Aliya Puri

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.

Next semester, some students at Southern California's Pepperdine University might be taking classes next to their moms.

Wharton students will have the chance this fall to show off their business skills at the largest global-development organization in the world - the United Nations. But the students will be the ones doing the grading. As part of Management 353 - also known as the Wharton Field Challenge, a course started by professor Keith Weigelt - the U.

Life-sized silver bananas will likely soon be a high priority for a group of five Wharton MBA students. In January, the students will travel to La Oroya, Peru, to help its local silver artisans better sell their products. "The project is designed to impact the overall community," said Lisa Linn De Barona, an administrator from the Global Consulting Practicum, a Wharton-run initiative that pairs business students with "social impact" programs and is sponsoring the trip.

Wharton's No. 1 again. But the publication that named it as such isn't too happy with Penn's business school. Last week, national magazine Business Week ranked Wharton as the top business school for undergraduates. Getting enough information to rank Wharton, however, was a bit of a struggle for the magazine.

The flu season has arrived once again, and many Penn students are expected to line up outside Student Health Services for their flu shots. This year, Student Health officials say they are much better prepared to fight the flu virus than they were last year.

The steel structure on 40th Street called "Plateau" may have garnered some vocal student criticism, but school officials promise they will ask for student perspectives the next time they embark on a public art project. "Plateau" - a 150-foot-long series of seats and tables with built-in night-time lighting - was dedicated Saturday by its New York-based artist, Andrea Blum.

This year, budding entrepreneurs competing for thousands of dollars worth of prizes in the Wharton Business Plan Competition need to fulfill an additional criterion - they must be Indian. The annual competition - which usually requires that candidates be affiliated with the University - recently teamed up with a leading Indian newspaper to offer the same entrepreneurial opportunities to Indian college students.

The Class of 2007 is working hard to leave its mark on the University. And if you've seen seniors walking around campus with bright green T-shirts, then you know how they're planning to do it. The shirts are part of an advertising campaign for the Senior Class Gift Drive, a campaign to get every senior to donate money to Penn.

Online degrees usually don't carry much weight in the business world, but one new program promises to be different. At least, its creators are. Newsweek magazine and test-preparation company Kaplan are teaming up to create what the organizations believe is the first Internet-based business program run by a magazine.