Hi everyone! I was recently admitted to Princeton and feel incredibly lucky to have this opportunity. I love almost everything about Princeton, but one thing that worries me is the location. I’ve heard that Princeton, NJ is a small, wealthy town not really geared towards college students. I love lively college towns (Chapel Hill, Ithaca, etc.), so I’m not sure if I would enjoy Princeton. I want to have many options for coffee shops, restaurants, and movie theaters in the streets surrounding the university. However, I tend to get overwhelmed by big cities, so I like having the familiarity of the university nearby. If it helps, I applied to Yale SCEA and think of New Haven as the gold standard of college locations–urban, but in a manageable way, with lots of food/entertainment options and college students milling around. Would you say that the town of Princeton fits this description? Thank you so much!
Congratulations on your acceptance. You’re right; Princeton is an affluent town, but it is also certainly a college town. Princeton University is adjacent to Nassau Street, which has restaurants, shops, bars, etc.
My son chose Princeton over other more urban options such as Harvard and Columbia; for him, at least, the setting was very good; not too isolated but not in the middle of a crazy city.
People talk about how you can take an easy train to New York, but my son did that only rarely. He was happy in the Princeton bubble.
On the spectrum of Rural to Urban, I would put Princeton much closer to Chapel Hill and Ithaca than to New Haven.
Princeton is one of the nicest places in America. It has everything you need in a college town. Congratulations!
@lemonlime13, recently I have visited every Ivy League campus except for Dartmouth’s, and I attended Cornell. I do agree that Ithaca is a vibrant college town, and New Haven is a very manageable size with lovely places to hang out. In fact, I find Harvard and Cambridge very manageable and lively. I do think Princeton has a nice college town area, but the region and the university didn’t resonate with my daughter; she is more than likely headed to Columbia (yikes!) Where else have you been accepted?
Thanks for the thoughtful responses, everyone!
@whidbeyite2002 I got into Princeton, Cornell, and Georgetown, although the choice is mostly between Princeton and Cornell. To be honest, I didn’t connect with Princeton either when I visited last year, but I’m trying to keep an open mind for Preview, since it seems to be a great fit on paper!
Since the mid 1700’s Princeton students have made do with downtown Princeton 
@lemonlime13, I would trust your gut; I do recommend a second visit, though. A lot depends on that overall feel but also your major, how you plan to transport yourself to and from the university, financial aid, etc. I assume Princeton and Cornell would provide pretty similar packages, but Princeton is better known for generous financial aid. Just an aside: on our Princeton visit, we found the parents to be the most intense of all the Ivies. They asked more questions than the students. It was a big turnoff for us.
I’ve lived in the central NJ area for many many years. While Princeton is undoubtedly a college town, it does not have the same vibe as Ithaca or New Haven. The University students tend to keep to themselves. I rarely see students hanging out in the coffee shops or restaurants downtown. There are no typical ‘college bars’ in Princeton, instead the social scene is mainly on Prospect. Game day is also a quiet experience – no traffic, no loud tail gaters. I don’t even pay attention to when the basketball or football games are, because it doesn’t matter, as the vehicular traffic is the same.
The only places that I see a consistent number of students are at: 1) Hoagie Haven 2) Mamoun’s Falafel and 3) Thomas Sweet’s. On the weekends there is a long line of people waiting to eat brunch at PJ’s Pancake House, most of whom are locals. There are a few high end restaurants, but nothing out of the ordinary.
There are plenty of options for food, coffee, etc in the area surrounding Nassau Street. But its no where near the options available in New Haven. But its more than enough. If you ever get bored, hop on the Dinky and take the train into NYC or Philly. There is also a small shuttle bus that I see going between the campus and nearby shopping malls.
I did undergrad at Princeton and law school at Cornell. Ithaca is more of a college town than Princeton. More restaurants, activities, shops, wineries, theaters, farmers markets, etc. Plus you are only a short drive from Cayuga Lake and wonderful state parks for hiking, sailing, swimming, mountain biking.
We rarely went into Princeton except for late hight hoagies, to the bank, or for an occasional nice meal with parents when they were in town. On the other hand, it is only a hour train ride from Princeton into NYC or Philly when you want a taste of big city life. Its a 4-5 hour drive or bus ride from Ithaca to NYC.
What about the dining/entertainment opportunities in walking distance from the university? Are there lots of options, or is it kind of sparse? At other schools we visited, I remember running into a coffee shop almost every block–didn’t see any at Princeton, although maybe we were in the wrong part of campus?
There are coffee shops, and Small World Coffee is always bustling. There is one movie theater on Nassau street. There are a lot of smaller restaurants offering take out or eat in both on Nassau Street and on the side streets (Palmer Square.) There’s always something at McCarter.
My sense is that there are much of what you are looking for but more than in some other towns, you will be sharing it with the local community, who are neither students nor associated with the school. Unlike some college towns, Princeton doesn’t feel like it empties out when the students go home. Many other college towns feel dominated by students. Not Princeton.
Ithaca is definitely more of a college town. When you go to the common you would most likely run into a lot of Cornell students, as well as Ithaca College students. If you are at the collegetown then it is full of Cornell students with coffee shops, bars, and many restaurants.
Both of my kids went to Cornell and they studied hard, but also had a lot of fun. Students from their high school who went to Princeton tend to be more intense.
This, this, this. As @whidbeyite2002 said: trust your gut. For real. I know it’s hard when you have shiny Princeton!! in front of you. The bragging rights are top of the line. People will tell you that the opportunities are “unparalleled” and all sorts of other things.
But in real actual life, you can only take advantage of so many opportunities. To use the buffet metaphor, the range of choices is only meaningful if you are hungry for those choices.
All three of your options are great, so go where you connect. It will make more of a difference than any other single variable (always excepting debt). Based on just your college options, you are obviously smart, hardworking and strong. You won’t be limiting yourself career-wise in anyway, no matter which one you choose- but you might flourish as a person more in one place than another,
Anecdote, fwiw: one of my collegekids didn’t ‘connect’ with Cornell when she visited for undergraduate. Even though it was the highest “ranked” of her UG choices, she walked away. Four years later she is at Cornell for grad school - and she stands over her decision: she says that it was not the right place for her - for who she was, where she was in her growing into herself- then, but it is now. Choose what’s right for you now.
As far as “dining opportunities”, my son’s preferences were: the dining hall his freshman and sophomore years, his “eating club” his junior and senior years, the Frist Campus Center for pretty much whatever you want, and the WaWa convenience store on the west side of campus for a late night snack.
But in the end, when you’re choosing between clearly strong options, it’s best to go with your gut. My son had the good fortune of being a recruited athlete, receiving personalized tours of HYPS and others. He knew he’d be happy at any of them, but after touring Princeton the others immediately faded from consideration.
You have three good options. You can’t choose wrong. Good luck!
Apart from the Wawa, almost everything else is north of Nassau street. All within a few blocks.
Here are some of the places that are popular: Small World Coffee, Thomas Sweet, Hoagie Haven, Mamouns, Mediterra, Teresa’s, PJs, Qdoba.
As you can see plenty of options. With a Car, there are dozens more restaurants on Rt 1.
@lemonlime13, please let us know which college you choose!
I wouldn’t call Princeton a college town. To me, a college town is dominated by a college (or colleges). Princeton is not. There are many businesses of significant size in and around Princeton (and quite a few of them actually share the namesake).