<p>op - The ivies are like any other college. You can find people just like you. And there is no way that admissions looks for wealth and lineage when reviewing an applicant… that would be absurd. I wish her the best of luck!</p>
<p>Clipper-
It doesn’t seem to me that you have received a fair answer to your question, so I thought I would reply. My son is a rising senior at Princeton.
Your granddaughter sounds like a young woman of exceptional talent and character. Academic accomplishment… athletic competition… leadership positions… a family background of service and faith. I expect that she will command respect, earn great friendships, and thrive anywhere.
With respect to Princeton:<br>
First, there are about 6,000 undergrads at Princeton, chosen from tens of thousands of highly-qualified applicants from around the world. The students are selected with an eye to building diversity within the university – some are athletes, some are artists, some are scientists, some are historians. More than half receive (generous) need-based financial aid – some (but far from most) are from families of wealth. The students are not “all rich” or “all legacies” or really “all”-anything. Some are uncommonly kind, generous and socially-concerned; some are self-absorbed and “snobby” (like anywhere). Most certainly, there are many who are very much like your granddaughter (as there have been for our son), and when she finds them she will feel comfortable.
Second, day-to-day life for undergrad students at Princeton is very egalitarian. Students are randomly assigned to dorm rooms that are generally quite similar – there is no “rich” versus “poor” housing. All freshman and sophomores take their meals in the same dining halls and eat the same food. Most students wear similar (and quite casual) clothing. They all take the same classes, and courses are equally open to all students. I think you would be hard-pressed to point out the “rich kids” on campus. Yes, the overall environment is a long way from the ghetto and one might assume that “everyone must be rich”, but that is not the case, and on a day-to-day basis, it is not a visible part of the culture.
Third, Princeton is a meritocracy. Yes, some students might be impressed that your parents or grand-parents did something exceptional and made a lot of money. But for the most part, students are impressed by their peer’s own personal achievements – by the kid with his or her own exceptional academic record or athletic/other accomplishments. There are even more impressed when they see individual accomplishments that have been earned through high dedication and discipline. And they are especially impressed by other students who are consistently friendly, open and kind toward others.
Finally, Princeton is a serious place. We have seen our son develop into a serious and focused student-of-his-field – far more so than the high-school senior we sent off a few years ago. He is very fully engaged in studying/learning/mastering his field. He is not anti-social (far from it), but I think he is quite thoroughly indifferent to any “snobbery” on the part of the few who might think of themselves as the “social elite”. He’s engaged with work he finds far more important than social climbing. I think he would find any “snobbery” expressed toward him to be a source of amusement rather than a cause for concern.
So – I would put your mind at ease. As I said, I expect your granddaughter is an exceptional young woman, and you should feel confident that her talent and character will be respected and embraced by the Princeton student community [except for the few knuckleheads, whom she will happily and comfortably learn to ignore].</p>
<p>OP: Not sure what you mean when you say she is interviewing at Princeton, but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt as well and second ALmed’s answers. My oldest son just graduated from Princeton and I never felt that there was any snobbery there at all and neither did he. Yes, there are some very, very wealthy students there. But it was never flaunted at all. We are comfortable, but by no means wealthy and that is only through hard work and sacrifice. We know nothing of designer labels or vacation spots. He never felt out of place or belittled. Quite frankly, we are from a southern state and felt much more out of place at Duke than at any of the Ivies that we toured, for what it is worth. No disrespect to Duke, it was just the vibe that we got whenever we spent time there. I would not hesitate to recommend Princeton to any young adult from any backround from any social, racial or or political class or country. We found it extremely open, tolerating, curious, and eager to accept students from all walks of life and learn from them. The students we met were all very welcoming and didn’t seem to care if you had 5 cents or 5 million. And frankly, we were totally unable to tell the kids from these two spectrums apart, so at least in our experience, the snobbiness factor was nonexistent.</p>
<p>Let me just add that my daughter was in the class of 09 with the daughter of a family with a lot of financial resources. So many that they owned a large private plane. The daughter offered to take friends home at Christmas, on the plane, but had to rescind the offer. Why? “My mom and dad won’t let me.” Sound like universal child-rearing? Sometimes $$$ does not equal snobbiness. Mostly the kids I have met or heard about at Princeton are friendly, friendly, friendly.</p>
<p>It is completely impossible to know without knowing the young lady how she would she fare socially. I can tell you that family bucks, etc., don’t count for much.
On the other hand, Princeton is a very social place. More than most academically elite places. It is possible that she is entirely unable to gauge this herself.
A big unknown. I can tell you that “snobby”, as most of us understand it, is really not what is going on there, as far as I can understand it. If you are just really smart in the context of Princeton, are just a naturally attractive female open to others and without pretensions, or a creative or athletic guy, or any number of other interesting folks, you will fare well.
But absolutely who you are in relation to others matters more here than in a bunch of other places. Just a social place, for sure.</p>