THEDP.COM | THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN
NEWS 7
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11,2 015
Super seniors continuing their Quaker quest
Fifth-year seniors choose study abroad or duel-degree over graduating with class RUIHONG LIU Staff Reporter
Not all Penn students walk down Franklin Field with a diploma in hand, four years after arriving on campus. Many students choose to stay at Penn for an additional semester or year for a wide variety of reasons. Some hope to finish up the credit requirements for dual degrees, while others have to make up for non-transferable credits from their time studying abroad. Wharton senior Gloria Fann plans to stay on campus an extra year, while Engineering and Wharton senior Zhiyi Zhang and College and Wharton senior Ran Ren decided to stay at Penn for an extra semester. Fann, jestingly calling herself
a “super senior,” said the school’s financial aid policy enabled her to stay at Penn for an extra year. “I was on financial aid, and even though the fifth year is no longer part of the regular academic career, the school still provides me with financial aid,” Fann said. “I only need to pay a small fraction of the extra year’s tuition, and it turns out to be alright.” Fann studied abroad in Japan for a whole year, where she experienced local culture and enhanced language skills. However, as an actuarial science major, only three of the credits she earned abroad counted toward her graduation requirement — the rest were counted as electives. “For me and for some of my friends, the extra year didn’t make that big of an influence,” Fann said. “It’s like taking a gap year.” For students in uncoordinateddual degree programs, such as Zhang and Ren, they have to fulfill
the curriculum requirement for both schools, which often forces additional credit requirements on the students. Financial factors such as extra tuition and extra housing fees are also concerns for students when deciding to stay an additional semester. Zhang and Ren both considered the extra fees worthwhile for their Penn degrees. “I initially planned to drop my engineering degree in order to graduate in four years [with a Wharton degree]. But after a serious reflection and a thoughtful discussion with my family, I believe spending the extra semester obtaining my degree in the Engineering school will positively impact my future plans and give me more opportunities,” Zhang said, adding that he hopes both degrees will advance his career in chemical engineering. Zhang said his major advisor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering professor Wen Shieh, played a major role in his decision
making process. “I found the advising systems at the Engineering school really helpful,” Zhang said. “My major advisor helped me plan my course schedule ahead and I’ve never taken a single course that didn’t count toward my graduation requirement.” Zhang said his career plans will not be impeded by his additional semester. “I could use the extra time to do an extra summer internship,” he said. Ren studied abroad in Oxford, England for a full year. Because of the difference in the academic system, her time at Oxford was divided into three terms and she was able to transfer eight credits back to Penn. “Oxford has [one of] the best Philosophy Politics and Economics departments in the world, so my year there was really a wonderful experience,” Ren said. “Even though I have to take an extra semester, I never regret my
Professional fraternities bring brotherhood to business Creating opportunities both inside and out of the office BRYN FERGUSON Staff Reporter
Penn students looking to go straight from college to the corner office need look no further than Penn’s co-ed business fraternities. Alpha Kappa Psi, Delta Sigma Pi and Phi Gamma Nu have been at Penn since 1961, 1932 and 2003, respectively, and have helped catapult brothers into their dream jobs ever since. Wharton senior Makini Hughes is a DSP brother who joined in her sophomore year. Hughes cites the opportunities for professional development within the fraternity as being integral to her own success. “I have a great job at one of the top three consulting firms, and DSP helped me a lot in that aspect, from looking over my resume to helping with mock interviews. My big was also doing consulting, so she was very instrumental.” Contrary to popular belief, the business fraternities are not only for Wharton students. College senior Jessica Schneider, a Philosophy, Politics and Economics major, joined DSP after she transferred to Penn in her junior year. “It was the week after NSO, I was trying to get my footing and trying to decide if I wanted to get involved in social frats,” Schneider said. “My roommate was going to an internship panel for DSP and I heard they had Greek Lady. I wanted to try [Greek Lady], so I went.” Schneider said that her experiences in DSP have helped her solidify her career interests. “Even though I’m not hard core finance, consulting or business, I knew I wanted to go into corporate law. In corporate law, you have to know part of the business side. [Through DSP], I added a second layer of
knowledge to the way I look at the world,” she said. Schneider agreed with Hughes that the business fraternities help with the job search, adding, “It is the same type of help that you could get from Career Services, yet DSP is an all-inclusive package. You don’t have to go to lots of places on campus, you can ask one brother in DSP. Things also can change from field to field. Career Services may or may not be able to give you the nuances for things like how much jewelry to wear [to an interview].” In particular, all three fraternities focus on preparing their brothers for the infamous OnCampus Recruiting, which is in full swing for the Spring 2015 semester. 2014 Wharton graduate and AKPsi alumna Kenge Blue said that the business fraternities help provide an environment that is like a “microcosm of the real world.” “Every year in preparation for OCR, the seniors [of AKPsi] host mock interview Super Days. The seniors structure it around what they have learned in the real world [at recruiting events]. The pressure is not exactly the same, but it emulates it quite well,” Blue said. “There is no other way to prepare than to experience.” In addition to the development of hard skills, membership in one of these fraternities comes with valuable networking opportunities. “BCG, McKinsey, Goldman Sachs — any company you find to be a goal of yours, there’s a current brother working there or one who has worked there,” 2011 College and Wharton graduate and DSP alumnus Artem Mariychin said. Mariychin now works at a hybrid investment fund in New York City, and said that he has gotten “interviews through DSP and a couple of offers.” “Nowadays, there are just so many applications to different firms. It’s almost just who you know in terms of whether your
decision studying abroad.” The PPE major at Penn requires 16 credits to graduate, more than many other College majors. “When I decided to study abroad, my College advisor informed me about the potential consequences but they gave me the freedom to choose what I want to pursue,” Ran said. College and Wharton junior Tuo Yang, rather than taking an extra semester, plans to take seven classes per semester during the rest of his college career. Like Ren, Yang feels that the academic advising system at Penn has given him a lot of freedom in course selection. “During my freshman and sophomore years, I took some interesting courses that didn’t count for graduation requirements,” Yang said. “And my advisor encouraged me to take any course that interests me.” During his sophomore year, Yang chose to study at Free
University of Berlin for a semester. He recently applied for a post graduation program which will only be valid if he graduates on time next Spring, placing added pressure for him to fill his schedule to capacity. “I’m currently taking six classes, and I still managed to have some time relaxing,” Yang said. “I believe as long as I arrange my schedule properly and take some courses with a relatively light course-load, I will be able to handle seven courses and graduate in four years.” When facing the trade-off between graduating late and taking a heavy course-load, there is no right answer. Ran chose the former, rationalizing a lighter course load that would enable her make the most of her time at Penn. “College is a valuable experience,” Ran said. “When I look back, I believe there will be no other time better than my time studying at Penn.”
