<p>Hi.I'm a rising senior,eager to embark on the college admissions process, but I can't finalize my list. Up until this year I was set on Yale and Columbia; but after a college trip of some ivies during spring break,I had a change of heart. Now, I'm madly in love with Princeton.(Brown/Rhode Island was freezing for a girl from Georgia.Seriously, I don't own clothes for that weather lol) And each college tour guide made their school sound amazing....kinda...or at least help my decision. But there is nothing like hearing firsthand information about the school from students who go there everyday and can provide deep information outside a cheerful college/campus tour. In short, I want the truth about all these schools. </p>
<p>What is the worst thing about some of these campuses? What is the best? And can I ask you some more questions as they come up? Thank u!</p>
<p>I suggest you stay overnight during the fall if you can. you’ll get a good sense of what yale is like. as for the weather, you’ll get used to it, rather quickly. all the southern and california kids are fine by…mid-november. anyway, the best thing about is yale is definitely the people. we seriously have the most down-to-earth, approachable, interesting, and amazingly smart and talented people ever. i’ve met people from all the other ivies and we honestly have the best people. we’re all really happy to be where we are. i just really love the people. i also like residential college system, which i think creates a community within in community, making yale feel like some of the smaller liberal arts colleges i was looking at. you get to yale and you immediately have 80-120 people to talk to, hang out with, eat with, ect. and then you eventually branch out, meeting people through your collegemates, suitemates (also a plus, suite style living) and organizations (lots of groups to join and lead). </p>
<p>worst things about yale…honestly i can’t really think of anything. i mean really, i went through a year of bliss lol. new haven can be a little sketchy sometimes, but it’s not that bad. there’s lots to do and many opportunities to get involved. </p>
<p>so yeah, that’s my ramble if you have any questions, i can answer them.</p>
<p>well, we don’t have eating clubs, finals clubs or any kind of undergraduate social club. we have secrete societies most top schools do but they’re for seniors no one really ever really pays attention to them except during tap season. they’re kind of joke lol…sort of. </p>
<p>anyway your social can be anything you want it to be. greek life isn’t dominant at all but if you want to take part in it, it’s there and it’s fun. there are maybe like 7 or 8 frats, most of the major ones and 3 sororities. there are lots of different parties and events going on each weekend so there’s always some place where you can go out to have fun, if that’s what you’re looking for. s it’s really anything you want it to be. i’m sort of mix of a lot things, i usually stay in on thursdays because i have class on fridays but sometimes i would stay up and watch a movie with my friends. friday nights i hung out at my favorite frats or i would go to an after party of one of my friend’s performance groups (there are lots and lots of shows every weekened), saturdays i usually stayed in with friends or i would go toads, the local bar/dancing place. i always ended up at one of the many pizza places, ran into another group of friends there, headed back to someone’s and just hang out there, playing drinking games or watching a random movie until 3 or 4 am. that was the natural progression of most of friday and saturday nights lol. if you’re in some kind of group, a cappella, marching band, improv, your social life will probably revolve around them, but it doesn’t have to. they just like each other lol. so yeah there’s a lot to do, and anyone looking for any kind of social life can fit and have fun. typing that really made me miss yale…</p>
<p>Actually, Providence is usually warmer than Boston, and Princeton is definitely warmest of all (except Philadelphia area schools). If the OP will run CC searches such as Yale vs. Princeton or Columbia vs. Princeton, she can read probably more than she wants of point by point comparisons.</p>
<p>I would say the worst thing about Yale is that the area around it can be unsafe at times, but if you are sensible about it, it shouldn’t be a problem.</p>
<p>BTW, I’m pretty sure the weather in Princeton, NJ wouldn’t be that different from weather in Providence or New Haven.</p>
<p>I live in Princeton, went undergrad in Boston, grad to Brown, and lived and worked in NYC. Princeton weather is definitely a lot warmer on average than any of the other schools mentioned. Boston is very cold, CT also. Brown seemed to be warmer on average than Boston or even CT, not sure why, but possibly its farther out to sea so less snowy. Philadelphia is just an hour south of here, and the temp is always warmer. I believe, or perhaps it’s just an impression, that there may be a higher percentage of students from the south at Princeton.</p>
