<p>HELP! I really love different things about each of the schools. I love Dartmouth's community/location, I love Princeton's architecture (hogwarts!), and I love Columbia's connections in terms of internships in NYC.</p>
<p>I'm not the type of person to even look at rankings so don't bring that sort of garbage up. These are all amazing schools but I need advice on which one would suit me best:</p>
<p>I'm looking for a super traditional college experience. One that I will tell people about School X and be like "Ohhh hahahaha...crazy times..." and things of that nature. My parents didn't go to college so the whole entire "Animal House" college experience has been missing in our family. </p>
<p>All three of these schools are amazing academic powerhouses and I can't even begin to compare them, which is why I think the "Quality of Life" rating is more important to me. If any current students/others could at least tell me about the quality of life in each of these schools, I'd be very grateful!</p>
<p>Tough decision. I didn’t apply to Columbia, but I was choosing between Dartmouth, Princeton, and a few others at this time last year.</p>
<p>I was never convinced that Columbia has a real advantage in helping its students secure internships. Maybe they get shoddy ones during the school year, but I never met a single Columbia student who had a really great internship during the school year. (Maybe Columbia is better for the field in which you’re interested, but I want to go into high finance–and I found Columbia’s location to be of no benefit to me.)</p>
<p>Anyway, if you’re looking for the traditional college experience, it’s definitely Princeton or Dartmouth. I would lean more towards Dartmouth if you want pure tradition. Honestly, we have so many–Greek life, bonfire, Winter Carnival, Green Key, hockey game vs. Princeton, midnight snowball fight, “Worst Class Ever,” The Dartmouth 7, etc.</p>
<p>Two things that turned me off from Princeton were the Eating Clubs and grade deflation. The eating clubs are way more exclusive than Dartmouth’s social scene, which is completely open. (See some of my other posts for more information if you’re interested.) And grade deflation created a visibly tense, competitive environment in the classroom, which I didn’t like at all. One of the reasons I came to an Ivy was to learn from my peers, and at Princeton, I felt like that would be compromised, since your peers are actively disincentivized from helping you.</p>
<p>Anyway, I would visit both Dartmouth and Princeton. They’re terrific schools.</p>
<p>Thanks DartmouthForever, I’ve already visited Princeton and was not impressed at all. I’m not saying it wasn’t nice, just nothing struck me as interesting. I’m going to be visiting Dartmouth this week so we’ll see how that turns out! I’ve sort of already crossed Columbia out of the picture once I saw that the campus was the smallest campuses I think I’ve seen.</p>
<p>And japanoko, I don’t think you can prove otherwise no matter which angle you take on the eating club situation. There’s a reason why some are known to be exclusive. I’m sure Dartmouth has exclusive fraternities too.</p>
<p>so helpmechoose, for the purpose of others that are thinking between Darmouth and Princeton, what was it about your visit that caused you to feel this way?</p>
<p>anything in particular?</p>
<p>because only a few days ago, this is what your wrote:</p>
<p>“HELP! I really love different things about each of the schools. I love Dartmouth’s community/location, I love Princeton’s architecture (hogwarts!),”</p>
<p>Actually, not a single fraternity at Dartmouth is exclusive. Prospies won’t be able to get in because they’re prospies, but all Dartmouth students can go to all parties, except for “tails” which are closed events between one fraternity and one sorority – and basically every frat has tails with every sorority, so there’s not even exclusivity in that context.</p>
<p>and why is this any less exclusive than the Princeton Eating Clubs, which have open parties for all students, just like the Darmouth Greeks, except for a couple of formal events, just like the Dartmouth Greeks?</p>
<p>and again you were asked to tell us a little more about what led you to make a statement such as this:</p>
<p>Dartmouth is completely unknown here, and doesn’t get much recognition in Asia either. But it’s obvious that Dartmouth is what you’re looking for in a college experience, so go for it.</p>
<p>it is pretty hard to beat Princeton for “pure” tradition, as you are claiming here. Princeton defines tradition.</p>
<p>the following are only a few:</p>
<p>TraditionsArch Sings – Late-night concerts that feature one or several of Princeton’s thirteen undergraduate a cappella groups. The free concerts take place in one of the larger arches on campus. Most are held in Blair Arch or Class of 1879 Arch.</p>
<p>Bonfire – Ceremonial bonfire that takes place in Cannon Green behind Nassau Hall. It is held only if Princeton beats both Harvard University and Yale University at football in the same season. The most recent bonfire was lit November 17, 2006, after a twelve-year drought.</p>
<p>Bicker – Selection process for new-members that is employed by selective eating clubs.
