<p>hmm bump to revive my thread :-</p>
<p>
<p>Forgot to mention that, thanks! It's a bit expensive at around $40 or $50 round trip, but I'm sure that's worth it for many people.</p>
<p> [QUOTE=smarteeangel101]
oh, and...eating club?
</p>
<p>Five of the eating clubs are "bicker" and the other 5 aren't. The bicker clubs are selective in that they may hold interviews or have some other form of deciding who can join: this process begins spring of sophomore year so you can join your junior and senior years. Students interested in the other five clubs simply sign up and rank them in order of preference. Most juniors and seniors, but not all, sign up to eat their meals here (I think up to 75%), and many more people party here. Unfortunately I'm not really interested in parties and eating clubs, so I don't have much more descriptive information than that. You can probably find out about them by searching the Princeton forum, or even this Wikipedia article: Eating</a> clubs</p>
<p>hmm,interesting. lol. :D</p>
<p>i'm annoying MYSELF with all these bumps <em>sigh</em></p>
<p>honestly, it's more like 1.5 hours to nyc if you're leaving from campus - dinky takes a few minutes, then there's waiting for the train to nyc. i make this trip quite often, and 1 hour is definitely an underestimate.</p>
<p>i will add that princeton as a town is worthless - there's really nothing to do, unless you like throwing money at expensive restaurants. as much as i love jcrew, there's really nothing to do off campus. and it seems like nyc/phil are close, but it's really a big hastle to have to plan a trip and then spend ~3 hours on transport, plus subways just for a night in the city. it's good to be able to visit columbia/nyu friends for a weekend though.</p>
<p>Georgetown University</p>
<p>Also "Hogwarts"-like. It may seem intimidating at first because of a different admissions process and other factors, but once you are here, you truly are in the Hoya family for life. </p>
<p>Georgetown is very tradition-steeped. At freshman convocation, we got robes (actually our graduation robes) and put them on in a ceremony welcoming us to the academic community. Even though it is a Jesuit (Catholic) college, Georgetown is VERY focused on promoting diversity of all kinds, including religious and sexual orientation. During a diversity assembly, which might sound incredibly lame, members of the orientation planners read snippets of admissions essays from our entering class. It was amazing to hear. They highlighted situations as diverse as living in the Congo and having armed militants outside your door daily, to being scared to go to kindergarten for the first time. I went to a mass service held on the lawn even though I am not Catholic, and the priest offered a blessing if you were not of the faith as well. The Jesuits are very open and accepting Catholics.</p>
<p>School spirit runs high, and going to Georgetown is like lifetime membership to an exclusive club. I went to a local alumni event for entering students, and the alums broke into the fight song at random. (It's a great fight song, too). And there is student support for more than just men's basketball!</p>
<p>Academics: great! I personally am in the School of Foreign Service and can tell you that this is undoubtedly the place to come for international affairs. Instead of "undeclared," freshman in SFS are reported as IR majors. Then in your sophomore year, you choose one of 7 I believe further-narrowed majors: Culture and Politics, International Economics, Int'l. political economy, Int'l. politics, Regional studies, science technology and int'l. affairs, or int'l. history. There is no GenEd requirement for the whole University other than 2 theology classes, but rather there are requirements for each individual school. There is also the McDonough School of Business, which is also very renowned and is in the process of getting a brand new building (it's huge and looks beautiful!). The School of Nursing and Health Studies is more than just nursing: there is a major in international health and also one in human science. The Georgetown College is for every major that doesn't fit into any of the other schools! Everything from government, polisci, to biology, math, you name it. A major in political economy there too, which I find interesting.</p>
<p>The food is good in the cafeteria, called Leo's by students. There is a salad bar and cold cut/sandwich bar all the time, but also a stir fry station, make your own pizza, taco bar, vegetarian station (which I will admit looks a little sad, but there are plenty of non-meat options in the other areas). Then some other general just home-cooked things like mac and cheese, and pretty much whatever you want. The meal plan is based on all-you-can-eat once you are inside.</p>
<p>Student body is also pretty A-type. One kid in our floor meeting introduced himself as "going to be a US Senator," if that's any indication. You may hear stereotypes of snobby rich white kids at Georgetown, but that is definitely not true. I have seen many genuine Polo shirts in the time I've been here, but there are also a lot of international students, and kids like me who went to public schools and are on large amounts of aid. And the kids I have encountered who are rich are not snobby. No one seems to look down on you for not having money; you probably wouldn't even know they were loaded if not for their clothes.</p>
<p>Georgetown also meets 100% of need, which can suck for you if you make too much money, but for me worked out wonderfully. I only paid $1500 tuition/room and board/fees for my first semester.</p>
