
<p>The impression I got when I visited was that shyness is OK but you still have to be able to be a leader and articulate your thoughts.</p>
<p>i don’t think you’d find Wharton as a good fit</p>
<p>Being quiet is okay, being shy is more of a problem. By that I mean, there were some people at Wharton who were not very outspoken in class, not blatently networking during recruiting functions etc. They were merely quiet–they did well in school and had a quiet confidence about them; so they may not have been the one to start the conversation but when a prof, a recruiter, a classmate etc spoke to them they were confident, articulate, and bright. This is definitely okay and these people tend to do very well in terms of jobs–partially because sometimes I think recruiters get tired of the loud types who are always in their faces.</p>
<p>Being shy is a bigger problem–if you avoid talking to profs, professionals, other students it’ll be an issue. Wharton isn’t just about crunching numbers and getting A’s. Every year there are people who can do that and get really high GPAs but when recruiting comes around they get burned because they can’t hold a confident conversation with interviewers etc. I didn’t really know anyone at wharton who was truly shy–it would be a problem if you didn’t want to get up in front of the class and do presentations etc.</p>
<p>I would visit and make it a point to talk to a lot of current students and see what it feels like; do you feel you fit in with people like that? [hey…they’re outgoing, you can go to huntsman hall, sit at the au bon pain and talk with the kids sitting at the next table…they won’t mind]</p>