<p>The key to a social life at Princeton is not partying or drinking. It definitely is finding your extracurricular niche. If you are in a group of any sort (see Alumother's post) then your campus identity and social life will extend from that. The various extracurricular groups are intense, tightly knit, hard-working, demanding, and supportive of their members. </p>
<p>What I hear from Princeton students is that they like the "scene" created by the eating clubs, because for the most part the drinking and partying occur along the Street and not in the dorms, whereas friends from other schools talk about living 24/7 in a cloud of marijuana smoke or in Party Central. And at the eating clubs, which have many different spaces, some students cluster in the tap rooms, others dance, others talk, etc. For the majority, Princeton is a very social place. However, I am frequently told that a significant minority of the campus spends all their time in the library. </p>
<p>This thread is reminding me of Joe College, the novel about Yale in which the protagonist, a financial aid student from New Jersey, is stunned to discover that his very bright classmates spend a great deal of time partying.</p>