<p>Okay, so: I am not sure I would like the social atmosphere at Princeton. I am certain that the academics are good. Tell me what it is like at Princeton.</p>
<p>Isn't it a bit late?</p>
<p>Lol. I agree w/quirkily.</p>
<p>I am a junior... I am applying to places next year, and want to finalize my applications list by the end of the school year. I just recently decided to look at Princeton, even though I cut it from my list early on, because I thought I would not like the social atmosphere. To academics are really good, and a small school: so I decided to look at it again.</p>
<p>I sincerely dislike threads like "convince me", especially from people who aren't even admitted yet. It implies passivity on the applicants part, and also a sense of entitlement - that that person should catered to.</p>
<p>I am sorry. I certainly don't live in NJ, and I figure that the only way I can get a good sense of the social atmosphere at Princeton is to ask people who are there. I am not being passive, I am looking at the school because it is a place I am potentially interested in. I am being active in my search by trying to find people who attend the college who can tell me about it. I am sorry if this offends you.</p>
<p>Idamayer, here you have a great illustration of a well know Princeton stereotype: snobbishness. Just look at snipanlol's reply!!!!!</p>
<p>snipanlol don't be like that with people! It's because of people like you I don't want to go to Princeton! I didn't even apply!
Idamayer, believe me that NOBODY would answer you like snipanlol did on the MIT or Stanford boards (and yes I got in both schools).</p>
<p>Good luck Idamayer, and please don't overreact to guys "sincerely disliking" those threads!!!!</p>
<p>Dimitri</p>
<p>PS: aside from collegeconfidential, I would recommend you to check the MIT blogs at my.mit.edu Very friendly people there, you can ask anything you want!</p>
<p>um, snipanlol goes to penn. i gather from your own posting history that you will be going to MIT. congrats. i just hope that your failure to do due diligence, eagerness to stereotype, and general overreaction are not illustrative of well known MIT stereotypes.</p>
<p>You made a list and cut princeton from it? Can you really see yourself holding a princeton acceptance letter and telling yourself, "you know, this really isn't where I want to be." Of course you might get into harvard or oxford or something, but come on.</p>
<p>bmanbs2, I don't understand what you're saying.</p>
<p>To actually try to answer the OP's question: In many ways, Princeton people, and the social life at Princeton, are not markedly different from what you would find at other great schools: Princeton students are intelligent, committed, and represent a diverse array of interests and lifestyles. There are a seemingly endless number of extracurricular activities to take part in and events to attend. There are always lectures, concerts, and performanaces taking place on campus, and most students take advantage of a number of these events. Residential colleges sponsor trips to Broadway shows and other events in the city.</p>
<p>I am assuming your reservation has to do with the eating clubs, which are a prominent part of Princeton life. For Freshman and Sophomores, who are not members, however, eating clubs are at most a bi-weekly activity. Students go there on Thursday and Saturday nights, usually not arriving until past midnight. If you don't like the drinking/partying atmosphere in general, you may not like the clubs, and that is fine. You can still have a full life - particularly since the clubs don't fill up until so late at night. If your objection is more to the percieved elitism of the clubs, you probably won't have a problem. Since the clubs have different atmospheres, it is very unlikely that you will be turned off by all of them, plus, the elitism charge is quite overstated.</p>
<p>Junior and Senior year, about 75 % of students do join the clubs, which means that they eat their meals there in addition to partying. Generally, people join a club with friends based on common interest. If you don't join a club, it is still quite easy for upperclassmen to get guest passes from friends, so you won't be left out. Additionally, the chances are that if you don't want to join, it is because you have friends who are also choosing other options - so it won't be a problem.</p>
<p>Sorry everybody, sorry scottie. My intention wasn't at all to criticize or stereotype Princeton. I was just really angry at that guy's post.</p>
<p>Peace to all!</p>
<p>Well, yes I go to Penn.</p>
<p>But that really has nothing to do with it. Neither has snobbishness. It has a lot, however, to do with people not even bothering to do a simple search in the forum about "social and life and princeton", which I am sure has been answered a multitude of times. Instead they expect to be answered personally. There is a sense of entitlement in that - leaning back and expecting to be catered to. </p>
<p>Maybe you had your reasons, idamayer, you simply didn't know of the search function. You simply might not be used to discussion boards? If so, I apologize. But if you were just lazy and wanted a personal answer to a quite common question, I am not sorry, because then you are in the wrong.</p>
<p>Ok. I wasn't going to do so, but now that I see spinanlol making these scrouge-esque comments in another Princeton thread, I will proceed with my question.</p>
<p>You go to penn. Alright.