Prospective members, or bickerees, are required to perform a variety of activities at the request of current members.</p>
<p>Cane Spree – An athletic competition between freshmen and sophomores that is held in the fall. The event centers on cane wrestling, where a freshman and a sophomore will grapple for control of a cane. This commemorates a historic freshman uprising against a university tradition that only sophomores and upperclassmen were permitted to carry canes, in which freshman attempted to rob sophomores of their canes in defiance of the rule.</p>
<p>The Clapper or Clapper Theft – The act of climbing to the top of Nassau Hall to steal the bell clapper, which rings to signal the start of classes on the first day of the school year. For safety reasons, the clapper has now been removed permanently.</p>
<p>Class Jackets (Beer Jackets) – Each graduating class designs a Class Jacket that features its class year. The artwork is almost invariably dominated by the school colors and tiger motifs.</p>
<p>Communiversity – An annual street fair with performances, arts and crafts, and other activities that attempts to foster interaction between the university community and residents of the Princeton.</p>
<p>Dean’s Date – The Tuesday at the end of each semester when all written work is due. This day signals the end of reading period and the beginning of final examinations. Traditionally, undergraduates gather outside McCosh Hall before the 5:00 p.m. deadline to cheer on fellow students who have left their work to the very last minute.[73]</p>
<p>FitzRandolph Gates – At the end of Princeton’s graduation ceremony, the new graduates process out through the main gate of the university as a symbol of the fact that they are leaving college. According to tradition, anyone who exits campus through the FitzRandolph Gates before his or her own graduation date will not graduate.</p>
<p>Gilding the Lily – Promotion ceremony at the 25th reunion of a class. Alumnae of the University (aka “Tiger Lilies”) enjoy the courting of male classmates, amid song and much drink (see Newman’s Day). Traditional chants include: “In Princeton Town the Youth abound, and do young Tigers make. Women return as Gilded Lilies, the men as Frosted Flakes”.</p>
<p>Holder Howl – The midnight before Dean’s Date, students from Holder Hall and elsewhere gather in the Holder courtyard and take part in a minute-long, communal primal scream to vent frustration from studying with impromptu, late night noise making.[74]</p>
<p>Houseparties – Formal parties that are held simultaneously by all of the eating clubs at the end of the spring term.</p>
<p>Ivy stones -Class memorial stones placed on the exterior walls of academic buildings around the campus.</p>
<p>Lawnparties – Parties that feature live bands that are held simultaneously by all of the eating clubs at the start of classes and at the conclusion of the academic year.</p>
<p>Locomotive – Chant traditionally used by Princetonians to acknowledge a particular year or class. It goes: “Hip… hip… rah rah rah tiger tiger tiger sis sis sis boom boom boom chicka chicka rahh!” Following it are three chants of the class that is being acknowledged. It is commonly heard at Opening Exercises in the fall as alumni and current students welcome the freshman class, as well as the P-rade in the spring at Princeton Reunions.</p>
<p>Newman’s Day – Students attempt to drink 24 beers in the 24 hours of April 24. According to the New York Times, “the day got its name from an apocryphal quote attributed to Paul Newman: ‘24 beers in a case, 24 hours in a day. Coincidence? I think not.’”[75] Newman had spoken out against the tradition, however.[76]</p>
<p>Nude Olympics – Annual nude and partially nude frolic in Holder Courtyard that takes place during the first snow of the winter. Started in the early 1970s, the Nude Olympics went co-ed in 1979 and gained much notoriety with the American press. For safety reasons, the administration banned the Olympics in 2000 to the chagrin of students.</p>
<p>Prospect 10 – The act of drinking a beer at all ten eating clubs on The Street in a single night.</p>
<p>P-rade – Traditional parade of alumni and their families. They process through campus by class year during Reunions.</p>
<p>Reunions – Massive annual gathering of alumni held the weekend before graduation.</p>
<p>The Phantom of Fine Hall – A former tradition that, before 1993, was the legend of an obscure, shadowy figure that would infest Fine Hall, home to the Mathematics Department, and write complex equations on blackboards. Although mentioned in Rebecca Goldstein’s 1980s The Mind-Body Problem, a book about Princeton graduate student life (Penguin, reissued 1993), the legend self-deconstructed in the 1990s when the Phantom turned out to be John Forbes Nash, the inventor of the Nash equilibrium.</p>
<p>“Dartmouth is completely unknown here, and doesn’t get much recognition in Asia either. But it’s obvious that Dartmouth is what you’re looking for in a college experience, so go for it.”</p>
<p>I don’t know where this is coming from. I have family in the Middle East and I spoke to them when I was choosing between Dartmouth and Columbia and they said they didn’t know of either. Then I spoke with my sister-in-law in Canterbury in the UK and she said that there Dartmouth is better known than Columbia, but that may just be because of Dartmouth’s exchange with Oxford.</p>
<p>So don’t believe people when they say “school X is not known here in Y.” There are smart people everywhere and if you meet someone who doesn’t know about your school, then they aren’t worth mentioning it to. The only people you should care about knowing where you went to school are employers.</p>
<p>And fyi I chose Dartmouth over Columbia and MIT for similar reasons and I don’t regret anything.</p>
<p>japanoko, can I ask why you are being so confrontational? Please chill out and let everyone discuss this thread without having to abase one another</p>
<p>I just finished all of my admit day trips and I’ve finally decided that I’m going to attend Dartmouth this fall. At first I was worried that Dartmouth’s location and size were going to turn me off but the minute I entered Hanover I fell in love. I really liked Princeton as well, but I couldn’t feel at home in a town like Princeton. As for Columbia, I found myself trying to convince myself that I liked it, but I just couldn’t handle the small campus and awkward community. But in the end these are all Ivy Leagues and I’m sure I would have ended up with a great future no matter the school. Go Big Green!</p>
<p>Just a side note: it’s absolutely true that all of the institutions you are choosing from are academically superb, and you can’t really make a ‘wrong choice’ to attend whichever of them. But if you’re considering pure math/science (esp. physics) as your potential major, Pton is the right place to go to.</p>