<p>"magisterial Harvard, theatrical Yale and private Princeton"</p>
<p>Well, an oldish article, but I think a pretty good one:A relative just forwarded me this article from the Princeton Alumni Weekly from the 80s on the different "styles" of the schools as reflected in their architecture and alumni bodies, among other things. It's longish, but quite well-written and a lot of fun: though a Princeton alum, the author seems to have intimate knowledge of all 3 schools. Much of what he says remains true, I think.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.princeton.edu/%7Etenner/Ten...P_PAW_1984.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.princeton.edu/~tenner/Ten...P_PAW_1984.pdf</a></p>
<p>Well . . . it’s an entertaining article and I have seen it before but it is now 25 years old. </p>
<p>All three schools have changed a great deal over the last quarter century and I personally don’t think this article tells applicants anything useful about any of the three schools as they exist in 2009.</p>
<p>I’m a graduate of both Princeton and Harvard and can say that the descriptions here are of schools that I wouldn’t recognize based on my experiences.</p>
<p>The article was written over half a decade before today’s applicants were even born. </p>
<p>Interesting and entertaining history . . . but, in my opinion, not relevant today.</p>
<p>Do Harvard and Yale care about Princeton? Telling that this was written by a Princeton man.</p>
<p>I mean, seriously. This is one of the most self-indulgent things I’ve ever read. See Strunk & White’s advice about the breezy, pompous air of alumni writing.</p>