<p>I was accepted to Princeton through early action and at first I was ecstatic but I recently have been having some reservations about attending, although I'm fairly sure I will still commit. This topic is more to ease my anxiety about going, and I would appreciate it if some current students could provide some insight into these questions</p>
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<li><p>Did you find the academic life to be overwhelming when you were a freshman? I come from a public school, nothing special, and although I'm valedictorian I'm still afraid that I may be swallowed up by my classes. I haven't won any national awards and I don't think I'm a particular genius in any particular field, so I'm afraid I may pale in comparison to my peers academically when I arrive on campus.</p></li>
<li><p>Related to my first question, do you find that Princeton students live up to the Ivy League stereotype? By that I mean, are they stuck up and always looking to make themselves out to be better than you? I want to be around humble people are while I'm sure I'll be able to find some people like this, I certainly hope they aren't the minority on campus</p></li>
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<p>Generally, I'm just worried of being completely overwhelmed by the academics and by the student body if they do indeed act the way that I fear they might. Thanks for any responses.</p>
<p>Re: #1: I was in the same boat as you! Regular public school, nothing special. The worst part of that? The impostor syndrome. But overall I feel like I’m doing pretty well; my freshman year was a bit of a wakeup call since I had never really had to work hard before, but I pulled through and felt pretty good about it. So no, I wouldn’t be too concerned on this front.</p>
<h1>2: At Princeton Preview, I walked onto campus expecting the stereotype and then was kinda floored when people were pretty normal. In general most people are fairly modest; and wayyyy more people suffer from impostor syndrome than you might think. Of course, as at any school there are a few jerks. But I think that you should be able to feel comfortable here. Acting the stuck-up jerk makes people hate you in real life – that’s pretty much true at Princeton too.</h1>
<p>On a somewhat related note: I think we’re really not “competitive,” either, in the cutthroat sense. (In the more-positive “being driven to do well” sense of competition – we do have that.)</p>
<p>You should really come to Princeton Preview in the spring! And when you do make sure to talk to some current students. If your host is kinda disinterested (it happens, we’re all random students, sometimes work etc happens), just talk to random students. I hope you’ll find that we do not, in fact, fulfill the stereotype. :)</p>
<h1>1 - That is me. But as some of my fall semester grades came in (I’m a freshman), I’m realizing that there is really no need for the impostor syndrome. You got in - you deserve to be here.</h1>
<h1>2 - The whole preppy/stuck-up thing is pretty limited to very few social circles on campus, circles that are really easy to avoid if you try. I mean … I mean … pretty much what tiger14 just wrote</h1>
<p>Feel free to PM me with any questions! Also, if you are part of the Class of 2017+ group on Facebook, please feel free to track me down and ask me anything (it shouldn’t be too hard - look at my username).</p>
<p>I’ll answer, but note that I’m a parent. My son, a current Princeton senior, was also the valedictorian at a public school HS. He had taken an extremely rigorous HS courseload, with 7 APs both junior and senior year. He’s not a genius but he works very hard.</p>
<p>Based on his experience, I’d say:</p>
<h1>1 - Princeton is academically challenging. For the first time, you’ll be surrounded by people who are as smart as you are, which is both good and bad, but I’d say the good outweighs the bad. Especially if you’re in a STEM field, it will be more work than you’ve ever experienced. That said, he tells me it isn’t cutthroat.</h1>
<h1>2 - Six years ago we couldn’t have told you what colleges comprised the Ivy League. We’re not “that type” of people. I worried about him fitting in with what I imagined would be the world’s social and economic elite. It’s been a total nonissue for him. He’s much more comfortable with his Princeton peers than he ever was with his HS peers for the simple reason that, as I mentioned above, for the first time ever he is surrounded by intellectual peers.</h1>
