With spring semester club recruitment well underway, many members of the Penn community are navigating a familiar gauntlet: multiple-round interviews, networking conversations, and technical challenges, all for the chance to join a student club.
Penn boasts over 300 student groups, many of which require rigorous application processes. As the University's preprofessional ecosystem continues to expand across industries, The Daily Pennsylvanian spoke with students and faculty about whether or not selective clubs shape career readiness on campus.
Wharton and Engineering junior Madhav Sharma, who is a portfolio manager in the Wharton Investment and Trading Group, described the impact of the club on his career in an interview with the DP.
“You would hear those club names all the time back in freshman fall in the first few weeks,” Sharma said. “I think that really creates this impression of exclusivity, as if you’re setting yourself apart, or doing better than your peers.”
While Penn offers multiple academic pathways into the professional world, clubs provide a different kind of preparation. According to Sharma, mock interviews and access to shared preparatory materials help to compress the learning curve for students.
For Sharma, the most significant benefits were not the technical workshops or stock-pitch practices, but the access to upperclassmen and guest speakers, whose experiences helped contextualize broader industry trajectories.
“We’ve had people who’ve been working at higher posts in a variety of prestigious firms come in to talk to people, not about recruiting,” Sharma said. “It’s about perspective outside of being 20 or 21 and fighting for these jobs, and more like what it’s like to build a career.”
Wharton clubs have a reputation as a recruiting pipeline, allowing members to network early and gain an upper hand during initial resume screening. Sharma argued, however, that the interviews serve as equalizers.
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“I do think showing leadership positions in these selective teams can help in recruiting because a lot of times resume screeners are Penn alumni,” he said. “Then in the interviews itself, I think it’s generally a lot more about how you perform and how much effort you have put into preparation.”
When asked about what part of WITG most clearly mirrors the professional world, Sharma pointed to the application itself. He added that “undergoing multiple rounds of interviews” and “filling out an application” prepares students “really well for investment banking recruiting, or recruiting in general.”
In July 2025, the Wharton School implemented new guidelines for affiliated clubs’ recruitment processes — including a ban on multiple rounds of interviews. The decision cited the Stop Campus Hazing Act, which was first signed into law in 2024 by former Penn professor and President Joe Biden.
In an interview with the DP, Executive Director of the Office of Student Affairs Katie Bonner called extensive club recruitment a “perennial challenge” in the Penn community.
“No one ever stops to say, why do we do applications?” Bonner said. “Why do we have coffee chats? What is the point of all of this, besides just doing the thing that we know we’ve done in the past?”
Bonner suggested that rather than a “blanket solution” imposing restrictions on clubs, Penn must pioneer a wider cultural shift. She specifically pointed to the value of “reducing the intensity” of applications across the board.
College junior and College Dean’s Advisory Board co-chair Pranavi Konda told the DP about the group’s intention to make the club “more accessible.” As a student leader herself, Konda said that it is important to “make sure that people feel seen.”
“We know that there’s a lot of barriers to entry … especially if you didn’t come from an environment that's quite as competitive and intense as Penn tends to be,” Konda said.
DAB’s fall 2025 application included a written application, a first-round interview, and a group interview with other potential candidates. The board typically accepts a total of 10 new members per year.
“We’re hoping that by changing DAB’s process, we start something within the college community that encourages other people,” Konda added.
Sharma similarly highlighted his desire for WITG to find “ways to be a little bit more open,” including “trying to screen a little more on effort and curiosity, rather than finance expertise.”
According to College junior Niheer Patel, some administrators have proposed pushing club recruitment to the spring semester, in an effort for students to acclimate on campus before taking on additional responsibilities.
Despite the merits of the proposal, Patel — who serves on the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education — advocated for early club recruitment.
Patel explained that when he first came to Penn, he felt a “void of community.”
“I think undergraduate clubs and student groups were a really big part of me finding my place at Penn,” Patel added.
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Staff reporter Rachel Erhag covers student government and can be reached at rerhag@sas.upenn.edu. At Penn, she studies philosophy, politics, and economics. Follow her on X @RErhag.
Staff reporter Advita Mundhra covers campus entrepreneurship and can be reached at mundhra@thedp.com. At Penn, she studies architecture and economics.
