<p>Wow, I came onto the forums, and I didn't really see any topics I really wanted to respond to; this, however, definitely sparked my interest because I was in a very, very similar situation as you are in now.</p>
<p>So after I was accepted to Princeton as well as other colleges, I decided it was not worth choosing colleges based on their physics programs (I'm a physics major). Each had fantastic programs, and there were other things that really would have more weight than the few subtle differences in programs.</p>
<p>So here is what I know about Princeton now that I did not know before:</p>
<p>-The math department is...fantastic. I had taken three years of rigorous proof-based math classes before Princeton, and each year taught by the same teacher, and each year it wsa taught rather poorly. The Princeton math department is very lax, and they let you take any classes you would like - you will be able to figure out if you fit or not. My professor was SO fantastic at teaching, I will be nominating him for best professor of the semester, even though I hear other professors are even better. He explained things in such a way that it was obvious that he mastered the material, and the explanations themselves were so intuitive that....well, in the end, I came into Princeton saying there was a 5% chance of me becoming a math major, and now it has definitely increased.</p>
<p>-The Physics department - Ok, I'm not going to say such great things about the physics department. I knew most of the material taught in the advanced mechanics class, and thus even with the teaching not being spectacular, I was able to do fine. I will say now that the teaching is NOT as good as I saw on MIT courseware - Walter Lewin is an amazing teacher, and I highly recommend his lectures. I suppose I may have had high expectations after watching all of Walter Lewin's lectures; however, I am pretty sure they will be changing teachers this year, because plenty of people will say their opinions on the course evaluation (I hear the person who taught it for the last 4 years was AMAZING, and they just changed it this year). Ok the department itself: The curriculum is a lot more structured than math, and this is simply because the physics department does all of undergraduate physics in 3 years. The professors are fantastic people - once, I asked a professor if he could open the door into the room that we were supposed to hand in our homework to, because the person in it left and had not come back. I was embarrassed because once we got back, she was back, and I asked him to come for no reason. But it turned out to be a good idea anyway; there were books lying around, and he said we could have them. We didn't know WHY, but once we opened them, all of them were signed by John Wheeler.
What I want to say, though, is that basically every other impression I have had from the department has been great, and if you want, I could give u my impressions while I am taking E&M next semester to see if the teaching really does get better. My academic adviser is from the physics department, and he is a great guy; his current research is with the LHC. He did not hesitate when I asked about his research, and I spent a while just talking to him about it. He brought it down to a level I understood, and I very much enjoyed speaking with him.</p>
<p>Now I guess I'll write a couple random things in perhaps less detail, only because I didnt know of them before I got to Princeton, and they are definitely noteworthy:</p>
<p>The language program: Languages at princeton are taught very, very well. People taking Chinese shock the native chinese speakers with how much they can say in a short about of time, and they can say it correctly. If they do not offer a class in a certain language, you can ask and they will MAKE a class for you. I have a friend taking Romanian, and she is the only person in her class. I am taking Polish, and I am one of four people in the class. The classes are taught well, and not in the traditional lectures in which the teacher writes notes on the board and you take them down and study later. Instead, you play games and have activities to sharpen your skills in the language.</p>
<p>Monthly physics lectures: Every month or so (although they have many minor ones each week), a famous physicist comes in and gives a lecture on a certain topic - a public lecture. He or she brings it down to an understandable level, and we each get to get a taste for the material we would go into in graduate school. I go to these lectures whenever I can, and they are most certainly a great experience.</p>
<p>There is a lot more I could say about Princeton, talking about free food, the activities, the clubs, and plenty more. However, this is already a ridiculously long post, and I have hit a lot of topics here already. In the end, as long as you put thought into where you want to go to college, it will be difficult for you to make a wrong choice; I am sure, however, that Princeton would be one such good choice.</p>