Hey guys. I’m an international student who just got accepted into Princeton. Many people say residential life is one of the most important elements of college experience and I totally agree with that. I know that there are 6 residential colleges in Princeton: Butler, Mathey, Whitman, Wilson, Rocky and Forbes. I’ve heard great things about all colleges in general from Youtube videos and other sources but I haven’t really found any information of distinctive features of each college. I mean things like the general type of students living there, the values of each college, and whether it’s like in Harry Potter movies where there’s a rivalry among colleges etc. I’m so excited to come to Princeton this fall and I really appreciate if you guys could give me an inside word about the residential colleges in particular and about life in Princeton in general. Thanks a lot.
bump
First of all, congratulations on your admission to Princeton!
Students are assigned to residential colleges by housing once matriculation is complete. You will find out your rooming assignment sometime in late July. Housing does their best to have a roughly similar cross section of the student body in each of the residential colleges. For this reason, there is not as much of a distinction in the “types” of students in each of the colleges. The “values” of each college probably vary more based on the personalities of who happens to be there each year than anything else. However I can describe a bit of what each of the colleges are like physically.
There are six residential colleges - 3 are 2 year colleges (Forbes, Rocky and Wilson) and 3 are 4 year (Mathey, Whitman and Butler) which you probably figured out from the website and youtube. Whatever college you are assigned to will be yours for the first two years. Before you arrive you will be assigned a room and room mates based on your stated preferences on one of your matriculation forms as closely as housing is able to match you. At the end of your first year you will be able to enter room draw and choose your room and room mates within your college.
Forbes is on the west end of campus on the golf course. It was a former inn and converted into housing a number of years back. For some of the students who live there the lengthy walk to some parts of campus isn’t preferred. I know some students who lived there and they developed a close knit community. Forbes also hosts a vegetarian menu once a week and a great brunch on the weekends.
Rocky/Mathey are nearest to Nassau and most resemble the “Hogwarts” look - particularly the shared dining hall which is beautiful. It’s also an older residence which means it hasn’t been updated much and room layouts can be a bit strange.
Whitman is the newest residence centrally located on campus. There are lots of singles in Whitman. It has some great multi purpose areas. I’ve heard some say they aren’t big fans of the lighting throughout. I believe it’s the only residential college that is completely connected so that you can move between all the buildings without going outdoors.
Wilson/Butler are also centrally located. Wilson is comprised of mostly older buildings but location wise it can’t be beat. Butler has more new buildings and some are even air conditioned (most on campus are not).
There are some activities organized by residential colleges such as trips to NYC and other events but as time goes on you’ll develop other interests and connections on campus. I’m not sure there is that much rivalry between the colleges…all of them offer great opportunities to connect and get involved. For my son
(now a junior) his residential college experience has been more of a launching point than anything.
Princeton is really a wonderful place! Enjoy these next four years…they really do fly by!