<p>Okay, I'll bite.</p>
<p>MIT</p>
<p>Campus and Neighborhood: Campus has very industrial look. It feels like a living thing...whirring and buzzing, people around it at all hours, great things <em>happening</em>. It doesn't have a lot of frills - lots of uncovered pipes, ducts, etc. Lots of hidden beauty. Most of the buildings are connected together, so it feels like part of a larger whole (and is convenient in the winter). It's pretty open and public (with the exception of a few buildings) and students have a lot of freedom to just go around it...I felt like campus itself was my home, and not just my dorm. The neighborhood is full of tech companies, and fairly unremarkable, but is near some cool stuff. Cambridge is in general fairly safe compared to many similar-sized cities.</p>
<p>Academics: Very strong, lean heavily toward science and engineering. There are some phenomenal humanities departments, they are just small. Huge focus on research at all levels - over 80% of undergrads participate in MIT research, and around 20% are published as undergrads. Learning isn't restricted to the classroom...this is the sort of student body that will build a robot or a roller coaster or write applications for the university computing environment for fun. Teaching abilities and attitudes vary widely between and within departments. There's a big focus on balance between theoretical and hands-on learning, and everyone has to do labwork. There's a fairly extensive core math & science curriculum that everyone (including, say, lit majors) has to complete, and a more flexible list of humanities requirements to complement it. Everyone, regardless of major, gets a bachelor of science degree - there is no bachelor of arts awarded. People are doing all kinds of crazy things - you can find fellow students who work at the nuclear reactor (yeah, we have our own nuclear reactor), or in extremely biohazardous labs, or whatever.</p>
<p>Social life: Lots of student activities, both eccentric ones and common ones. Social life is based around living groups (whether dorm, frat, or something else) and student activities. You get to pick your own dorm, after a fairly extensive exploration process. Living group communities (including in the dorms) are tightly knit and often have cultures going back decades. Many of them have significant alum involvement. The communities vary quite widely, and pretty much anyone can find something that fits them well. There are a lot of close friendships, and people cling together and help each other out when the going gets tough.</p>
<p>There are a lot of sports - varsity, club, and intramural. MIT has one of the highest sports participation rates in the country. People don't rally to support the sports, though (i.e. people don't really go to the football games or care about how the team is doing) - people <em>play</em> the sports, because they <em>like</em> them.</p>
<p>The food is variable. Some dorms have dining halls, others have kitchens (and some have both). Some living groups form cooking groups. I know from having lived on a kitchen hall that kitchens were a major center of socialization.</p>
<p>Student body: Geek pride. A lot of students were ostracized and undersocialized in grade school, so it's a safe environment for people to learn how to socialize, and it's understood that freshmen are still adjusting. People take pride in their eccentricity and in their living group cultures, and they genuinely enjoy learning. People are really, really smart, and campus can be kind of an intellectual bubble where you forget that other people don't know how to do multivariable calculus or understand what the equations on your shirt mean. People understand that they get a lot of freedom at MIT, and they treasure it. There's a real laissez-faire vibe - not in the economics sense, but in the student life sense.</p>
<p>2 more=niccccce ;)</p>
<p>bumpityyy bumppp</p>
<p>bump bump any more advcie?</p>
<p>wow... s/he just wouldn't let this thread die or whatever...</p>
<p>LOL. Let it go.</p>
<p>Stanford</p>
<p>Campus and Neighborhood: Campus here is absolutely beautiful but I've heard of some people who don't like it. Its very sprawling and large (pretty much everyone bikes to campus) and very green. Its inspired by Spanish architecture and so most of the buildings have red tiled roofs. If you have the chance I suggest coming and visiting campus and seeing for yourself. Its truly beautiful when you see it in person.</p>
<p>Academics: It's Stanford the academics are great. The nice thing about Stanford is that because pretty much all of our departments are top notch and there are people majoring in them you meet people who excel in all different kinds of academic fields. This really does make a difference and some of my best friends major in fields very different from my own. Unlike other universities where some majors are considered stronger and better here everyone acknowledges that everyone here is just as smart and talented. </p>
<p>Social life: Pretty good. I mean it has all the usual things you'd expect a university of its size and of course it has things to do if partying isn't your thing. There's something for everyone really.</p>
<p>The food is pretty decent. Most students are on the dining plan and while the food isn't phenomenal its pretty decent. Some dining halls have better food than others but seeing as you can eat in any of them that's not a problem.</p>
