<p>philntex: There are so many things to do at Princeton besides go to the Street; the problem (some feel) is the lack of options late Saturday night. Half of the email I get is event schedules and announcements and every lamppost and bulletin board on campus is covered with posters for events. Princeton always has prominent speakers in many fields</p>
<p>I'm biased towards social science, but in recent weeks I've gone to see lectures by Ralph Nader, Paul Krugman, Mike Wallace from 60 Minutes, an alum who worked in the Green Zone in Baghdad, a member of the 9/11 Commission, the managing editor of Time Magazine, etc. Colin Powell came last February. Events I haven't gone to but have seen posters for include an orchestra performance of Russian music, comedy by Lewis Black from the Daily Show, an international dance festival, and some sort of Moby Dick musical opera.</p>
<p>That said, at the time when people would go to room parties or the street, there's not much else going on Saturday night except for maybe a movie at Frist.</p>
<p>serin: It's hard to generalize the entire student body. The students are, as you might expect, very intelligent. They're also very laid-back, although some are also very driven. Most people are friendly. Most are sick of political correctness. </p>
<p>There are a lot of liberals and plenty of conservatives. There are also a lot of moderates. There are rarely protests of any sort (activists would be better off at Yale, Brown, or Wesleyan).</p>
<p>That sounds perfect! I'm sick of PC-ness, too, and protests are just annoying...there are so many better ways to 'take a stand'...it's also good to hear from a student that people are laid-back...at Yale <a href="of%20course">i</a>* they were telling me that Princetonians were highly competitive with each other and frenetic about grades, and that Yalies were laid-back...I didn't really buy it, though.</p>
<p>I don't think Princeton students are competitive with each other, but with themselves. Students have such high self-imposed standards that when they get a B on a chem midterm they say "I didn't study enough" or "I just didn't get that" instead of "Oh no, Suzie got a B+ and now I'm never going to get into Harvard Med School, and she will and I hate Suzie." I haven't heard any of that. </p>
<p>Most people here prefer higher grades to lower grades, of course.</p>
<p>tiger08, a question about the eating clubs. Would it be hard to join one as a vegetarian? I heard the food in eating clubs is excellent, but there is not a lot of selection, as in they only cook one or two dishes for a particular meal etc.</p>
<p>Serin, I'm a guy, but I think I can still provide insight to your question...I never had any trouble getting girls in high school blah blah blah, but now, well, it's become a little more challenging. Pretty much everyone keeps themself in excellent physical condition (probably helped by the high proportion of athletes here). The girls seem more than satisfied, haha. And the girls themselves, while more attractive than their counterparts at Harvard and Yale, do not strike me to be as attractive as they are reputed to be.</p>
<p>This is a really superficial question, but what is the predominant clothing style on campus? I'm sure there's a broad range, but if you had to make a gross generalization.... is it really as preppy as it's made out to be?</p>
<p>I made my campus visit during the winter, so everyone was bundled up in coats, thus marring the visibility of any (tell-tale) polo shirts.</p>
<p>c<em>j: It would not be hard to _join</em> an eating club as a vegetarian, but I hear only a few have good vegetarian options. The food at eating clubs is (almost) always better than that in the dining halls, but it still varies greatly among the different clubs. Terrace is a sign-in club that has a reputation for being very liberal, "hippie", etc. They're supposed to have the best vegetarian options on the street. Tower is a bicker club with really good food in general and I think they also have vegetarian options at every meal. Terrace or 2 Dickinson Street (the vegetarian co-op) are probably the best bets, but there are other eating clubs that are vegetarian-friendly, if not ideal (But even in the co-op, I'd think there would probably be only one or two main dishes for a dinner).</p>
<p>gracilisae: It's actually not too hard to make a generalization about clothing. I can't speak for girls, because they have so many technical terms for what they wear, but for guys it's quite simple. Essentially it's a venn diagram: in one circle you have guys who dress preppy with polos with their favorite animal on the chest, in the other circle you have guys who wear t-shirts and sweatshirts and jeans. There is a large group of guys who do both.</p>
<p>Basically, if nobody in your high school dresses preppy it will seem like there are a lot of preppy people at Princeton. If most people in your high school dress preppy, it will seem like there are a lot of really casually dressed people here.</p>
<p>What are the dorms like? I've heard dorms like Rocky/Mathey dont have bathrooms on the hall, just down in the basement. Is it true that Forbes has the best rooms? How far is it <em>really</em> from the centre of campus - walking distance? I've heard some rooms in Forbes have en suite bathrooms. Overall, would you say the quality of the rooms/room size is above average, average or below average at Princeton and which in your opinion is the best dorm to get into?</p>
<p>okay, question regarding APs and their effect on the classes one takes-</p>
<p>so if you have taken AP Calc (for example) and decide to use it to move up (and not have to take the class again), then does that AP still count as one of the required credits?</p>
<p>How important is AP? I have been in 9 AP classes, and made all As... my rank is #1 (obviously cause it's a 4.0 unweighted)... I have 3s 4s and 5s on the exams, though. im expecting probably 3s or 4s ... not sure... </p>
<p>How key is doing something that is distinguishing? Would it help to own a few businesses before 18? Or...</p>
<p>APs are only important if they represent the hardest classes at your school. Just because some schools offer more APs than others will not put you at a disadvantage when you apply. If your school offers only 5 APs and you take them all, then you are taking an intensive courseload. Princeton likes students with intensive courseloads, and they understand that it's all relative.</p>
<p>AP credit can be used for placement and advanced standing. It, unfortunately, does not fulfill a class credit unless you choose to use it for advanced standing and graduate a semester or year early.</p>
<p>Concerning Res Colleges
Yes, Rocky and Mathey don't have bathrooms in the hall sometimes. I go upstairs to use the bathroom, but it's not that bad. I guess it's probably worse for drunk students who have to stumble up or down stairs, but the bathroom thing is a minor issue at Princeton.</p>
<p>Forbes is a remodeled inn so it generally has good rooms, many of which come with private baths. The downside of private baths is that you have to clean them yourself and they can quickly get disgusting. Forbes is about three to five minutes away from the center of campus, which isn't bad at all. The Princeton campus is actually remarkably compact unless you're an athlete - then you frequently have to take a long walk down to the varsity gym area/armory.
Rooms are ok overall, with some people having very good rooms while others are worse off. There are a few examples of overrooming where a suite a six will have seven students one year and be missing its common room, but those situations are generally rare.</p>
<p>I just got back from a one-week long geology field trip out in the Sierra Nevadas and Death Valley. Multiple professors and TAs came along with our Freshman Seminar class and it was quite fun overall. Everything was paid for by Princeton, too. This sort of small group education is what makes Princeton so great - there was one grad student, three professors, and two senior geo majors with the nineteen students in the class on the trip. It was not hard at all to get questions answered and to learn through one-on-one discussion. </p>