<p>Hmmm...well, keep in mind I'll be at Princeton and I love the school and I hope you come, but...</p>
<p>Stanford students are incredibly nice and enthusiastic. When I was there for a month, those there during the summer were always ready to help us out when we got lost on campus, we talked to some about admissions and what the school was like, and...they just seemed really nice and genuine.</p>
<p>That said, I don't like their Greek scene either. The Row is almost the equivalent of Princeton's Street, except with fraternity and sorority houses. Still, it was beautiful, and the weather was awesome (although it was, as shrek pointed out, cold in the morning, and there was heavy fog for the earlier hours of the day).</p>
<p>Sure, there are athletes...pretty dang smart athletes, too. There are more than at Princeton I'd imagine, but the people with whom I've spoken about Stanford didn't note a significant segregation between the two segments of the student body. I'd go so far as to say they're just as nice as the rest of the student body, although this is based on limited experience. In fact, I played tennis with one of the tennis team members there. It was awesome :)</p>
<p>So yeah, Princeton is awesome, Princeton is great, Princeton is love...but Stanford's great too, and some of the rap about its student body it doesn't deserve.</p>
<p>its probably cuz swimmers are cocky hahahaha</p>
<p>eating clubs arent all bicker, and even the bicker ones, not all are that selective. eating clubs are really more "hang out places" for ur friends rather than a place to like live and spend all ur time at. there isnt much hazing or frat wars like at stanford where they trash each other lol. </p>
<p>eating clubs have amazing parties tho....i hope im in ivy =P</p>
<p>haha, doesnt everyone shrek? and to any of the cc'ers that somehow manage to bicker there way into ivy, just be sure to remember the rest of us eh? </p>
<p>phil- you didnt tell me you did JSA!! JSA summer school schpiel met mey sokkies. i fell in love with yale last summer because of it, and I can honestly without exagerration say it was the most incredible experience i've had in my life, absolutely amazing. are you going to apply as an RA the summer after next?</p>
<p>Oh, JSA was definitely the best thing I've done up until this point in my life. No doubt about it. I still talk to the people I met while there (summer '03). It was just...amazing, and it was because of one of my friends I met while at Stanford who got into Princeton c/o '08 that I really started to consider the school. I would love to be an RA at a summer school, so we'll see if my summer schedule works out.</p>
<p>Ahhh, JSA alums are always the coolest people :D Yeah, for a long time I wanted to go to Stanford because of JSA. It was just...amazing. It definitely got me excited about college. Nothing like long days of classes, long nights of reading and debate, foosball, random parties, and crazy dining hall food to get you prepped for university life, haha.</p>
<p>Celton, pick Princeton! I have lots of family in CA and it's pretty--for a while. But the seasons don't change, and it always looks the exact same. And the weather's not even that great (not as good as so. cal). Princeton has so much character, and it's beautiful in any season. Most importantly, the undergrad education is unbeatable at princeton, no matter the department you're interested in.</p>
<p>Sorry to barge in on the Princeton board from the Stanford board, but what shrek said about asians + athletes are 80% of the school is totally false. 20% are asian and highly doubt more than 10% of the students are recruited athletes. </p>
<p>Plus, is it bad to have Asians and and athletes that live with you and go to class with you? Personally, I think the diversity is awesome. There are a good number of caucasian of course, asian, african american, and hispanic. </p>
<p>Also, in California, the seasons may not be as extreme as the East, but you can definetly notice the different seasons. There is still rain, hot summer days, and breezy fall days also. I love the moderate weather here. </p>
<p>I don't know about you guys, but I am a sports fan. You don't think its exciting to go into a stadium with tens of thousands of fans to watch your own classmates play football against Cal, or see them on ESPN highlights? Plus, the basketball team is quite strong and sports are abundant in Stanford.</p>
<p>As for academics, I don't have to talk about how great it is, because everyone knows it is. THeir undergraduate engineering program is second to only MIT and they have extremely strong science, business, and medical programs for grad school. They also emphasize undergraduate research and give students money to conduct their own research. </p>
<p>Anyways, Princeton is a great school and whichever school you guys go to will be lucky to have you.</p>
<p>i think everyone realized that 80% was an exaggeration lol. actually recruited athletes are usually 17% of each incoming class is recruited, 8 were recruited from my school alone, 4 will be attending. also if u consider that many of the internationals from stanford are from asia, u get about 28-30% of each class is asian. so roughly 50% is asian or a recruit.</p>
<p>im asian so im biased, the overwhelmingly high percentage of asians scared me when i visited. this might not be true for everyone</p>
<p>Wow. Its nice to know I'm not the only one agonizing over this decision. The schools are so different, yet I cannot seem to find a way to decide between them. On the one hand, Princeton probably has the best educational opportunities available to undergraduates in the nation. On the other hand, Stanford has... essentially equal opportunities and is one of the happiest and best adjusted schools in the nation. Then there's the issue of East Coast versus West Coast. Stanford's laid back nature and Princeton's elitism. Stanford's grade inflation and Princeton's curve. Snow and palm trees. I just don't know how to decide.</p>
<p>I'm in the same situation as well, and I find this thread to be very helpful..thanks everyone!!