So why is it, then, that you feel the need to creep around the Princeton board, tossing in your snide two cents whenever you see fit? I'm sure I'm not the only one curious with such a question. </p>
<p>It's seems you're harboring some kind of Princeton hostility, and I won't jump to conclusions on where the root of it comes from.</p>
<p>...but could it be, perhaps, that you didn't get in?
(sry couldnt help myself)</p>
<p>I wouldn't consider it scrouge-esque. The whole "search"-issue is common internet forum etiquette. If you want information on a subject commonly discussed on that forum, you do a search. For some reason, people on CC just don't do that, which leads to two things:</p>
<ol>
<li>Lots of people miss out on potential information out there by just relying on newly posted threads.</li>
<li>The same questions have to be answered over and over again, and detract attention from more specific and new topics, such as the thread you started, ZooeyO 33, regarding laidback people and social life. That is an entirely different question than just asking about social life in general - it is much more specific and it is implied that you already know about other aspects of Princeton social life.</li>
</ol>
<p>As for snide comments in general, I started posting on the Princeton forum when someone copied a remark I had made in the Penn forum over here without leaving a notification or even a link in the new thread, making it impossible for me to take part in the ensuing debate. </p>
<p>However, I do consider Princeton a great place, and I try and make sure that is conveyed in the post. Princeton has an amazing social life, it is just that it is not the type of social life everyone is after. I do know that you will have an amazing time there ZooeyO, and I know that I would have absolutely hated it. Did I get in? Yes. Why didn't I go there? To inclusive an undergraduate experience.</p>
<p>Works for me, snipanlol. When you explain yourself like that, I find what you have to say hardly snide or scrouge-esque (which the more I use, the more I find myself liking the way it rolls off the tongue). You can never really (or accurately) gauge the tone of a comment in an online arena like this, so I guess just the concise nature of your previous comments may have rubbed some the wrong way... if you don't mind my Christina Aguilera reference there. Totally unintentional.</p>
<p>no, i swear.</p>
<p>Okay, I am sorry for asking such an open-ended question. I wanted to hear the things that MOST struck people about Princeton as opposed to directed answers that I thought would morelikely only directly negate my concerns. ICargirl gave me a good answer about the atmosphere so far. so:</p>
<p>I read the essay about Princeton in the "Insider's Guide to the Colleges" book, and gleaned therefrom that Princeton might be a little too preppy, greek-like, and generally 'social' (eg lots of partying, cliques, etc...) which is more or less the social atmosphere I wanted to avoid. (I felt that if I posted the above, people would only respond: oh no, eating clubs are not necessary, and no one would say: eating clubs are a huge part of my life here, etc...)
I gave the Yale News essay to my father to ask his opinion and he said that the eating clubs at priceton are a big deal. My father didn't like Princeton (he thought it was too competative, and also because my father enjoys a non-clique/non-greek lifestyle, as do I)
However, reading Princeton threads on CC, I see people arguing that Princeton is no more preppy than other ivies, and that it has changed recently. Other people say that it is still very preppy and cliquish. I am really a, I guess I would say 'boring', person and don't like to party (really at all) and I really want an atmosphere where people are...more friendly and less 'fake'. I suppose I would really like a social atmosphere amongst other socially-inept people, who don't try so hard to be 'popular' or what have you.<br>
My father also said that Princeton is a good school, and it has the good professors and small classes that I want. But because of the social atmosphere I am unsure.
So, in short I was hoping that someone could convince me either way about applying to Princeton.</p>
<p>Idamayer - what do you like to do besides go to school? That will have a big impact. If you don't like to socialize in parties, you will socialize around activities and academics. So what kind of activities/interests do you have?</p>
<p>idamayer - I know countless people who are exactly like the way your describe yourself here. This place is bigger than a stereotype, and the education you'll recieve is -and I really believe this- the best in the world. My Psych TA (undergrad at UPenn) was astounded at the resources we had in our PSY 101 lab. ($20,000 microscopes dedicated to an intro class) She said she didn't have that kind of equipment even when taking advanced level classes at UPenn. The resources here, the accessibility of the professors (!), and the amazing (and down-to-earth!) kids you'll meet here are too good to pass up. </p>
<p>I recommend Princeton.</p>