As a fellow former Florida DECA officer, Jaya Parsa reached out to me in early August of this year, asking for advice as an incoming first-year at Wharton.
Hearing her voice over the phone, I thought back to my own experiences navigating a variety of life-altering moments those first two semesters, realizing it would be impossible to sum up all the necessary guidance. So I offered the first thought that came to mind: buy a sturdy winter coat.
Five months later, I’ve seen Jaya successfully dive into Penn. She’s navigated the Appalachian backcountry with Wharton Leadership Ventures, dominated problem sets in a Huntsman Hall computer lab, and successfully toiled through her writing seminar — all with her trademark optimism.
That isn’t to say that the first semester has been smooth sailing. Like many first-years, adjustment for Jaya has taken time and introspection. Below, Jaya reflects on her first months at Penn and looks forward to the inevitably unpredictable — yet exciting — future.
“The biggest surprise: just how hard it would be to find yourself when you really don’t know what you’re trying to find.”
Tell us about your rose, bud, and thorn (success, growth area, and challenge).
Rose-wise, I feel very lucky to have found some really great people here. I’m involved in some good communities, which I’m excited for. I feel a little bit more at home than I expected. Thorn-wise, I still feel very lost career-wise and in my goal setting. In terms of bud, I’m excited to be busier. Next semester, I want to get involved with more things and be more intentional with my time.
What are you involved in and why?
Currently, I’m on the Masti dance team, and I’m a Wharton Leadership Venture Fellow.
I joined Masti because I really wanted that initial sense of community. Dancing was something that I had just done as a kid for fun, but I never seriously thought about pursuing it. But I just loved the energy that I felt from Masti, and the people seemed really great, so I wanted the chance to connect with them on a deeper level.
Wharton Leadership Ventures was something that was out of my comfort zone, and it intrigued me because of the potential for how much I could learn. I’ve always been interested in leadership, but coexisting with the outdoors is something that I didn’t ever expect myself to get into.
How do these activities fit into what you hope your first year will be?
Coming to Penn, my main goals were to find interesting people and perspectives. I wanted to meet a lot of characters. I’m from Fort Myers, which is a relatively small town in Florida. It’s totally different from the Northeast and the pre-professional, bougie-ish environment that I see here.
Where are you now relative to your expectations for your first year?
I still don’t have a set community here. By now, I expected to have totally found my people — which is crazy because it’s only been a couple of months, and this is a whole new facet of my life — but I think I haven’t met my expectations in that sense.
Biggest surprise so far?
I had the idea that, when I came to Penn, everything was just going to be perfect and would magically work itself out. And that didn’t happen. That was the biggest surprise: just how hard it would be to find yourself when you really don’t know what you’re trying to find.
What’s the biggest thing that’s happened?
Honestly, a combination of all the small things that have made Penn a lot better than I expected. I enjoy just the late-night college yap sessions with my friends, or getting food and having those meaningful conversations.
What’s on your mind most these days?
I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want next semester, next week, the next day to look like, and how I can actively build to get to where I want to go. I’ve definitely been thinking a lot about what I want to get out of the next four years because the first semester really flew by.
What do you want to accomplish by the end of the academic year?
I want to have at least three very close friends — hopefully a friend group. I want to work for a startup in the Philly area, make sure that the relationship with my parents is still good and I’m calling them every day, and still hopefully be in touch with my hometown friends. I want a better sense of what I want my long-term goals to be.
When you look back on this interview in the spring, what do you think you’ll feel about it?
‘Oh, she was just a baby.’ I want to look back and realize that, in the past six months, I’ve totally changed my outlook on what I’ve wanted — and it would be cool to look back and see that I ended up wanting something completely different.
Advice you’d give your future self.
Something that my dad just said to me last week, which really stuck: ‘Don’t be too hard on yourself.’ Whatever happens — no matter how bad you’re objectively doing — if you’re hard on yourself, it just makes it worse, and you get into that negative feedback loop. So next time, when I’m busier, I still want to feel good about it because it’s too short of a time to stress.
— Alan Li, W’28
Posted: December 22, 2025
