Congrats on your acceptance! Penn is incredible and I’m sure you will love it.
Let me start by saying that any major you pursue in the College will prepare you well for pretty much any job and gives you an opportunity to earn a wide range of starting salaries (all pretty high up there). Below is the link to the career services survey for Penn CAS students.
http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/files/CASFinalReport14.pdf
so if you want to be a visual studies major that goes into finance, you can! And if you want to be an econ major that goes into publishing, you also can! Penn is great because the education you get in every major will give you a core set of skills with regard to research, writing, critical thinking, interpersonal relations, etc. etc. etc. that will serve you well in literally any career. That’s why Rich Ross was a Penn English major who went on to become the head of Disney and later of Discovery Channel. So unless you are actively trying to pursue a career that requires a base set of knowledge (like coding or data analysis - which you can still get from a variety of majors) any subject you take on will prepare you well for your intended career. And Penn’s brand alone will get your foot in the door with any company regardless of your major, for the most part.
In terms of great majors, my best suggestion is to try them all! I took classes in a number of departments where I never though I’d find myself and I’m better for it. Exploring so many different disciplines allowed me to choose my majors with confidence. Try out different departments, meet professors and upperclassmen in the department, and see which ones strike you as most interesting. All of the departments are pretty incredible-- you just need to find the one(s) in which you will be happiest and most successful.
I absolutely loved English. Penn’s English department is one of the best in the world. It is at the forefront of the discipline and producing groundbreaking scholarship each year. It is a small, intimate department with an enormous variety of courses that will all help you hone your writing and reading comprehension skills while exposing you to the biggest philosophical, historical, and ethical questions facing humanity. The professors are all top notch and thanks to the one university policy you have access to both undergrad and graduate courses with all of the intellectual heavy hitters that populate the discipline (true of any major- but it’s special in English because the professors are all of such excellent quality). Getting involved in research is easy and the course load is relatively light and unrestrictive.
Besides English, the History department is also outstanding but it is much larger and I felt less personalized attention. Though the faculty is great and the course selection is absolutely incredible. It also has relatively few required courses freeing you up to pursue electives or minors and other majors.
Econ is solid but also a very large major. The courses can be interesting though and some incredible research is done in Penn’s CAS Econ department. Professors are friendly and approachable but you will definitely be fighting a bit for their attention given that so many kids major in Econ.
Honestly you cannot go wrong-- so good luck!