Former Governor of Vermont Howard Dean speaks at Penn Gov. Dean alludes to students’ potential to generate change
resume gets pulled,” Wharton and Engineering senior Nicholas Liu said. “I worked in private equity. It’s harder to access coming out of undergrad, so it helped that there was a PGN brother at the firm.” Though the underlying focus of the fraternities is professional development, the brothers agree that the social element is equally important — especially with pledge classes of sizes seven to 12, with 50 to 60 total brothers in each fraternity. “A business frat is a great community to have at Penn if what you’re looking for is a mixture of business and social organization,” College senior and PGN brother Oliver Sitt said. “The main myth is all we care about is finding jobs ... that we’re just nerds. But half of our activities are social — we’ve gone skiing, gone on a cruise and we’re going to Istanbul together.” Schneider agreed, saying, “DSP is rabidly social ... it has all of the elements in my mind that social Greek life does.” Although the fraternities’ central offices mandate that they may not have oncampus houses, many of the brothers choose to live together — including Schneider, who lives with four other members of DSP. “Our brothers do very well and, academically, we help each other out — all of that is true — but we’re a family as well,” Blue said.
LOWELL NEUMANN NICKEY Contributing Reporter
Last night, students hoping to create positive social change were able to tap the mind of former Governor of Vermont Howard Dean. Former Gov. Howard Dean offered advice to students hoping to create positive social change in an increasingly global world. Gov. Dean — who was governor from 1991 until 2003 and later the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009 — spoke in Bodek Lounge Tuesday evening, at an event hosted by Penn Democrats. Although addressing a specific political group, Dean offered bipartisan wisdom to any and all students. Dean said he sees the current generation as significantly more useful outside of politics than within it. “For our generation, the way to create change was to get elected and then to use your position,” Dean said. He added that for this generation, young people are much more resourceful, utilizing the internet to enact real change in real time by going around institutions.
LOCKER THEFT >> PAGE 1
phone had either been immediately turned off or the SIM card had been removed. When asked about the locker thefts, Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush said that Penn Police have spoken to all of the individuals who have had things stolen. “We are doing an educational campaign to help people identify suspicious behavior. If you notice someone dilly-dallying at the locker, we want you to report them to security,” Rush said.
INFO BOX -The Epsilon Rho chapter of AKPsi has been at Penn since 1961, the Beta Nu chapter of DSP has been at Penn since 1932, the Delta Lambda chapter of PGN has been at Penn since 2003 -DSP only takes brothers who are studying economics/business -AKPsi and PGN take any major -50-60 brothers in each frat total
Dean spoke of a student from The University of Vermont who, after a trip to southern Africa, realized that US foreign aid programs were making people more, and not less dependent. This inspired her to start Spark Microgrants which provides a loan and then works with citizens of impoverished countries to develop a sustainable business strategy, as opposed to conditioning them to accept handouts. “She had essentially come up with a more effective aid policy herself than the [multi-billion dollar] US Agency for International Development,” Dean said. He added that the power lies with the consumer because online petitions and organized boycotts can encourage businesses to change their practices in ways that governments cannot. Dean shared that he has boycotted Exxon since it eliminated Mobile’s same-sex couple benefits after taking that company over. Dean acknowledged that it can be discouraging when “every day you see an a****le trying to push back all the good stuff you’re trying to do.” Still, he reminded the audience that when he was a student, schools were still segregated, and despite that a Black president was elected just 40 years later, imagine how different things will be in 40 more years given that change is only
accelerating. Students commended Dean’s abilities to bring left-wing politicians together. “He would be a vital cog in bringing Hillary to the liberal side from the center,” Penn Dems President and College Junior Sean Foley. Regardless of political views, Dean added that the country has made great strides to become the all-inclusive democracy it set out to be, but it’s no time to stop. Persistence in the face of overwhelming adversity will continue to generate positive social change and “the world gets better as time goes on ... as long as people keep working at it,” he said.
So far, no arrests have been made related to the locker thefts at Pottruck. DPS has posted signs there alerting members to these thefts and reminding
them to secure their lockers. DPS reported making one arrest related to a locker theft at The Tse Sports Center at Hutchinson Gymnasium near the Palestra.
GARETT NELSON/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Former governor of Vermont Howard Dean spoke in Houston Hall Tuesday night.
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