<p>Thanks a lot for the responses! You guys have really been a great help and I appreciate you taking the time to try to ease my worries. I’m glad to hear that students at Princeton are generally friendly and humble. I plan on majoring in computer science so I do indeed expect to work the hardest I have ever worked. My high school course load is pretty rigorous, I’ve taken a number of AP classes and such, but sometimes I feel that they really aren’t a challenge compared to what I will experience in college. I just wanted to make sure that it wouldn’t be too overwhelming. Time will tell I suppose.</p>
<p>YAY COS! (Me too.) Sorry. Had to get that off my chest. I can be a bit more specific about COS culture, though. Our department does a really good job of supporting its classes, especially the intros, with TAs, office hours, free tutors, etc. And in general the department is very supportive, people are friendly, and there are lots of people who join with no programming experience. We don’t have the “bravado” you see in many other schools’ cs departments, which tend to expect you to be more hardcore and to live and breathe programming / have prior experience, but we’re still top-notch. That’s one of the reasons why I like it here so much. (The freshmen engineering classes are unfortunately not so well-supported.)</p>
<p>And yeah, I actually didn’t know anything about Princeton, including that it was in the Ivy League, before spring of my senior year. <em>shrugs</em></p>
<p>Princeton COS is great. Might be the best of the Ivy League, in fact. Pair that with our Math and Physics departments, and you can see that a deep wonderful brilliant nerd culture runs right alongside the gilded lacrosse youth:). Seriously. </p>
<p>And if you’re the COS sort who loves music? You will be in heaven. Look up computer and music. You’ll cheer.</p>
<p>Welcome. Congratulations. See you at the P-rade:).</p>
<p>Wow what a coincidence! I’m glad you could provide some insight into the COS department too. I’ve been teaching myself some java in preparation but it sounds pretty supportive of new programmers. Thanks again for the information from everyone, I’m a worrier about most things so this has definitely helped me. And Tiger14 maybe I’ll see you at Princeton</p>
<p>Congratulations! and I love your questions btw.</p>
<h1>2. All the students who have been accepted by Princeton from my school aren’t stuck up at all and all very genuine. Every school will have a small percentage of arrogant students, but at princeton, a majority are moderate to humble.</h1>
<p>Great thread, questions and answers! As another SCEA admit I’ve had a few hesitations in attending, although overall I am in love with the programs/systems at Pton.</p>
<p>While I am somewhat prepared for becoming a little fish (I’m not even the “smartest” at my regular public school), I still have some other questions that are kind of pertinent to the main topic of this thread, so I thought it would be more appropriate to ask here.</p>
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<li><p>On reading threads that compare HYPS, I’ve consistently seen somebody bring up Pton as being great for the undergrad experience/academics, and then somebody shoot it down for its “country club atmosphere.” Could somebody define/justify/reject this claim?</p></li>
<li><p>I’m a pretty quirky/idiosyncratic person. How tolerable are people with these types of quirks (for example I am a Home Decor and Glass Bottle enthusiast [haha I can’t believe I just said that] and enjoy memorizing font faces and colors)? I’d like to consider myself fairly normal in other social regards (Facebook, TV, dances, eating, the such), but how would the student body judge me if I were to like flip out over the selection of vases in the library or something?</p></li>
<li><p>What is the level of socioeconomic/ethnic mixing? For example, I am an Asian admit and Quest scholar. I’m assuming the answer to this would be “however much you want it to be” but is it fairly easy or do asians tend to stick with asians like in SoCal public schools?</p></li>
<li><p>Do the academic advisers have an attitude of allowing and encouraging students to push themselves and set high goals, or are they more focused on making sure the students succeed at what they do and sort of restrict them in that regard?</p></li>
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<p>@LBrower134: I hope you find these questions relevant to your thread, and thank you in advance to any current pton students who can/will answer! :)</p>
<p>@3: There is no country club atmosphere. The only areas/scenes on campus that may appear to have that vibe are a couple (fewer than three) of the 11 eating clubs. However, I know a lot of people in Ivy, etc. who are pretty down-to-earth and humble.</p>
