Princeton FAQ: Get your questions answered by current students

<p>I take it that you are not too happy with (I presume) your S/D’s college?</p>

<p>Tigermom:</p>

<p>Those are ridiculous complaints. For one, it’s standard for a student to get a free unlocking from the housing department once, and be fined when it happens again. Every college does this. The notion of “disciplinary action” for 3 or more is a bit odd, but since they don’t even mention what the action would be, I wouldn’t worry at all. Do you think your daughter is going to be put in the stocks when she forgets her key? Secondly, most landlords I’ve had charge for unlocks/key replacements as well. Same difference.</p>

<p>Regarding the campus police on the Street… have you never been here? This is not a big university, and the eating clubs are legally in the jurisdiction of the borough. And all I’ve seen mentioned is that the borough cops will be called specifically for alcohol violations. Alcohol is pervasive in the area, and it’s treated with an extremely liberal hand. If your daughter is drunk or belligerent enough to actually warrant someone calling the authorities, the particular uniforms of the people showing up shouldn’t be your concern.</p>

<p>I’d also add that the question of jurisdiction is found in basically every college town in the country. For anything serious and close to campus, both departments show up. Go walk around the greek area of any large university in the country some time.</p>

<p>I’m the messenger here, I didn’t write the quote. This has nothing to do wth my daughter who has never been PMC’d. I just think that reading the Daily Prince along with the comments is a good place to feel the pulse of the school and learn what the burning issues of the students are and how the administration is addressing them.</p>

<p>What do you NOT like about Princeton? IE, if there was something you could change, what would it be?</p>

<p>Where to begin…this may take some thought but I’ll start…attitude: Old Nassau is the embodiment of “old people.” It’s a mentality that is preserved in the past. The administration is very tied to their heritage. To protect that heritage, Princeton seems to be run by lawyers who hide behind precedent and policy…layer upon layer. There are so many rules and punishments and sanctions that are really harsh considering this is a relatively SMALL SCHOOL with lots of faculty and staff. They just don’t seem to like to manage the stray student rather than engage that student, so they want to regulate away that behavior. It’s just peculiar that a school so proud of its educational mission would rather punish than counsel. It’s the essense of education that they are abdicating. Read the “Rights, Rules, and Responsibilities” and know they are ALL enforced with pride. I’ll caution you, it’s a VERY lengthy document and it is online. So many manageable aspects of the university are now codified…I think they do this because they afraid of being sued. Yet I don’t sense this at other schools with similar exposure. </p>

<p>This grade deflation issue is real and harmful affecting you a lot longer than you are there as a student. It’s something you will need to explain whenever someone asks about your lower-tending grades. It’s a policy that says, “We don’t like you as you are…smart, motivated, achieving…we demand more.” Yes, it’s part of the package going in, but other great schools don’t have that cloud hanging over you. I have experience with other elite schools and it’s just not essential in an already high-achieving environment. But it gets back to an attitude…</p>

<p>Students seem to be brainwashed into rationalizing this attitude too. They have a very strong, competitive sense of fairness, very intolerant to deviation. Read the comments to the Daily Princetonian articles, the commenters are very defensive of what seems “the best of all possible worlds.” I often read, “If you don’t like it leave…”</p>

<p>Princetonians are not modest, they tend toward arrogance and that belies a lack of confidence. You’d think that such an ostensibly great place would yield more confidence. To come out of such a place having to explain your grades…rather than feeling that anything is possible using curiousity is an energy force drawing you toward the unknown with enthusiasm. Oh yeah, you’ll find some students and graduates with great achievements but given that this place rejects even more great students than it accepts, you’d think there would be MORE. Something happens to the masses that strips the spirit right out of them. Athletics used to be a unifying force and now it regarded with disgust since it lows academic standards. To hear faculty deride ANY lower achieving student is shameful. Old people…</p>

<p>Talk to recent alumni about their spirit. I think you’ll find more spirit in OLD alumni than young ones…it’s a school run by old people. It just doesn’t celebrate today’s young people, rather it tries to morph them in the old “Princeton” image. But if that’s what you want or need…</p>

<p>^ Wow. This response is filled with sweeping generalizations. I’m sorry your daughter has had such a bad experience at Princeton. As an alum and as a parent of a current student my experience and opinion could not be more different than yours.</p>

<p>Princeton is a wonderful place for coloring within the lines; not a good place for risk-taking. For those who feel safe within the lines, this is one of the best. The school is very supportive of maintaining those lines. There are many excellent students and their parents who need to feel that sense of safety, a coccoon. But to succeed in the world, graduates need to be able to handle risk and randomness. So you have to decide your own stage of development. Do you need a coccoon and become an adult AFTER you leave college, or do you want to morph into an adult before you leave college. It’s best to have the right expectations and appreciation of your own maturity.</p>

<p>Which is it? The University is too harsh in it’s punishments, or is it wrapping students in a cocoon and treating them like children?</p>

