<p>Came across this post on Princeton's newspaper, and I thought it was a pretty objective view that describes the two schools well:</p>
<p>The</a> Prox: Orange and Apples: University of Chicago</p>
<p>I have to admit, for a Chicago grad, I thought the writer could have provided a bit more depth, but the post is probably worth reading for students interested in either school.</p>
<p>Then there’s hope for future engineers if the go to UofC.</p>
<p>When I visited Princeton’s campus after my third year at Chicago, I was struck by a few things:</p>
<ol>
<li> Nassau Street is RIGHT there and it’s really quaint.</li>
<li> There are more opportunities to walk around without seeing a car.</li>
<li> New Jersey parking is more horrific than Chicago city parking.</li>
</ol>
<p>Other than that-- I really couldn’t tell I was at a different school. Granted, I didn’t sit in on a class or go to a dorm, but all the same, if Chicago kids and Princeton kids traded places overnight, it would be very hard, if not impossible to tell just from wandering around campus.</p>
<p>Interesting post.</p>
<p>My son,who has been extremely pickly about which colleges he would even consider attending, loves both UChicago and Princeton. Most people he has mentioned this to seem surprised by the juxtaposition of the two school in his mind. However, there must be some similar vibe between the two schools for him to feel this way and honestly, I could see him at either.</p>
<p>S1 did the personalized Princeton dorm/food/class visit with a friend who was then a math major there. Try as he might, he could not wrap his head around the place and it never made the short list.</p>
<p>We had a car window smashed on Nassau Street on a Sunday afternoon. Four police cars and a bicycle cop showed up.</p>
<p>Um they both have horrible grade deflation? And weak sciences (specifically good labs)?</p>
<p>Those were two turn offs for me.</p>
<p>^That’s it! It must be the grade deflation. As it happens, the only other school he applied to was MIT, another school known for bruising its student’s egos with lower grades than other top schools.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Except . . . if you opened your eyes? Of course the students look basically the same. (Well, not really. Dress standards at Princeton seem much higher, much preppier to me. Some of that may be the locals.) But Princeton is landscape-architectured to within an inch of its life. Everywhere you turn, there are some spiffy plantings, some groomed flower bed, a strategically planted copse. And then, there are streets. The Chicago campus has streets criss-crossing it. Princeton – there’s one street running through the campus (with restricted access), and a bunch of paths for golf carts.</p>
<p>Unalove - also, maybe if you went out to “the street” (where all the eating clubs are) on a thursday or friday or saturday night, you’d see a difference. When I visited friends at princeton, we went out to some eating club parties, and to me, it was surreal. There were literally thousands of kids partying all over the place in these gigantic, meticulously maintained mansions. Moreover, Princeton has a LOT more beautiful people than Chicago. The students overall seemed much more athletic, better groomed, and much more committed to their personal appearance, and it made a difference. Afterwards, it felt like the entire campus went to this one convenience store (called a wawa) for a late night sandwich. </p>
<p>I dunno, maybe to the very untrained eye, Chicago and Princeton seem similar, but when viewed with any sort of scrutiny, it seems as if stark differences begin to appear. Academically, sure, both schools are first-rate, but after that…</p>
<p>Haha, perhaps I am blind to these differences. I would notice if somebody hasn’t showered in a week and I would probably notice somebody Heidi Klum beautiful. In between those extremes, though, everybody looks kind of the same to me.</p>
<p>The people I know who either attend or have attended Princeton, though, fit in well with my Chicago friends. Perhaps that’s a self-fulfilling prophecy on my part, but I’ve never thought of Princeton as unkind to introverted and hard-working academic types (i.e. most of my friends) and they’ve never complained about Princeton’s culture.</p>
<p>Princeton is known for the attention paid to its undergrads and therefore I suspect it draws more than its fair share of serious students. In this way it is similar to Chicago.</p>
<p>Perhaps the culture is a bit different, but that doesn’t mean the student body types are mutually exclusive.</p>
<p>Ehh, this is making me wish I had applied to Princeton.</p>
<p>I applied to Pton… my midyear grades are really bad, though, so I probably won’t get in. And, I like Chicago better for undergrad (the city is amazing… NJ would be a little boring for me)</p>
<p>I think I might have to go there for grad school… engineering at an ivy!</p>
<p>NJ is epically boring.</p>
<p>From the article:
</p>
<p>Except that about one half of Chicago students were varsity athletes in high school.</p>
<p>idad… except that there is a difference between being a “scholar-athlete” at the D1 college level, and being a much more average varsity athlete in HS. Princeton is a pretty elite school athletically, and the gap between being a good D1 athlete and a DIII athlete is pretty substantial. It’s not particularly hard to be a varsity athlete in high school, it’s generally QUITE difficult to play on a D1 team in college.</p>
<p>Though Princeton is known for its sports programs I doubt the reference to students looking athletic is solely in reference to D1 athletes, but to the student body as a whole. My only point was that many UofC students value and participate in sports as well and if at Princeton, would fit right in (with perhaps a small change in wardrobe). Though fewer, there are accomplished athletes at Chicago, I happen to know one international martial arts champion quite well. :)</p>
<p>idad - sure, but, to use the title of this thread, it’s like comparing apples to oranges. A higher percentage of the princeton student body are elite athletes, and then probably more of the rest of the students are accomplished athletes. Chicago’s probably getting more athletic of late, but there’s a gulf here.</p>
<p>Does one need to be an elite athlete to look athletic?</p>
<p>idad - well, go to Princeton and see what you think. I definitely agree with what the author of the article was saying - U of C has more of a “quiz bowl” culture, and Princeton has much more of an athlete culture. To me, this was apparent quite readily.</p>