<p>For those of you who know where you are going or where your friends are going... have you or do you know of anyone who has given up Princeton for another school?</p>
<p>I'm afraid I can't help you there. Everyone I personally know has given up other schools for Princeton, myself included.</p>
<p>Princeton is simply un-give-up-able.</p>
<p>Hee hee.</p>
<p>I know of at least three.</p>
<p>i know three who turned it down for harvard (and none who turned down harvard for princeton)</p>
<p>I'm a Princeton grad, and I currently teach at an LAC. I know dozens who have made the choice to pass on Princeton. In some cases students wanted a smaller, more intimate school. Some wanted an undergraduate business school. Others wanted a more urban setting. Princeton is a great fit for some, and not as good a fit for others. It's a great school, but not necessarily better or worse than any other great school. I think it is very sad that so many people who post on CC routinely state that Princeton or Harvard simply can't be turned down. IMHO, those who make such blanket assertions are being very shallow. I loved my time at Princeton ... but</p>
<p>Although it's been a few years ... I turned down a Harvard National Scholarship to attend Princeton.</p>
<p>I know three who turned down Harvard for Princeton. I know people who turned edown Princeton for Penn. It all depends.</p>
<p>Like many other waitlisters, kps2008 probably wants to know how many are sure to decline Princeton this year for some other school. I am sure kps is not interested in earlier years.</p>
<p>rr43 -- Part of my response is to a statement like that made by annabell. As for yield ... since it isn't 100 percent, people turn them down. For last year's yield, see Princeton Review website. However, I read that Princeton accepted fewer students this year and significantly increased the size of the waitlist. If this is true, it might indicate that they anticipate a lower yield and are planning for it.</p>
<p>Annabell, Im delighted youve decided on Princeton! At the same time, I have to agree with Treeman. Certainly, there are many students who turn down offers of admission to Princeton in favor of some other school. No university in the country has a yield of 100%. Even Harvard, with the highest yield in the country, loses about 20% of its admitted students to other schools. Many end up at Princeton, including me. In recent years, about 30% of students admitted to Princeton have decided to matriculate elsewhere. This is one of the highest matriculation rates in the country but still means that there are many who decide Princeton isnt right for them. Most of the time, the students who turn down Princeton end up attending one of the equally fine schools with which it regularly competes. In a smaller, but not insignificant number of cases, students turn down Princeton to attend schools that may not be nearly as well known. Since Princetons financial aid is among the best in the country, it typically isnt for financial reasons. Rather, it may be about being closer to home, being in a city rather than suburbia, having the chance to play for a major athletic team in a big media market, etc.--the reasons are as varied as the individuals making these decisions. </p>
<p>In terms of how Princeton does in cross-admissions with its biggest name peers, I can tell you this. Not long ago I was part of a small group that was meeting privately with a high level administrator at Princeton. An alumna in attendance asked about those cross-admit statistics. Universities generally keep this information very confidential but this administrator (it was not the Dean of Admissions but was someone in a position to know) gave us some hard facts and did tell us that Princeton currently splits evenly with, or beats, all of its peers with the exception of Harvard, the only school that takes more from Princeton than it loses to Princeton. Princeton splits evenly with Yale and has a very slight advantage against Stanford. Even so, there are plenty of potential Princetonians who decide they would prefer to wear colors other than orange and black!</p>
<p>Congratulations on your acceptance and welcome to Princeton!</p>
<p>"I think it is very sad that so many people who post on CC routinely state that Princeton or Harvard simply can't be turned down. IMHO, those who make such blanket assertions are being very shallow. I loved my time at Princeton ... but"</p>
<p>Haha, relax, I wasn't being serious at all about Princeton being un-give-up-able! Of course know that there are plenty of great schools besides Princeton, you should choose based on fit, and that plenty of people have good reasons for turning Princeton down. I was simply restating that Princeton is awesome and noting that I didn't personally know anyone who gave it up for another school, including two Harvard admits who chose P. This is true. But I didn't mean Princeton is the be all end all of the college application process. My post was in lighthearted fun, and I apologise if it came across instead as "shallow" or bigoted in any way. :)</p>
<p>annabell -- point taken. I'm just a parent who was surprisingly stressed the last few months, and shouldn't have been. I wish that the process had been more rewarding. The end result, for my family, has been terrific. But part of the emotion now is simple relief that we survived the ride in one piece rather than being able to reflect on how much fun the ride was to take. As I read various posts, I think many, many others are having this same experience. My wife and I both came from families who didn't share in our college decisions (my father tried to bribe me to get me to go to a community college for 2 years rather than apply to Princeton), and we dreamed of helping our daughter with this decision. And as most parents with hard working, high achieving children, we anticipated that she would have many doors opened for her, including scholarships. The reward for years of excellence and dedication. While our journey wasn't nearly as rough as some, it wasn't as wonderful and exciting as we expected. And I don't think that much of the stress can be attributed to this being an unusual year (an observation made by many). I think the biggest source of pressure was our own inexperience and unrealistic expectations. I read on another post that a parent referred to the oldest child as a snowplow, clearing the way for younger siblings to follow. For us, this is a very apt description ...</p>
<p>S was teetering between Dartmouth and Princeton. He chose P. He says he would have more regrets turning down P than he would turning down D. I have read a lot about the two schools and had a chance to visit D but not P. Dartmouth's allure is more transparent to me especially as to school spirit and sense of community. That being said however, the local Princeton alumnae were very persuasive and active. S was contacted by at least three and was invited to a social function for prospective students in the area. He did not hear a peep from the local Dartmouth alumnae, which may speak to their relative enthusiasm for their alma mater. </p>
<p>To the Princeton people, does Princeton actively work to build community?</p>
<p>I know one person who turned down Princeton for Harvard; I was quite surprised. I had thought this person would be more of the "Princeton type"—but then again, even I don't know what that means.</p>
<p>my friend turned down P for Y. just a comfort fit thing</p>