Undecided major? Too many career options to choose from and not enough time to decide? Sometimes, a little help from an alumnus is all you need.
At least, that's the premise of the Alumni Mentoring Program at the School of Arts and Sciences.
As the program's first semester draws to a close, officials say they are pleased with how it's going so far - but hope even more students decide to participate.
Currently, the program hosts five to seven large events each semester, according to College Dean Dennis DeTurck. Each of those events usually draws over 100 students.
The program - which started last semester - is designed to fight growing uncertainty from College students about their specific career paths, DeTurck said.
As part of the mentoring sessions, students meet alumni who were in their shoes several years ago - alumni who didn't know what careers they wanted when they were in college but who now have successful careers in marketing, journalism, finance and other areas. The number of these informal meetings is not counted by the Dean's office.
The sessions take the form of one-on-one meetings as well as large lecture-style events, some with over 100 students. Many student-mentor contacts develop into "lasting relationships," and, in a few cases, students have even been offered jobs by their mentors, according to DeTurck.
The program allows students to sign up for mentoring sessions online, said College junior Jeremy Price, who has participated in the program.
"You can specify what kind of mentors you want and what kind of contact you want with them - whether you want to meet regularly or just stay in touch over e-mail," he said.
Price, a biological basis of behavior and history major, said he indicated he was interested in medical research on the online form.
"But I never heard back from them," he said. "I guess they couldn't find a match."
"Medical research is a huge commitment, and it's very competitive. It would be great to have a role model to talk to," he added.
And DeTurck said that alumni are eager to reconnect with the school.
College alumnus and mentor Andrew Zitcer couldn't agree more. After majoring in Creative Writing and Religious Studies at Penn, Zitcer now works as a real-estate developer for the University.
"Sometimes, what you study in college can have little bearing on your career," he said.
Zitcer now urges students to pick majors that they are genuinely interested in and to not worry about post-graduation career consequences. He calls this "stretching out intellectually."
"Students have studied philosophy at Penn and gone on to have successful careers on Wall Street," Zitcer said.
"These days, companies are looking for students with a fresh outlook," he added.
