<p>A lot of kids feel that way. Nothing super-special about Yale (or Princeton, or Harvard, either) in that respect.</p>
<p>Nothing more "engaged" - or similar cliches - about Yale students vs students elsewhere, including Dartmouth.</p>
<p>All of that is a given. The question is whether an international experience - and not just a summer vacation jaunt - is seen (not by the kiddies, but by the educators) as a necessary part of a liberal education in the 21st century.</p>
<p>This is an emerging consensus - even at Yale - although "maybe its hard for you to fathom", asap.</p>
<p>Luckily, one's "liberal education" does not have to end when you graduate senior year. Many people go overseas after undergraduate. It's never too late. Say I, sitting here in Shanghai....</p>
<p>Golly, "cautious pessimism", why in such a sour mood?</p>
<p>It's all fine and well to do your Tiger-dance to win cross admits by subtly (yeah, I know the old party line: "I would never dissuade anyone from attending..")</p>
<p>Summer study abroad is, in general, much more than a "vacation jaunt." Many of the languages offer intensive summer study programs in their respective nations, i.e Princeton in Beijing or Princeton in France. There are also international internship opportunities, as well as the option of doing a summer session at a university in another country, either on your own or through a program sponsored by another American college.</p>
<p>There is no obstacle preventing Princeton students from studying abroad if they so desire. One of the reasons students here may do so less frequently than at other schools is because of the demands of independent research - although it is possible to write a Junior Paper when not at Princeton, it is more difficult.</p>
<p>I have heard that Princeton students tend not to study abroad for a semester or year becuase:
1. Surveys quoted on this site suggest that students at Princeton are very satisfied with being at Princeton, as opposed to some other elite institutions where students report much higher levels of dissatisfaction. Some of those less than fully satisfied students welcome the opportunity to earn the prestigious diploma while actually spending time away from their campus. I dont wish to push the point, but study abroad rates have a hint of revealed preference to them, although I agree that the quality of the study abroad program is also a factor.
2. The only real opportunity for Princeton students to go abroad is as sophomores. Freshmen cant; seniors are consumed with their thesis; and juniors are writing JPs and looking to for professors to work with as seniors.
However, a lot of Princeton students take advantage of other programs to study or work aborad during the summer.</p>
<p>Byerly and CautiousPessimism, you guys are hilarious :D
I can't see why Byerly has to start a flame war about almost everything. Princeton is very generous with studying abroad. My friend is studying abroad in Wales with university grant; he had no trouble whatsoever in applying for it. There must be some reasons why a lot of students feel that the Princeton administration works as smooth as butter right?</p>
<p>The OP asked why Princeton does not accept transfers, and I attempted to answer his question. Princeton has made certain choices which limit its ability to accept transfers. Nothing inherently good or bad about those choices ... they're just choices. (See my first, simply factual, post.) </p>
<p>You can't accept transfers if there are no beds for them. One way to "create" beds is to increase the number of students studying abroad during the school year. Nothing remarkable about that.</p>
<p>Certain posters, however, get very defensive about everything, and apparently need to view the absence of (most, other than athletic) transfers as an unalloyed positive. They then imply that at schools which <em>do</em> openly offer the opportunity for limited transfers, (which includes virtually every school in America) students are "unhappy" with their school. Now <em>that's</em> a flame reaction.</p>