<p>@4: Pretty sure you were selected partly because of those special qualities. The admissions office does a great job putting together a diverse class and many of your future Pton classmates will have just as interesting activities/hobbies that they enjoy.</p>
<p>@5: I have a friend, similar to you, who’s from the area around USC (East LA, low income neighborhood) and she’s Asian and a Questbridge applicant. She’s having a great time socially and academically. Regarding friend groups/social circles: people tend to meet friends through activities and groups instead of through classes so you’ll definitely mix with people who have similar interests and also will be able to seek out new people through your own volition.</p>
<p>@6: Why do the behaviors of “encouraging” and “guaranteeing success” have to be at odds with one another? What I mean is…Students can definitely push themselves and the Princeton faculty helps to facilitate this process. However, undergrads have a ton of resources that will help them succeed no matter the challenge. Small class sizes, accessible professors, precepts, McGraw tutoring center, Writing center, etc. You are virtually never restricted at Princeton. A friend got himself into the highest freshman math course available, Math 218 (or whatever comes after 215), despite not having officially taken Calc 2/3 in high school. And if you’re a humanities person as it seems from your username, high level courses are available and accessible right off the bat.</p>
<p>This is really reassuring! I’m the first Princetonian in a very long time (possibly ever) to graduate from my very rural high school and I’ve had some of the same concerns. Thanks for making me absolutely sure that I’ll be coming here in the fall!</p>
<h1>3: Country club atmosphere? I would say no. BiologyMaster’s response is good. While you won’t meet many (any?) people at all who are stuck up about having money / being “blue-blooded”, you WILL meet people who have a lot of money. They will most likely be pretty casual about it. That can be weird, but I’ve rarely found it to be a problem.</h1>
<h1>4: Nerding out is accepted / expected here! Even if someone doesn’t “get” your particular quirk they will most likely be unfazed.</h1>
<h1>5: Again I’ll echo BiologyMaster. While there are some clumps of Asian self-segregation, you should be able to meet people from very different “areas” of the student body. I met my friends through my dorm, my classes, my activities, etc. Also, I <strong>think</strong> that socioeconomic mixing is extremely common, at least in my social circles.</h1>
<h1>6: I love Princeton, but our advising system is really kinda useless, since the advisors don’t know much about undergrad life. (Seriously, sometimes they assign new hires as advisors to freshmen!) That being said: you will mostly have the freedom to take as demanding a schedule as you want, though you may not get a lot of guidance re: what counts as demanding. Talk to upperclassmen, and don’t be afraid of taking high level courses early! Often they’re the best ones.</h1>
<p>General bottom line – I don’t think that Princeton lives up to its “country club” stereotype at all, and it’s a great place to be, even/especially as a public school kid from the middle of nowhere! (Speaking for myself, anyway!)</p>
<p>And bekahshoemake – I was also the first Princetonian in possibly ever from my school! I hope you come! :)</p>
<p>My son was also the first Princeton student ever from his high school. Today over lunch (he’s home on intersession) I asked him about the atmosphere at Princeton…specifically I asked if he’d ever met any outright obnoxious people there. He paused for a moment and responded that there probably are some but every person he’s met is conscious of the fact that at any time they could be talking to someone who is much smarter than they are. He talked about a guy we met at preview who he later discovered won the top academic award for his whole class (at Princeton) and he said, “You never would have guessed.” My sense is that self congratulatory behavior of any sort is extremely unwelcome.</p>
I can be a bit more specific about COS culture, though. Our department does a really good job of supporting its classes, especially the intros, with TAs, office hours, free tutors, etc. And in general the department is very supportive, people are friendly, and there are lots of people who join with no programming experience. We don’t have the “bravado” you see in many other schools’ cs departments, which tend to expect you to be more hardcore and to live and breathe programming / have prior experience, but we’re still top-notch. That’s one of the reasons why I like it here so much. (The freshmen engineering classes are unfortunately not so well-supported.)</p>