<p>If you’re seriously in love with Princeton, you should stay overnignt and meet the students. My son stayed there during Princeton Preview and realized that it wasn’t for him. Though it is the prettiest campus, it was too cliquey and elitist for him. Basically he was told by undergrads there that only the recruited athletes get into the best eating clubs. He watched the pre-frosh form their own groups, mirroring that of the undergrads.</p>
<p>My son loved Princeton Preview days and he is not at all an eating club kindof guy. Living here and knowing the campus, I feel this criticism of the eating clubs gets carried way too far. There is a large contingency of students on campus who do not belong to the clubs; there are also open dinners every week at the clubs for non members who can drop by and eat with their friends who are members. I’m sorry if desiw’s son felt Princeton was cliquey and elitist and if he perceived the pre-frosh forming into groups. This was not at all my son’s experience of the campus and just emphasizes the tired old wisdom not to take anyone’s word for it, but visit for yourself.</p>
<p>I know its been a while, but if all those Yalies could come back for one more question, it’d be much appreciated. So as I begin filling/outlining information for my college applications, I came up with one more question that really scratches at the core of what I’m looking for. What is the personality of Yale? What activities and/or clubs are most Yalies interested? What would make an admissions officer reading an application stop and say “she sounds just like a future member of '14” (This will also help me decide if Yale is really where my heart is and prepare me for a rejection…if I don’t get in.) Thanks again for all your help! Its much appreciated.</p>
<p>i wouldn’t try to be what you think they’re looking for. yalies have very varied personalities and interests. one underlying theme however is that we’re very collaborative and uncompetitive. also most are pretty social (to varying degrees), fun loving, a bit quirky, and passionate about something. many people have one or two things about them that makes them interesting or unusual. but seriously, think about yourself. what are your best qualities, what makes you you? take those qualities and play them up to the fullest. don’t try to conform to the stereotypical yale student because they’re really isn’t one.</p>
<p>Just got to put my two-cents in about the weather, I’m from Boston and I have to say, once you pass Maryland the weather is very similar, obviously the farther north you go the colder it gets, but the differences in weather between the colleges you’ve mentioned is very slight, especially in the winter where a matter of degrees doesn’t help much once you’re already in the 20s or 30s, I’ve found the biggest differences occur in the Spring (i.e. flowers bloom a good month or so earlier in New Jersey than they do in Boston).
Good luck!</p>
<p>You should definitely apply to both Yale and Princeton and then decide during preview days. For me, I was strongly leaning toward Princeton until I went to both Pton Preview Days and Yale Bulldog Days–the former had 2 pages of events; the latter, 28. As I had undergraduate friends at Princeton, I also got to know that a lot of their Preview Days events were the biggest events of the whole year for many clubs, whereas that is not at all the case at Yale. The Yale campus seems far more vibrant and full of activities than the Princeton one.</p>
<p>Of course, tons of people have crazy fun at Princeton, and both schools are large enough to contain a vastly diverse population of students. Yale, however, is located in sketchy New Haven whereas Princeton is located in sunny happy upper-middle-class Princeton; so a main choice you have to make is whether you want to be safe, comfortable and undisturbed during your undergraduate years or really take a risk and meet the challenge but also opportunities that New Haven presents. I chose the latter and through urban New Haven I have learned so much more about the real world than I think I would have had I picked Princeton.</p>
<p>I’d say probably 1 1/2 months, definitely not more than 3. College starts in late August and usually it stays relatively warm into the first week or so of September, and then school gets out in mid-May, but it doesn’t usually start getting warm in New England until the very very end of April if at all, more frequently it’s May. The hottest months in New England are usually July and August and you’re not in school for those months. </p>
<p>I have experience with New Haven and have never found it to be sketchy or uncomfortable…I guess if you’re not used to cities then yeah, maybe, but it’s really nothing to worry about and for me it wouldn’t even go onto my pro/con list if I were decided between Yale and another school (of course I would never be decided between Yale and another school because if I got into Yale I would go in a heartbeat )</p>
<p>Thank you all for your advice!
As for the weather, I’ll just have to buy a jacket and change my wardrobe. The fact of the matter is that all those places are significantly colder than Southern Coastal Georgia.
I hope I’m admitted into these schools so I can then make my decision as an admitted student. But thank you all again.</p>
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