Princeton is my dream school but I am confused with the eating club system. How hard is it to get into one of the bicker clubs? Do a lot of people get rejected? Also, if you get rejected from one of the bicker clubs can you try to get into a different one? Is there a lot of hazing at the clubs?
No clue about the actual process, but the bicker rates are in the ballpark of 50%. There are multiple opportunities to enter so if you get rejected from bicker it’s not going to bar you from joining.
After getting into Princeton, 50% looks like pretty good odds.
depends on which one. some of them are sign-in. some of them aren’t.
Approximately one-third of the juniors and seniors decide not to join an eating club. They decide to continue to eat their meals in the residential college or prepare their own meals. One-third of the students decide to join a non bicker club. To join a non bicker club you simply “sign in” and join the club. One-third of the students join a bicker club. Many of the bicker clubs have many members from a specific campus activity such as a sports team.
Since there are multiple choices most students are happy with their decision to join or not join a specific club. There is not a hierarchy in the status of the clubs similar to the hierarchy found at some Greek campuses. Hazing is against university policy. I did not experience any hazing nor did I see any hazing. I have read scattered reports of hazing on a sports team or frat/sorority. Frats/sororities are not recognized by the university, do not have houses, and play a minor role in the social life of most students.
Actually 50% is about as selective as clubs get I think. Selectivity is going up a bit but that’s because you can now double-bicker all but one bicker club so students like to maximize their options. People do get rejected. However, many choose to join sign in clubs or bicker again in fall/spring of junior year. Clubs don’t haze as there’s no pledging process (a few male sports teams/frats do but you can easily avoid them). As to what the last commenter said, there is something of a hierarchy. However, it’s much less important than at schools with similar size greek scene.
I echo everything that’s been said so far, and would add that while many on CC will try to convince you otherwise, the eating club system is not actually that exclusive or elitist. While there is a “hierarchy,” most people don’t actually care; in fact, I’ve noticed that the only ones who insist that there is a hierarchy are some of the ones in selective bicker clubs. The rest of us just chuckle and enjoy ourselves with people who don’t need to exclude people to feel valued.