...the only rub against Princeton for me is that it seems Stanford has generally the better engineering program...Especially with EE or CE, its location near Silicon Valley, entreprenure spirit, etc...Can anyone tell me ANYTHING about engineering at princeton and how it compares? Job prospects, Graduate school preparation?</p>
<p>engineering at princeton is also very good. stanford is consistently ranked number 2 while princeton fluctuats around 7-10 on the rankings if rankings mean anything to u. i think the academics of both are very similar so it comes down to whether or not u want smaller classes/more undergraduate focus (which u will find at pton) and whatnot (nyc and philly vs sf) (east coast vs west coast). it really comes down to personal preference. both will set u up nicely</p>
<p>though both pton and stanford got "duped" by applicants at my school this year. the 2 we had get in to princeton were (an athlete, and a uber-double legacy who put hispanic down on her app even though her closest relation to hispanic is probably in the 15th century.)</p>
<p>the girl who got in to stanford is one of those people who don't really know much but study for the grade.</p>
<p>This surprised me completely because I was expecting stanford to accept this other uber-legacy, really passionate smart girl who I respect highly, but she'll be going to UCLA :(</p>
<p>back to the point:</p>
<p>I would pick pton then do stanford for grad</p>
<p>Stanford and Princeton are my final two also.</p>
<p>I just got back from visiting HYP (accepted at all three) and I was shocked by how much Princeton impressed me. I was expecting my decision to come down to Yale and Stanford but really seeing Princeton's campus, atmosphere, and great undergrad opportunities really blew me away. Right now its down to Princeton and Stanford, with Yale definitely out of the choices and Harvard hanging by a thread.</p>
<p>BTW: IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN FINANCE OR INVESTMENT BANKING:
At Princeton you are able to get a certificate in finance (which is like a minor), which out of HYP (and Stanford too I think- please correct me if I'm wrong) is the closest thing you can get to an undergraduate business degree. At Harvard and Yale the closest you can get is to major in econ. </p>
<p>For all of you still trying to decide between the two (Stanford and Princeton) how many of you are going to the Stanford admit weekend this week????</p>
<p>Before I visited Stanford last weekend, I had all but sent in the reply form for Princeton (btw, when is that due? May 1st or 2nd?)....but the girl I was staying with had this friend from Princeton, NJ, who was going into IR, just like I want to, and I had a long convo with her and her friends (all east coast humanities people, incidentally) and they almost completely erased my fears about a lack of undergraduate focus and an inferior IR department. Add the overall friendliness of everyone in the dorm, and how they all raved about how they were genuinely ecstatic to be there and thought about how much they loved it every day, and the weather, and the AMAZING food, and the diversity and lack of self-segregation, and how laidback yet studious everyone seemed, and the beautiful campus...and you get one very confused The Moxiest (I definitely need to live up to my name and show some moxie here...instead I feel like an indecisive wimp.) </p>
<p>Ok, this post has no point but I feel like writing about my general confusion and frustration with choosing between two absolutely amazing schools. Oh, and my friends voted on what I should choose and unanimously picked Stanford, but the people in my physics class said that I should go to Princeton b/c of better academics and better chances for a solid career future on the east coast....</p>
<p>I'm glad I went before Admit Weekend (pronounced with the stress on Ad instead of mit...maybe you guys knew that but I felt stupid because I've been saying it wrong for months) because I really feel I got a sense for daily life, good and bad. I went to one of the planning sessions, so I know those of you going will have lots of fun, but definitely keep in mind that it will be way different from the normal super-chill atmosphere.</p>
<p>The Stanford people told stories about how Princeton people are sorta competitive and tend not to help each other on problem sets, etc. Any comments? Also, Stanford is on a quarter system where most people take 3 classes at once. How does this compare with Princeton (I'm pretty ignorant about the Princeton academic calendar and course load)?
Alright, I'm done taking up way too much space on this thread. Please reply! I hope I get a college epiphany before I madly say screw it all, I'm going to Harvard...(haha I'm just kidding....NOT going to happen.)</p>
<p>Princeton, most take about 4 classes, some take 5 (thats the most that u should take...) </p>
<p>Princeton has an entire network of students helping one another. princeton, i believe, is the friendliest ivy. princeton has a greater undergraduate focus than stanford but both universities are great.</p>
<p>but these two schools are so different in many ways...especially location. do u like the east coast, mega-metros of philly/nyc/boston. or do u prefer palo alto, few minutes outside of sf.</p>
<p>Well, my princeton interviewer tried to convince me that networking on the east coast is important, but aside from that i don't really care about San Francisco v. New York, except that i'm from the east coast so Princeton is more practical. Surprisingly, I prefer Palo Alto to Princeton, but that doesn't matter either.</p>
<p>I think the main issues for me are:
- Friendly laid-back summer camp atmosphere vs I'm not going to try to describe Princeton's atmosphere, but it's different imo.
- I like the dorm unity and feel as well as dining hall, library, buildings, campus better at Stanford
- I want to do IR, which is obviously more prestigious at Princeton, but apparently was invented as a major in Stanford!?
- I'm more of a liberal vegetarian than popped collar preppie
- I like eating clubs better than greek life as far as social scenes go, despite my vegetarian-ness.
- I don't want to hurt my chances for success in an east coast life.
- Humanities are better at Princeton, but how much better?
- Classes are smaller, teacher-undergrad relations better at Princeton, but how much?
- I'm not really into a big athletic presence, but all the athletes I met at Stanford were really cool.
- I feel that it comes down to me liking Stanford environment and Princeton academics, although I also feel like this is a gross simplification since Stanford has great academics and Princeton has a great environment, so I am scared to even say this thought out loud.</p>
<p>Darn it, I wrote a super long and uncalled for post again without even trying...sorry!</p>
<p>haha i don't know why i just apologized for my post...i think i am going crazy because of this decision...i want may 2nd (this is indeed the date for both schools?) to come soon so this will be over with...except for the fact that i have an ap calc exam on the 2nd, so it might not be such a good idea for it to...oh no im rambling again.</p>