First off Welcome to Penn/Wharton! Congratulations on your acceptance!! I am a mom of a Wharton senior and I can share a few things I have learned from my son about his experience- re things that have helped him along the way. It has been an amazing experience for him, I’m sure it will be for you too!
Definitely join the admitted students facebook page and connect connect connect w fellow students in any way you can. My son is still friends w many people he met that way. There might be local meet ups in your area w fellow incoming freshmen, these are great ways to start meeting people - not to be missed. My son found the key to navigating Penn and the finance world was reaching out to fellow classmates esp upperclassmen for advice. I can’t stress this enough! There are so many opportunities available at Penn, but easy to miss if you aren’t on the look out or clued in by upperclassmen…
Not sure about quaker days as they had an ED Quaker day when son was a freshman that has been discontinued. I doubt finance firms host info tents (other than credit card co’s trying to sign you up lol) as most big banks no longer recruit on campus, instead they recruit straight from their websites. Recruiting timelines for finance changed substantially during his last 3 yrs and are continuing to change. You really need to be proactive and research this. The best place to find info out about finance recruiting is in the forums of a website called Wall Street Oasis. Google it and read everything you can.
The club scene was uber competitive. Penn has taken many steps to alleviate some of that- not sure if it worked or not?. Best advice is to persevere! If you don’t get into your dream club first semester, keep trying! Network, talk to people, reach out to upperclassmen etc… Some of the more competitive clubs take people w connections or people from their elite high schools first, but if you persevere you will succeed. Don’t fret though, there are many clubs and you will find a fit. If you identify as any part of a diversity group I can’t stress enough how important it is to join those groups. There are special recruiting programs and helpful advice found in these groups that was invaluable!
Not sure about the frats- son didn’t join any. It’s about 50-50 participation. They seem to be popular w freshmen and sophomores, not so much jr sr’s. Son knows guys that did and they seemed to enjoy the experience but it is very time consuming. That is one of the biggest things at Penn he said -so many things to do and be involved w, but not enough time in the days. Read up on and develop good time management skills will be key. There is a visible wealthy population and it is easy to get caught up in spending a lot of money on downtowns or social things. Come in w a budget if this applies to you and a game plan to stick w it.
Wishing you great success- It is an amazing school!