<p>How would you all, who have spent considerable amounts of time at these schools, describe the social scene in general. I know its a rather vague question with many possible answers, but I'm talking about like what the social pulse of each campus is like. Is the party scene more of a social gathering atmosphere, more of an all out party come stumbling back the the dorm room at 4am, or anywhere in between. I know the locations of these schools are very different, but I have heard similar things about the type of social life at each respective campus and would be interested in the major differences that may exist between them.</p>
<p>I think that one of the bigger positives about the princeton social scene is that you don't have to be "in the know" to find parties to go to. Everyone on campus knows when and where a party is on a particular night, since you can walk down the street and figure out which eating club is open. It's also not particularly difficult to get into any of them, as most are open to PUID, and for those that aren't its not all that difficult to get passes to.</p>
<p>I went to Penn and visited my brother at Princeton on occasion. The two experiences are very, very different. Princeton is smaller, which means more intimate (potential yay) and more hierarchical (boo).</p>
<p>Penn has more variety in that it has frat parties, big house parties, smaller apartment parties, and downtown Philadelphia both in bars/clubs that are rented out by Penn student groups for parties, bars/clubs and that are filled with non-Penn college students, and bars/clubs patronized by college grad yuppie types working in Philadelphia.</p>
<p>Another difference expressed through anecdotes: my friend visiting Princeton had a solo cup outside and got a citation from a Princeton police officer. Weeks later at Penn, we were walking outside with solo cups and offered a toast to the Penn police officers and nothing happened (of course this is more because Penn police have a very real crime to deal with, whereas the Princeton police don't have much better to do).</p>
<p>But that was just my perspective and my own biased opinion (like any Quaker, I have a standing jihad declared against Princeton). Princeton is clearly a wonderful school that is loved by its students, as made clear by its alumni giving rate that is significantly higher than Penn's.</p>
<p>If you can get into either school, you're doing something right. If you are among the few to have the luxury of choosing between offers of admission between both of them, then visit them both.</p>
<p>I never spent much time at Yale but I hear George W. Bush had a great time there.</p>
<p>^ lol nice post</p>
<p>lol, ilovebagels, that is an amazing post.</p>
<p>Do you want a higher chance of getting mugged when you're stumbling around at 4 a.m.? Then go to Yale or Penn.</p>
<p>In all seriousness, though, a Princeton night looks like this: room party/pre-game/Ivy Inn or Triumph on a non-Thursday/Saturday night --> hit up the eating clubs</p>
<p>My impression from visiting Yale is that a typical night out looks like this: room party/hit up a bar --> end up at Toad's</p>
<p>Thank you my adoring fans, I heart you all</p>
<p>Some of the difference is do to locations small town large town, and school size. But in the end the social scene is what you make it. Almost all schools have variety. But if you want real to separate out "party schools" neither of these really will do it (i.e., you need to look at really large usually public schools that can support massive partying [animal housesque] yet provide for those who don't want to, or small private less selective schools in resort type areas). There are magazines that rate these things which you can probably find on line. However, seems like the wrong question to ask for this set of schools.</p>