<p>What do you like about Princeton? I see a lot of chances threads here on this forum, and the occasional threads with bashes of this or that school, but what is good about Princeton? In particular, what is especially good about Princeton compared to other colleges that someone could get into if that applicant is able to get into Princeton? </p>
<p>Feel free to tell me (us) about anything that you find appealing about the Princeton experience, inside or outside of class. I'm expecting to hear especially from actual Princeton students or recent Princeton alumni, not from curious onlookers like myself. What first got you interested in Princeton? What was a pleasant surprise after you got there?</p>
<p>I personally decided on Princeton based on three things: absolutely incredible financial aid, quality of education, and a beautiful campus.
(Actually, that's a lie--there are a lot of other reasons, but those are the three that come to mind right now)</p>
<p>People always list similar reasons when asked this question. The most common are:</p>
<p>-Beautiful campus
-Smaller student body than Harvard, Yale, Stanford, etc.
-More attention to undergraduates
-Very generous financial aid
-Quiet suburban location, with good proximity to NYC and Philadelphia
-Lots of school pride among student body
-One of the most prestigious colleges in the country
-A student body known for being more social and less "cloistered, antisocial nerd"-ish than at other well known schools</p>
<p>Based on my limited experience so far, those things all seem to be true, and they mean a lot in shaping one's education (I start at Princeton in September)</p>
<p>I think the best thing is the alumni network. After I graduated, I went to work at a firm where I was working with lots of Yale and Harvard grads. and none of them tapped into their alumni networks as often as I did. I tapped the Princeton alumni list for anything and everything. From job advice, to hunting for my next job, to business school application advice. The Princeton network is the tightest among the ivy league. I think that stems from many of the other wonderful things about Princeton (undergrad focus, small size, huge school pride).</p>
<p>I like it because:
- Highly selective, excellent academics, great student body, etc
- Undergraduate emphasis
- Seemed more politically neutral to me than the other Ivy League schools; I think that the Academic Bill of Rights passed by the student body was a good idea (I therefore respectully disagree with the president on this issue (altough I usually do agree with her opinions) (there was a recent WSJ interview with her))
- it maintains its liberal arts and western civilization programs (some schools seem to have let these slide)
- world class professors (ie Andrew Wiles)
- many class opportunities while still maintaining stringent graduation requirements (so I could take a class that interested me that did not correlate with my major, but at the same time still be held to the standard of not taking an easy courseload)
-among many others</p>
<p>i loved the campus first and foremost. I knew I wouldn't be happy in a totally secluded campus (ie many lacs) but I also wanted a real campus (unlike nyu or many city schools) princeton's campus has roads through it and people and things to do around it, and also has easy access to both philly and ny, as well as a beatiful campus. I also liked the eclecticness of the buildings. Almost every building is built in a different style, but yet somehow they all work together. Additionally, princeton doesn't care enough about how the campus looks to discourage people from actually using the green spaces (which schools like jhu do). Also the size of the school appealed to me, there arent many schools with 4-5000 undergrads. It's large enough that youre always meeting new people, but small enough both that you don't get lost in the crowd and also that whoever you meet you have a common friend.</p>
<p>I was also really interested in the lewis-sigler institute and the integrated science curriculum (I'm in the first class, its been an amazing experience)</p>
<p>My D chose between Princeton and Stanford. In that context, she liked Princeton because it was not in CA (we are), because the kids seemed a little more energized but were still "regular kids" (as compared to H & Y in her opinion), and because the size of the place, both in campus and in number of kids felt right to her.</p>
<p>It is now difficult to say exactly why she likes it because she was so happy freshman year it would sort of have to be everything. A combination of classes taught by world-famous experts and parties where people dress in their underwear - as far as I can tell....</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies about Princeton. I'd be happy to hear from anyone else, as I expect that several young people on the math team I coach will submit applications to Princeton over the next few years.</p>
<p>Didn't the "D" choose between Princeton (as a legacy) and the local Stanford after she didn't get into one of the "irregular" schools to which she applied SCEA?</p>
<p>It relates to the OP's question by helping to put Alumother's comment in context - particularly as it disses the schools which, she sniffs, don't have "regular kids".</p>
<p>Alumother seems unable to state the virtues of Princeton without reference to the perceived negatives of the schools which, in her eyes, are its "competitors."</p>
<p>This is not only annoying, but a bit hypocritical under the circumstances.</p>
<p>You know what? That's what my daughter said. I figured that the words of an 18-year old were what tokenadult was looking for. What I wrote is exactly how she phrased it. I won't exhume the discussion about why my D applied the way she did. You know the history and no one else cares:).</p>
<p>tokenadult, you could maybe restart this thread and title it, Class of 2009, 2010, What Do You Like About Princeton?</p>
<p>That way you will maybe get Icargirl and philntex, ec1234 etc. to answer. Maybe on the 2010 thread?</p>
<p>tokenadult, another way to approach this is there are a couple of posters here whose kids are very math-oriented who are going to Princeton. Dizzymom I think? Katwkittens? Although they may be more physics than math, you can try them and see what they think.</p>