<p>Hey guys! Can tell me how is a typical Princeton student like? Anything common among the students there?</p>
<p>They are some of the best students in the world. Hello, they were accepted by Princeton!</p>
<p>They usually have large derrieres.</p>
<p>They have pedantic diction, using words like "derriere". JP</p>
<p>It's an Ivy. There is a relatively large percentage of students who pretty much define pseudointellectualism. It's an Ivy. On average, people dress more ostentatiously than other colleges. It's Princeton. There is a relatively large percentage of math/physics geniuses. It's Princeton, largely known for Woodrow Wilson School. A very large percentage of students get involved in politics or international issues in some form or another.</p>
<p>Well, it's Princeton. However, a majority of students don't talk about what was on the editorial section of NYTimes every morning at breakfast. Perhaps that is also because of the Princeton Bubble. Well, it's Princeton, but drinking life / parties are just like any other school's.</p>
<p>Average students tend to be wary of sounding too pretentious and would sometimes go so far as to refrain from intellectual discussions unless they are with their close friends or at a place and time clearly designated for debates. Note: it may seem like they are having deep conversations at dinner tables; however, they strictly follow the dinner table manners and only voice the most (or second most if they are cool) popular opinion prevalent on campus (not necessarily prevalent in the U.S. or in the world, again referring to the Princeton Bubble). Average students love video games such as wii. Average students chill with their friends watching movie, go to the street, random parties, or NYC. Average students tend to skip early morning classes. Average students try hard to get a good grade, perhaps not as much during the freshmen year.</p>
<p>A Princetonian has a distinct quality. Not exactly elitist, but if you talk to a Princetonian, you will feel an atmosphere suggestive of a judgement being passed. However, they're only expecting you to justify, to a reasonable degree, what you say and what you do, from which they figure out who you are. This does not mean that every Princetonian has a rigorous philosophy for his or her life. The expectation permeating the campus only encourages one to create character, to become an individual who demands respect.</p>
<p>This is as far as I can generalize my experiences. Depending on who you are and with whom you voluntarily or involuntarily interact, your view of an average Princetonian may differ vastly from mine. Nevertheless, I hope this helps.</p>
<p>Orbit</p>
<p>you will be so burnt out from the work load you aren't gonna care about talking about something like the nytimes. well, maybe some ppl won't be burnt out</p>
<p>Your description is intriguing. I like how you describe that - people who avoid pretension. Which is surely preferable to an embrace of pretension, which happens at a lot of self-titled "quirky schools", in my opinion.</p>
<p>I'm a princeton student.</p>
<p>Generally Princeton students are fun people with a flare for adventure and discovery. Your first week there you will be bombarded with crazy stories and unbelieveable achievements by all the other students. Don't be surprised if after a few months you find out that your best friend helped to erradicate a certain type of cancer or that your roomate is the great grandson of some famous politician. Like anyone, a princeton student doesn't like to brag but they love to SHARE. There is a large difference between these two, you will learn.</p>
<p>While there is a bit of pressure to dress and act like you're wealthier than you are, it is avoidable. Yes, there are those few pretentious *******s who dress like Russel Crowe in "A Beautiful Mind" but they're certainly not typical. You might bump into someone who fails in their tolorance for other ideas but this is only because of the campus' diversity in backgrounds. You might just have to nod and smile when someone drops a tasteless joke or an infuriating political opinion but that is really what diversity is about. Learning to get along.</p>
<p>A Princeton student knows they're special because they are constantly told by their parents, teachers, friends, relatives, etc. but the TYPICAL student is a normal kid who is just as humble as you would be in their situation. SOME students who have been privelaged all their lives are elitist, but this isn't the typical student either. The typical student is open to learning about new types of people and tries not to segregate him/herself from everyone else.</p>
<p>A Princeton student is able to smile during finals, even if it's just laughing at the crazy amount of work they have and a princeton student LOVES to relax as hard as they work (but only during the appropriate times). Yes, a princeton student enjoys exercise, learning, socializing, exploring.</p>
<p>In my two years at princeton I've been extatic, infuriated, in love, in awe and offended. the students at princeton will challenge you. they'll test your tolorance and change your boundaries. Here, you will meet people you never thought you would. But its never a bad thing, its always a learning experience.</p>
<p>Because of the diversity, you'll certainly find the perfect group of people for you. You might even make some friends you never thought you would.</p>
<p>g'luck</p>
<p>a typical princeton student = atypical princeton student</p>
<p>lots of diversity, but in the end, we're all tigers. ROAR!</p>
<p>The students at Princeton, IMO, are above all earnest. If Harvard kids are ambitious, Princeton kids are earnest. They are social. They are highly highly intelligent. They are good-natured. They enjoy life - it's hard not to focus on enjoyment when your campus is so beautiful. They are engaged. </p>
<p>They are not, remotely, elitist. While some kids do come from the wealthiest families in the world, I've never seen any of them or heard of any of them thinking they are so great and fabulous because of their background. Once you get there, the kid who is rumored to have already won the Nobel prize or to have set up a foundation for Darfur or who won Heps will command so much respect that really who cares what your dad does or did?</p>
<p>The campus is suburban. Fewer people dress in black. Most guys shave. Girls are to be seen wearing pearls. However, with >5,000 kids, there is also a substantial population of arty types that grows at the agenda of the administration every year. If as an arty/edgy/urban type you are happy to be a less visible group than most of the kids who throng Prospect Street, you will still love it there. I did, and I quit my eating club:).</p>
<p>Besides, there's even an eating club for the arty/edgy/urban types... Like I said, earnest to me is the more universal characteristic than anything else, and social. Oh, yeah, and highly, highly intelligent.</p>
<p>I have a question of my own. Reading the Princeton Frosh issue newspaper I got in the mail, I read one or two places that the typical Princeton attire for attending classes is a polo shirt and khakis. Is this true?</p>
<p>As a Princetonian, I agree with Orbit_J.</p>
<p>Go Tigers.</p>
<p>Polo shirt and khakis? Sometimes my D goes in her pyjama bottoms and a kid's tshirt....</p>
<p>That frosh edition, I'm thinking maybe it's a joke if I remember....</p>
<p>I certainly hope so.</p>
<p>Haha go to class the first day in a Tigger suit. That will set the tone.</p>
<p>The only thing typical of Princeton students is our unwavering, undying, obsession with anything remotely Princetonian. :)</p>
<p>Also, you will find that all Princeton students can sustain an intellectual conversation, not in the sense that they talk particle physics, but that they are able to discuss everyday affairs in a mature, rational, objective and insightful manner. </p>
<p>And everyone I know at Princeton is google-able. In a good way.</p>
<p>I think Orbit, Alumother, and G202 all say it pretty well.</p>
<p>What I miss most about Princeton during the summer time is the rational discourse at dinner (which sometimes went on for 2 hours). I do disagree with Orbit when he said that students try to stay off tacky topics. In my one year, I've both heard and put forth views that have been enormously un-PC or popular, definitely more so than I'm able to elsewhere.</p>
<p>Sounds like the students in my class, khakis and polo shirts that'd be a first, maybe in the humanities? ;)
Actually one of my students turned up to the final in a jacket and bow-tie last year, for luck he said!</p>
<p>haha alot of plays and performances happen around the time of both midterms and finals, so I have seen many of my peers show up in costume and full makeup</p>
<p>i would say the typical getup is jeans and a tshirt, but there are majors where fancier attire seems more common...</p>
<p>You'll find that what people wear is directly related to what time of day it is. Khakis and polos at 9 in the morning? Ha. That's cute.</p>