<p>Regarding grade deflation, yes it’s a serious issue to discuss, but “affecting you a lot longer than you are there as a student?” Seriously? Come on. I’m going to assume you’re over 40 and employed, and not at your first job. When’s the last time you had a job interview where they asked for your GPA?</p>

<p>Of course Princetonians can be arrogant, and of course the administration tries to impress some sense of history onto the students. It’s Princeton. That’s just what it is. But then, I don’t think it’s anywhere near as severe as you think, and it’s certainly a lot less… uppity than I was expecting.</p>

<p>Regarding a feel for the University from reading the daily, and the responses online… really? It’s the internet. People are not nice or polite or even necessarily honest.</p>

<p>And regarding the codification of student rights/rules/responsibilities, yes, they don’t want to get sued. I challenge you to find me one single university in the country that doesn’t have a codified set of rules. Rutgers is up the road; here’s their version:
[Office</a> of Student Conduct](<a href=“http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~polcomp/judaff/]Office”>http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~polcomp/judaff/)</p>

<p>…you’ve made my point. Compare the Rutgers web site to the following Princeton web site:
[Princeton</a> University - Policies & Procedures](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/main/administration/policies/]Princeton”>University Policy)</p>

<p>Princeton’s must be 10 times longer…I didn’t really count but Princeton’s is HUGE.</p>

<p>Also read it and compare…just read the Honor Code/Committee on Discipline parts. I challenge you to claim Princeton’s system of discipline is as fair as Rutgers’. </p>

<p>Rutgers is a very large institution i.e. more to manage across multiple campuses, yet they seem to need fewer rules. The big reason for the difference is that Rutgers, as a public institution, needs to follow the rules of due process and Princeton as a private institution can do whatever it wants so they chose this…and their own due process shorthand… and these are supposed the be the best and the brightest. Due process perversions is more like it. I don’t get it. Maybe they are protecting their deep pockets…protecting the private endowment. With Rutgers, it’s the people of the great state of New Jersey who are at risk. It’s a possble explanation but it’s still not fun to live under.</p>

<p>I just read my Stanford alumni magazine with the President celebrating its athletes…it was warm, welcoming, and spirited.</p>

<p>Yay! I got in!</p>

<p>Anyways, I had a question about the grant I received. They gave me a grant (pretty generous one) based on the FAFSA I sent in January. Am I required to update my FAFSA, now that my parents have done taxes?
If I do update my FAFSA, is there a possibility that they will revoke or lower the grant, or is the grant that they are giving me know final?</p>

<p>Haha, sorry if this is a dumb question.</p>

<p>Thanks! I am looking forward to becoming a future Princetonian. Go Tigers!</p>

<p>Hi, I am a high school student from Indonesia. I really want to go to Princeton. At the moment, I am preparing for SAT1, SAT2 (Math, Physics), AP (Calc BC and Stat), TOEFL. I also have joined some math competitions and contests. I have Debate Club as my extracurricular activity in school. My activities outside school are painting, swimming and mentoring sunday school. I am running for International Award For Young People Bronze Medal. How is the chance of my getting accepted into Princeton, especially for the ORFE major ? ( I have actually taken the SAT1 twice but the scores are only 1940s, I am going to retake it )</p>

<p>I am ready to do anything required to get accepted at Princeton. Help me</p>

<p>congratulation, i hope I will be accepted too</p>

<p>When you are admitted to princeton can you change your major to anything?</p>

<p>Can I apply to princeton after I’ve finished 10 Grade in India. Can I apply later in 12th grade also.</p>

<p>@confused, no student declares a major officially until at least the end of freshman year (and that’s for engineers only; non-engineers have until the end of sophomore year). All students at Princeton can transfer between AB candidacy and BSE candidacy. You’re basically free to “change majors” whenever you want during your first year or two, and even after that (i.e. up to junior year) you can still change majors as long as you eventually complete all the coursework and independent work requirements for your concentration. For example, if you want to change concentrations from sociology to religion after first semester junior year, you’ll have to write two junior papers for the religion department during your junior spring semester.</p>

<p>Is it worth skipping out intro classes by using AP Credit? I’ve heard from several people that it can be a disaster skipping a class and realizing that you just don’t have the knowledge from the previous class.</p>

<p>I have the potential(its not certain yet…) to get credit for Physics, Chemistry, US+World History, Calc, Micro+Macro, and English. I’m going into Princeton as an engineer, but would there be any classes you recommend NOT to skip?</p>

<p>US, World, and English won’t give you credit for anything. You can skip physics (103-104) if you want to (and got 5s on both C tests), or you can take 105-106 if you really like physics. My friends who jumped straight to orgo (chem majors, pre-meds) with AP Chem credit haven’t had major problems with being underprepared, and I really doubt you’d learn much from econ 100-101; you would probably be just fine going straight to 200/202. </p>

<p>So the only course I would recommend looking at taking at the “introductory” level would be physics: if you got 5s on mechanics and E&M (otherwise, you’ll probably have to take 103-104) but are going into a physics-heavy engineering field (not ORFE), 105-106 is worth a good look and will definitely challenge you.</p>

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<p>Molly994.blogspot.com</p>