<p>Hi everyone!</p>
<p>I'm an admitted student to the Princeton Class of 2017. I'm a bit worried about the social life at Princeton; as a student, at least right now, I'd like a social life similar to what it has been so far. That is to say, a strong group of friends who sometimes party if the opportunity presents itself, and at other times just hang out and spend time together. We are definitely not your typical fraternity/sorority people. I'm just a bit worried about whether you would be able to attend parties at Eating Clubs/other dorms if you are not a athlete/frat bro/sorority girl. I'm also worried about how easy it is to develop a strong group of friends; what have your experiences been/what have you heard about that? Sorry if this seems trivial; I'm mostly sure I want to attend, but I want to make sure the option would be open to us to attend the parties and that they are not exclusive to a certain type of person/group of people, and also about just making friends in general. Thanks! Let me know if you have any questions or if I was unclear!</p>
<p>D left HS with a strong group of friends (some that she met in preschool) that she has remained connected with after 4 years of college. She found the same at P. I think you will find your group and despite some scary stereotypes, the place seems to absorb all types. I will tell you that D did not feel completely at home after Preview; she went on Outdoor Action (I strongly recommend it) and that eased the way a bit. Whereever you end up, be honest answering the housing questionnaire - D’s strongest friendships are formed from her freshman room and hall mates.</p>
<p>I’m also a potential Class of 2017 Princeton admit, and I just came back from the Princeton Preview. I think you have absolutely nothing to be worried about. I closely identify with what you’re looking for in terms of a social life, and I think that’s trivial to find at Princeton. </p>
<p>For starters, the Eating Clubs don’t just consist of athletes and members of the Greek system (which is really small). I think around 70% of students join one of the 11 eating clubs. 5 of these clubs you simply sign into, so they aren’t exclusive. There are one or two houses known for attracting the athlete or sorority girl types, but I don’t think those look bad either. All clubs seem pretty diverse, but often they attract a certain type of student (for instance one has a lot of engineers, which shows that there’s a club for everyone). If you don’t want to join a club at all, you’d still have plenty of opportunities to party on the Street as an underclassman and upperclassman. At the Preview, I attended an panel on eating clubs where a bunch of students with varying involvement with the eating clubs answered questions. All of them had partied at eating clubs at some point, some a lot more than others, but purely by their own choice. If you don’t belong to the clubs, you do have to get passes to eat there (you have to ask a club member for a pass), but this is an easy process since club members seem to hand out passes freely. </p>
<p>As for your other question, I saw some really strong friend groups there. I was hosted by a sophomore girl living in a quad with three other good friends. Two of these girls had been paired together freshmen year, and wanted to continue living together, adding two others to their group too. They were incredibly good friends and some of them will also share upperclassmen housing next year.</p>