Category: The Social Ivy

Let’s be real: dating is complicated right now. But it doesn’t have to be. This Valentine’s Day, I’m calling for the students of Penn to rebel against the convoluted game that is modern dating and initiate a mass return to sanity. 

I know that advice aimed at freshmen about managing your schedule, setting up a dorm room, and balancing your work and social life might not be particularly useful, since you have probably already been doing that for a year, if not two. So without further ado, here are a couple pieces of advice for new transfers.

Like most freshmen, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from Wharton or how to best set myself up for success. A few years and countless “coffee chats” later, I’ve found the advice I received from friends and mentors freshman year helped enable me to grow as a student, leader and thinker. This list of tips, based on my experiences, will hopefully help you in your freshman transition. 

Even though I knew my path early on, as a rising senior preparing to apply to law school this upcoming fall, there’s a lot I wish I had known sooner and other things I’m really glad I figured out quickly. Here are some tips I hope are useful to the Penn pre-laws out there.

While it may feel comforting to daydream and ponder all the practicalities that come with entering Penn’s pre-professional environment, it’s hard to fully grasp what being a pre-med student is like until you’ve experienced it. There are many things I’ve learned—and things I’m still learning—that I wish I knew sooner. Hopefully my insight can give you a better taste of what to expect! 

From a soon-to-be Penn alum, here are 29 tips to help you in your time at Penn. Congratulations to the Class of 2029!

One evening, I realized something disturbing: my stream of consciousness had been transformed into a kind of curated feed. So I did something radical: I sat outside in the dark. No phone, no laptop—just the honest company of my mind and the sounds, a city taking a breath between yesterday and tomorrow.

For those single on Valentine’s Day, this should be a call to action for maintaining friendships, expressing gratitude for all your loved ones that you have every day. College friendships are uniquely intense and special.

We’ve assigned Penn a generally anti-romantic environment.

I’m here to tell you that this perception is wrong, and, I would argue, that many of you hopeless romantics are part of the problem.