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Just to provide some balance (and I realize that you emphasized that this is based just on your own personal experience), I personally know of MANY Penn undergrads–including lots in your class–who have had a completely different experience than yours when it comes to mixing with and forming friendships with people from other schools, including LOTS of Wharton students. In fact, I think if you conducted a representative survey of your classmates, you’d find that many Wharton folks have become very good friends with non-Wharton people, are in ECs with them, and will be living with them as roommates next year. THAT is the more common Penn experience–BY FAR–at least based on my experience with Penn, and the experiences of the many Penn undergrads and alums I have known, going back for DECADES.</p>
<p>Yes, Wharton has its own curriculum, physical spaces, and academic concerns, but so do Nursing and SEAS, as well as Anthropology majors, Physics majors, Linguistics majors, Bio majors, etc., etc. And yet they ALL seem to mix with each other quite well at Penn in terms of living arrangements, ECs, friendships, etc., and have been doing so at Penn for centuries. It’s kind of a hallmark of Penn, and if you haven’t gotten that yet, you’ve really been missing out on one of the things that makes Penn special.</p>
<p>I’d recommend that you make a special effort this year to get outside of your apparent Wharton bubble, and find more non-Wharton people through ECs, social events, non-Wharton classes (the average Wharton undergrad takes 40% of his/her classes outside of Wharton, although you may be a bit more restricted in your choices because of your dual-degree program) and–perhaps most importantly–through curiosity about and openness to the lives and experiences of people with academic interests that are different than yours. Again, that’s what many–if not MOST–Penn undergrads do, including most in Wharton, and their Penn experience is much richer for it.</p>
<p>And I have to dispute your characterization of on-campus recruiting as “basically for Wharton students.” I know of MANY, MANY non-Wharton undergrads and alums who would strongly disagree based on their own personal experiences, not to mention the career surveys, publications, personnel, and facilities of the Career Services Office devoted to non-Wharton students. Again, sounds like you need to get out of the Wharton bubble you put yourself in freshman year. :)</p>