<p>I'm trying to decide between Princeton, Stanford Yale and to be honest, right now I'm leaning towards Yale. The reasoning is dead simple (alas). What I noticed on my campus visits is that Yale students seem to be much more intellectually engaged. And this isn't just my view.
One Princeton alum "that's what I hated while I was there, the mismatch between students and professors"
A princeton professor and alum "Yale student's are far more intellectual"
another princeton professor, formerly at Yale, observed the same thing
and many other's have said it.
Honestly, I'm worried cuz i love princeton, but i wan't the best undergraduate body to be in.
this has been reified by the respective institutions' differing ethoi of success. Princeton touts the wealth of its alums, the strength of the alumni network. Yale, in contrast, points out that wherever you look, Yalies are the LEADERS in their field. they are the people who matter</p>
<p>No offense, but I'm a little doubtful of your sources. Princeton doesn't get the reputation it has without having amazingly difficult courses and the like. There's no difference in quality of education that you'll get among the top 5, really, other than at MIT you're more science oriented and Princeton has the undergraduate focus, but it really comes down to an atmosphere thing.</p>
<p>Just remember, Hilary Duff goes to Harvard (extension).</p>
<p>weird stuff. I've never heard that as a distinction between Yale and Princeton. To the contrary, some cnn article that was posted on this forum that i read a bit ago described the princeton ethos as being 'a life of the mind'. The general unfounded perception I was aware of was that Yale is for 'fluffy' types, whereas Princeton is more rigorous and well-rounded.</p>
<p>The OP's perceived stereotype and my perceived stereotypes are just stereotypes, and we can both justly attest to how general this stereotype is, since it all really depends on who/where you are and what your personal culture/ethos is. The gut perception I have of is that Yale turns out politicians, Princeton turns out i-bankers, scientists, mathematicians. I personally feel - and people around me where I am generally feel - that scientists etc. are the people who 'really matter', discover possibilities and move the world, whereas politicians aren't always my favorite people.</p>
<p>That said I'm sure I'll meet plenty of sleazy figurehead corrupt scientists who ditch Kyoto protocols and trample over international organizations to secure imaginary WMDs (cheap shot, sorry), and politicians who have really dedicated themselves to make the world a better place etc, but again, that's just a gut feeling.</p>
<p>Yale's grad school is what gets it its reputation I think. Princeton is number 1 (by the US news rankings anyway, for whatever it's worth - not much, I know, don't flame me) with much less 'help' from its grad schools. That's got to say something. The quality of a Princeton education is just as good as a Yale one, imo, and I don't see a plausible explanation why there would be such a stark difference in intellectualism at either school, given the significant percentage of cross-admits and the extreme selectivity of both schools.</p>
<p>edit: </p>
<p>just so you know, I had to make a decision between those exact schools too; I formed my opinion in a relatively unbiased manner. ;) -- good luck choosing!</p>
<p>( hey, just to clarify because I got a PM about this, where I said </p>
<p>
[quote]
some cnn article that was posted on this forum that i read a bit ago described the princeton ethos as being 'a life of the mind'
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I meant, bad grammar or no, that the cnn article described the opinion on the life of the mind. I see how I could have been unclear. I didn't mean CNN has this opinion or expressed it or that even if it had I would have used it as any sort of argument at all, I only meant that in the article, from CNN, a student has this opinion. Given this from the OP:</p>
<p>
[quote]
One Princeton alum "that's what I hated while I was there, the mismatch between students and professors"
A princeton professor and alum "Yale student's are far more intellectual"
another princeton professor, formerly at Yale, observed the same thing
and many other's have said it.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I only mentioned this student's opinion at all since the OP did not seem to have met anyone who thought ptoners were "intellectual(ly) capable". I only mentioned that it was from CNN becuase I couldn't remember anything else about the provenance of the link. )</p>
<p>While I'm here, typing this just made me notice the odd use of brackets in the title....:p</p>