My Back-to-School Advice: Go Out and Find Your “Friendtors”

I love this time of year when new students buzz about campus, bringing fresh perspectives, new ideas, and open minds with them.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of welcoming students within our MBA and undergraduate programs during events that serve as a beautiful bookend to the academic experience. While the regalia and processionals at a ceremony like Convocation may feel premature to some, the gravity underscores the importance we place on ensuring that every new educational experience begins with pride and purpose.

I recognize that today’s students will be presented with more ways to spend their finite time than was the case when I was a college and graduate student. So, when speaking to the Wharton MBA Class of 2025 for the first time, I encouraged them to look beyond all of the things they will do at school and to pay attention to who they will meet along the way.

Higher education provides a rarefied opportunity to surround oneself with the brightest and most inquisitive minds. Which is why I encouraged our students to be intentional about getting to know those minds—both inside and outside of the classroom. The bonds that will be sparked during this time will not only enrich the educational experience itself, they will propel and nourish future personal and professional endeavors.

I know this to be true because of my own graduate school experience at the University of Michigan where I first met my longtime “friendtor” and collaborator, Lynn Perry Wooten. What started as a shared commiseration over problem sets quickly blossomed into a genuine friendship, and from there, into a decades-long professional partnership. We even shared in the major personal milestones of marriages and children—two of our kids were born just five days apart from one another. To this day, we remain each other’s biggest advocates, faithful mentors, and trusted confidantes.?

As our newest students are just embarking on a life-changing journey, I wanted them to know that their own friendtors are right beside them. So, it’s important to leave time to live in the moment and nurture new relationships—because I can promise you, they will be among the most valuable things to take away from the experience.

There’s a saying that “a true friend accepts who you are, but also helps you become who you should be.” For me, meeting each year’s new group of future leaders reaffirms the power of higher education as I play witness to all of the ways these students will imprint themselves on their school, on each other—and eventually, on the world.?

Erika James?is Dean, Reliance Professor of Management and Private Enterprise, and Professor of Management at the?Wharton School?of the University of Pennsylvania.