<p>I agree that the Princeton story is the sign of a healthy attitude seldom exhibited in New Haven, where the Harvard-centrism can sometimes border on the pathological.</p>
<p>It ought to be possible to sing the praises of your school without the need to make yourself look good by running down the competition. Rapelye's approach is refreshing: assume you won't win every head to head battle, but stay positive and on message.</p>
<p>Of course it is true that the Harvard/Princeton cross admit pool has always been a lot smaller than the Harvard/Yale cross admit pool, so the folks in New Haven may rightly feel they have more to lose by giving up the early admissions crutch. In recent years, the Harvard/Stanford cross admit pool has also been larger than the Harvard/Princeton pool.</p>
<p>Like I said, Harvard has Yale, Stanford has Cal. Princeton has, um, yeah, not a major rivalry kind of place. Everyone who at other places gets into school rivalry here would rather put on small small costumes and go hang out on the Street or else dive yet deeper into their math senior thesis that is only one equation or their English senior thesis that is a series of poems written on a cross-country bike ride, or their senior thesis that becomes Teach for America.</p>
<p>For whatever reason, the experience of education at Princeton is not one of comparing yourself to any other school.</p>
<p>Hmm ... that does sound a bit like Harvard ... guided by an internal compass rather than - overtly at least - external forces. Of course there are those who see this characteristic as a manifestation of "arrogance" !</p>
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<p>(And of course Penn is always ready to serve as Princeton's "rival" when the need arises .... sort of like that convenient date for when you can't go stag, with no deep romantic attachments involved.)</p>
<p>"The contest versus Yale last Saturday was billed here as "the game of the year," but it was in no way, shape or form a "rivalry game." The Yalies who came down for the weekend made that fact painfully clear. Yale's traditional rival, they reminded us, is Harvard. And just in case we didn't quite get the message, our Eli guests sported t-shirts that spelled it out: "Harvard sucks. Princeton doesn't matter."</p>
<pre><code>Alas, there's no point in arguing. It's true: We can't count, year in and year out, on being the most important game on any of our opponents' schedules. We may matter if we happen to be leading in the standings, but we never matter just because we're Princeton.
</code></pre>
<p>"It's probably blasphemous for a Princetonian to advocate direct imitation of Harvard and/or Yale. I'm convinced, though, that Princeton football badly needs a rivalry game. But first, we'll need a rival. Penn stands out as the most likely candidate."</p>
<p>Harvard's name is from the University, not the College. Princeton's name is from primarily the undergraduates and some of the graduates... now, that gives me RUSH to know that Princeton is known so well.</p>
<p>If someone in a foreign country hasn't heard of Princeton, it's fine with me... the Western nations and people at the top know about Princeton, and that's all that matters. And then the entire US population knows about Princeton, so I'm not worried.</p>
<p>Princeton is better than Harvard for an undergraduate degree</p>
<p>Maybe it's just wishful thinking from someone who is insecure about attending neither the #1 "ranked" (#3! My inferiority!) nor the #1 "perceived" (tied for 2nd! Oh the ignominy!) university in the nation / planet / galaxy, but is this not a bit of a ridiculous discussion?</p>
<p>If it gives you jollies to know that you can walk up to a vendor in Colombia and tell him that you went to Harvard and have him immediately believe that you are a demi-god amongst mere men, that's great.</p>
<p>And if you want to prize your cherished #1 ranking for the best undergraduate experience in the nation, that's great too. Princeton it is.</p>
<p>And if you want to look down on these accolades as meaningless praise from the hoi polloi or as based on arbitrary weighting systems, yet secretly seethe that your institution isn't #1 in either category, then go to Yale.</p>
<p>I'm being glib, but seriously, folks. Once you get to the level of HYP, I think you can stop worrying about whether or not your employers are going to respect your degree! And I don't think you have to worry about whether Princeton is going to be as respected as Harvard! Harvard may be perceived by most people to be the World's Greatest University. But even if the average Colombian is in love with Harvard but has never heard of Princeton and can't even pronounce "Yale" right, it really doesn't matter. It is unlikely that that Colombian will be the one hiring you (though maybe it matters to you if you want everyone you meet to be impressed with where you went to school). It matters what that i-banking, Wall Street slick thinks about H or Y or P. And he will have heard about all three universities. And he will probably have attended one. And that is probably the best one to have on your resume.</p>
<p>"Like I said, Harvard has Yale, Stanford has Cal. Princeton has, um, yeah, not a major rivalry kind of place. Everyone who at other places gets into school rivalry here would rather put on small small costumes and go hang out on the Street or else dive yet deeper into their math senior thesis that is only one equation or their English senior thesis that is a series of poems written on a cross-country bike ride, or their senior thesis that becomes Teach for America."</p>
<p>We don't care about Cal.</p>
<p>Princeton still has been waiting many a year for that bonfire. Students were devastated when they didn't beat both H and Y. </p>
<p>We'll be happy to take Princeton on as a rival.</p>
<p>In order to "take Princeton on as a rival" Stanford will have to stop relying on paid athletes (even if they are not providing a very high return on the dollar this year.) The Ivy League has rules about these things.</p>
<p>Well, it's quite understandable that harvard would have an indestructible rep. It is by far the oldest ivy league school, founded more than 100 yrs before the rev. war. </p>
<p>But give or take a couple decades, P'ton will definitely catch up. It's been creaming harvard in USNEWs rankings, which carries the most weight in the minds of the american population. Princeton is continuously tying or beating harvard for 1st place in national univ's. i dun think anyone even remembers when harvard was 1st by itself.</p>
<p>hehe by the time we're all rich and middle-aged, the tigers will have broken through Harvard's crimson rep.</p>
<p>Harvard has a crapload of graduate students and opportunities. This carries a lot of weight in rep. and prestige.</p>
<p>they have the #1 med school in research. they also have awesome schools for law and teaching, etc. P'ton doesnt have any of these.</p>
<p>But we're only talking about undergrad schools here rite??? This lack of focus on grads helps undergrads. the advising is better and we get more opportunities in summer research, etc. So thats why P'ton is better for college kids.</p>
<p>The logistics could be managed in this day and age, provided the Palo Alto school is willing to stop using paid athletes (an Ivy no-no.)</p>
<p>Flying to Boston, NY or Philly from San Jose via charter won't take much longer than a bus ride from Ithaca, and probably more comfortable.</p>
<p>Duke is virtually as bad as Stanford in football currently, and the Chronicle has editorially suggested that the Blue Devils should be playing the Ivies now, and not in the ACC. Whether Coack K could (or would be willing to) survive without salaried basketball players is, of course, another question.</p>
<p>i think coach K's biggest problem as an ivy coach would be the academic index. it's been reported that the duke basketball team's SAT average in recent years has been in the 900s, below the national average for all test-takers, and about 500 points below the duke student body average (a number that already includes, and is deflated by, such scholarship athletes' numbers). as an ivy coach, he might get one sub-1200'er a year through admissions, if lucky.</p>
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[quote]
This lack of focus on grads helps undergrads. the advising is better and we get more opportunities in summer research, etc. So thats why P'ton is better for college kids.
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<p>Princeton does not have a 'lack of focus' on it's graduate students. It simply has a lack of focus on professional students, as it hardly has any. We get very much focused on, whether you realize it or not.</p>