I’m having a really hard time deciding between Pomona, Princeton, and Brown. Princeton is giving me the best aid so far, but I’m scared I won’t fit as comfortably as I know I would at Pomona or Brown. I’m not “normal” by any means, I’m liberal (in general, I’m not really a political person, I make horrible puns, I love to laugh, I initiate incredibly odd discussions, I’m a die-hard Spongebob fan, and I have a passion for learning. I’m a weird kid, but I’m very social, and get along with all types of people. Like I said, I KNOW I will find people like me at Pomona or Brown, but could I still thrive socially at Princeton? And I mean have more than two friends?
Like I said, the Princeton stereotype is not to the extent most people think; the majority of students on this campus are liberal, in fact. I can’t tell you how many friends you’ll make here, but in my experience, the student body is diverse enough that you’ll find at least one group you click with (consisting of more than two people). But I’m also not saying Princeton would necessarily be better than your other choices. I just want to make clear that the school is not as one-dimensional as it’s often made out to be.
Definitely try to go to as many admitted students weekends as you can!
Princeton senior here! One thing that’s worth noting is that lots of accepted students will find themselves in similar boats re: financial aid. Because Princeton’s is so good, we’re able to attract a wider array of students than schools the tier below, which have smaller endowments. So we’re able to avoid that middle-class donut hole that schools like Brown (or Georgetown, which my boyfriend turned down for financial reasons, or Duke, where my sister is now, or whatever). While there are certainly some enclaves of extreme wealth, on the whole, the student body draws from a huge range of economic (and racial) backgrounds.
That’s not to say that Princeton won’t be an adjustment. I’m white, but came from a majority-black high school, and initially felt, like you do, that Princeton was whitewashed and elitist. But I quickly discovered that Princeton was an extremely welcoming place–and not at all cutthroat!–and one where discussions about things like class, race, sexual orientation, etc. are encouraged.
Moreover, while we definitely lack the overtly ~quirky~ vibe of a place like Brown, we still have a fair amount of artsy or out-of-the-box thinkers on campus. I’ve been involved in creative writing on campus, while some of my friends have found their homes doing theater or dance, or in the Visual Arts or Music departments.
So here’s my tl; dr pitch for Princeton: Fit is definitely important. But at the end of the day, the difference between two mid-sized, Ivy League universities probably isn’t that great. And the Princeton I have come to know and love after four years is nothing like the one portrayed in Fitzgerald’s This Side of Paradise or in Ralph Lauren ads. We’re a diverse group of people–even more so because of our stellar finaid–with a variety of interests, from the arts to engineering to politics, and beyond.