<p>As you can see, Princeton students tend to be VERY TOUCHY around the topic of eating clubs, as it really is a distinguishing feature of Princeton life that is not shared by its major competitors. It is one of the major reasons that 3/4 of the folks offered admission to Harvard and Princeton will, in the end, choose Harvard year in and year out decade after decade.</p>
<p>The “student guide” section on the [Princeton</a> University - Welcome](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu%5DPrinceton”>http://www.princeton.edu) site may be out of date but it indicates that 3/4 of “upperclassman” are members of eating club. It goes on to describe the history of the elitist eating club system:</p>
<p>“The eating club system started in 1879, when a bunch of guys rented Ivy Hall on Mercer Street. Several years later, Ivy Club was born. Its descendants have served as culinary and social hubs of University life ever since – much to the chagrin of University presidents like Woodrow Wilson, who thought they made for unnecessary divisions within undergraduate social life.” From what I have heard, even the current Prez of the university, Tilghman, is not really that keen on them.</p>
<p>Again, does your son want to put himself through this byzantine system of “social division”, especially as a somewhat introverted kid? After having just survived the brutal competition to scale the ivy wall, does he need to face another one ???</p>
<p>At Harvard and Yale, there is just one open, non-competitive system offering dining privileges at all the Houses and Colleges and prof schools; so much more appropriate in this day and age.</p>
<p>I have seen many a Princeton student join an Eating Club as a quiet, shy, introverted kid and become a well rounded social intellectual by the time they graduate Princeton. The atmosphere, support, relations and friendships that Eating Clubs provide the students are perfect for the social maturation of the shy kid that enters Princeton.</p>
<p>The Eating Club system is one of the strong points of attending Princeton, and any attempts to discredit this wonderful institution are just plain silly. The close friendships developed at the Eating Clubs last for decades upon decades after graduation.</p>
<p>You are a student at Harvard, which probably explains the superiority complex you must be experiencing if you really cannot answer this identical thread on what I can only imagine you consider “your home turf.”</p>
<p>You therefore have absolutely no basis for determining the role of eating clubs. I have friends who have never stepped on the Street but have something to do every weekend. I join them frequently. There are members of eating clubs who choose not to party there because they don’t like it. Eating club members come in all stripes. </p>
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<p>Again, what you’re describing is an illusion. It doesn’t exist. So stop pulling s*** out of your a**. Pardon my vulgarity – it is not Princeton-related. It is stupidity-related. I’m sure you understand.</p>
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<p>Princeton has this also.</p>
<p>All you’re stating is that HY have fewer options than P, which, given today’s focus on individualized choices, seems very appropriate to me.</p>
<p>Your son loves math/physics, but will he stay in the fields? He loves music also and that may play a larger role later on. H just might provide more opportunities than P, including opportunities in the future.</p>
<p>I believe about 75% of upperclassmen are in eating clubs.My d is among the 25% who happily remained in the residential college.She has always had a single and her last two years are in a brand new dorm.It is an upperclass dorm within a residential college where all the rooms are singles. Oh and she enjoys the food very much…A musician, she can practice whenever she wants in her room.She has plenty of friends who are independent and in eating clubs.</p>
<p>Your son will have a demanding major and if he joins the orchestra, pursues a cerificate in music performance etc he will be very busy.The eating clubs will not make or break his experience and I don’t get all the discussion about it.His time is his to fill. If he wants to check out an eating club when he gets there he can easily get a pass to do so. My d goes to the eating clubs sometimes with friends who belong.</p>