Granted this is mostly from the east coast of the US (DC). And having a styled bearded seems to make a large difference.
Isn't finance the place where being clean shaven is almost necessary if you want to succeed?
Required. I'm in graduate school right now and you won't get a call back for 2nd rounds if you have a beard. It's some sort of irrational proxy for discipline.
Is Philly a "hipster" region?
A full (groomed) beard in SanFran will be seen completely differently than full (groomed) beard in Los Angeles. You'll fit right in with the SF hipsters but you'll be seen as a bum/idiot in LA.
There is a drastic difference in perception against say.. the Dollar Beard Club [0] and "manly-men" beards. The difference in perception is a source of comedy [1].
The source of this perception difference is that people "allowed" to grow beards for work were/are typically blue-collar workers. Blue-collar work is associated with those of lesser intelligence (sorry to any hard working blue-collars out there....) while white-collar professions are seen as "more intelligent" and have typically required being clean shaven. As it follows, facial hair = blue collar worker = less intelligent. That's just how things are currently.
Obviously this is changing, but more-so in "hipster" areas where people do white-collar work and grow their beards out. As the requirement/stigma against facial hair dies out.
[0] https://www.dollarbeardclub.com/
[1] http://www.primalunleashed.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/...
Have you considered keeping your facial hair washed and groomed.