<p>Student body: Chill. If there's one word to describe the student body it would probably be that. Everyone is really busy but no one really looks panicked and in a mess (dead week may be an exception lol). Students really do study here a lot more than they show but its not like people hide it or anything they just don't feel the need to keep on harping on it. Students are usually pretty happy and content and I don't know anyone that's ever talked about transferring out of here because they don't like it.</p>
<p>interesting thread.</p>
<p>I'll bump. :D</p>
<p>""I will add that princeton as a town is worthless - there's really nothing to do." -ivyleslacker</p>
<p>You don't even go to Princeton. Please speak for your own school which is Columbia. There are plenty of things to do at Princeton. There are shopping malls, movie theaters, and many great restaurants including the best Sushi in New Jersey. There aren't many nightclubs, but parties are never in absence.</p>
<p>In case you want the auto.admit perspective:</p>
<p>"Date: September 1st, 2007 8:45 PM
Author: theperfectwave</p>
<p>Harvard - obviously</p>
<p>Yale - for pre-professionals, political types, preps (among others)</p>
<p>Princeton - for conservatives, future academics (among others)</p>
<p>MIT - for quants, engineers, science types, or those with geeky sensibilities</p>
<p>Stanford - same as MIT, also including laid back west coasty types and future entrepreneurs</p>
<p>Caltech - same as MIT, excluding geeky polisci/philosophy types</p>
<p>Wharton - for finance obsessives</p>
<p>Brown - for creative, laid-back liberal artsy people</p>
<p>Columbia College - for urban types, scene kids, clubbers, internationals</p>
<p>Borderline:</p>
<p>Dartmouth - for conservative pre-professionals, outdoorsy types</p>
<p>UChicago - for academics in certain fields (math, econ, etc)</p>
<p>Amherst - ONLY legacies</p>
<p>Berkeley - ONLY poors and engineers</p>
<p>Duke - only if you are from the south and care a lot about sports</p>
<p>edit: West Point is also borderline</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>if you don't go to one of the above, you are a TTT. you didn't get into your top choice, and neither did anyone else at your school. cornell? TTT. penn CAS? TTT. JHU? LOL TTT. UVA? TTT. LAC? TTT. HTFH."</p>
<p>^^ that is probably one of the best posts on this site. EVER :)</p>
<p>Haha what the hell? :D</p>
<p>HOW MANY STUDENTS DOES IT TAKE TO CHANGE A LIGHT BULB AT...</p>
<p>Vanderbilt: Two-one to call the electrician and one to call daddy to pay the bill</p>
<p>Princeton: Two-one to mix the martinis and one to call the electrician</p>
<p>Brown: Eleven-one to change the light bulb and ten to share the experience</p>
<p>Dartmouth: None-Hanover doesn't have electricity</p>
<p>Cornell: Two-One to change the light bulb and one to crack under the pressure</p>
<p>Penn: Only one, but he gets six credits for it</p>
<p>Columbia: Seventy-six: one to change the light bulb, fifty to protest the light bulb’s right to not change, and twenty-five to hold a counter protest</p>
<p>Yale: None-New Haven looks better in the dark</p>
<p>Harvard: One-he holds the bulb and the world revolves around him</p>
<p>MIT: Five-one to design a nuclear powered one that never needs changing, one to figure out how to power the rest of Boston using that nuked light bulb, two to install it, and one to write the computer program that controls the wall switch</p>
<p>Vassar: Eleven-one to screw it and ten to support its sexual orientation</p>
<p>Middlebury: Five-One to change the light bulb and four to find the perfect J. Crew outfit to wear for the occasion</p>
<p>Stanford: One, dude</p>
<p>Oberlin: Three-one to change it and two to figure out how to get high off the old one</p>
<p>Georgetown: Four: one to change it, one to call Congress about their progress, and two to throw the old bulb at the American U. students</p>
<p>Duke: A whole frat-but only one of them is sober enough to get the bulb out of the socket</p>
<p>Williams: The whole student body: when you're snowed in, there's nothing else to do</p>
<p>Tufts: Two: one to change the bulb and the other to say loudly how he did it as well as an Ivy League student</p>
<p>Sarah Lawrence: Five-one to change the bulb and four to do an interpretive dance about it</p>
<p>Swarthmore: Eight: it's not that one isn't smart enough to do it, it's just that they're all violently twitching from too much stress</p>
<p>Boston University: Four: one to change the bulb and two to check his math homework</p>
<p>Wesleyan: Wesleyan's boycotting GE... you know, military-industrial complex and all that</p>
<p>Connecticut College: Two-one to change the bulb and one to complain about how if they were at a better school the light bulb wouldn't go out</p>
<p>Virginia: Thirteen: Ten to form student committee to vote on whether changing light bulbs is a violation of the Honor Code, one to change the bulb, one to hold the keg the he's standing on, and another to attribute electricity to Mr. Jefferson.</p>
<p>Bowdoin: Three-one to ski down to the general store and buy the bulb, one to take the chairlift back to school, and one to screw it in</p>
<p>Boston College: Seven-one to change the light bulb and six to throw a party because he didn't screw it in upside down this time</p>
<p>Santa Clara University: One-but you would never know about it because only Cal and Stanford gets press for changing their light bulbs</p>
<p>^ LMAO perfect.
gave a great sense of the overall "vibe" of each.</p>