<p>I'm hoping some of you might be able to offer your perspectives. My daughter is thinking about choosing to attend Princeton where she's delighted she's been accepted. She loved it when she visited overnight. However, she won't be able to attend the admitted students' days because of a conflict. Her main concern is whether she'll feel comfortable with the social/friendship scene given that she is politically quite liberal, not interested in drinking/partying, not pre-professional or business oriented, and not particularly interested in fashion or consumer trends. She's a creative humanities type who loves lively conversation with active, intellectually engaged kids who don't take themselves too seriously. She's hoping it won't be too hard to find her niche. Thoughts?</p>
<p>Your daughter sounds exactly like me, and I am enjoying my time at Princeton immensely. It will definitely not be a problem. :)</p>
<p>your description of your daughter describes a huge subset of the princeton population- she will definitely fit in</p>
<p>Your daughter sounds a lot like me, too, and I'm Princeton '11!!</p>
<p>Your daughter sounds like me too, and I'm also Class of '11, so at least there'll be three of us! :)</p>
<p>Welcome, Class of '11, from Class of '10. :)</p>
<p>Happy to be here!! :)</p>
<p>she sounds like me too! im liberal, not into drinking, want to major in creative writing, and im class of 2011</p>
<p>I believe ~1/3 of the Princeton class does not drink at all (like not one bit), so it is not a big deal there. There is not much peer pressure to do so.</p>
<p>Princeton is fine if you are not pre-professionally oriented; you can switch majors back and forth fairly easily (so long as you fulfill their graduation requirements.) The humanities departments are very, very strong.</p>
<p>your daughter sounds like me too Just kidding
although i am liberal but im more science and economics driven
well im sure she'll find here niche at Princeton
hope to see her in Princeton Class of 2011</p>
<p>Hi, all. It's nice to hear you all can relate. ;) Can any current students or parents hazard a guess as to how many upperclassmen will opt for the 4 year residential colleges and opt out of the eating clubs?</p>
<p>Ramblin--I think that your daughter would be extremely happy at Princeton and fit in quite well. The student body is more liberal than conservative, the arts are flourishing, it is not an overwhelmingly pre-professional campus and the academics are first-rate, with tons of creative intellectually engaged students. As to drinking, of course Princeton, like all campuses, has its share of students who drink a lot, but according to my daughter, no one cares if you drink or not and it's not a big deal on campus either way (by the way, my daughter is a liberal arts type who is enjoying herself enormously).</p>
<p>As to the residential colleges, if I read the information I was sent correctly, but the time your daughter would be a junior, there would be at least 300 spaces for juniors and seniors at the four-year residential colleges and I am certain that all those spaces will be filled. I don't know if there are plans to expand that number before her junior year.</p>
<p>ramblin, I know this sounds like that "I Love Lucy" episode when the children kept telling Lucy, "hey, itsa my birthday too," but seriously, you are describing my son. Like the others, he will be in the class of 2011.</p>
<p>midatlmom or anyone else - I've read through the Princeton website where they discuss the new housing and dining options, and I'm rather confused. I'm going to contact the housing office to try to get some answers, but do you know if a freshman is placed in a four year residential college for 2007, do they get to stay there for all 4 years? Or if they are placed in a two year college for 2007, are they guaranteed a spot in a four year college for the last two years? What if there are no spots left in the four year college and the student doesn't want to be independent or join an eating club? How do they eat? And do you know if eating clubs charge all members the same fee - or are there separate dining and entertainment fees? What if a member wants to eat the food but not drink (or pay for) the alcohol? :confused: :o</p>
<p>If you are placed into a four-year residential college as a freshman, after your sophomore year you make the choice of either staying in your residential college, or moving to upperclass housing. You don't have to be in a residential college to use the residential college dining hall, you would just have to pay for the meal plan. If you join an eating club, then its just like buying another meal plan, except you take all of your meals at the Club and not at the res college. If you decide to draw as an independent, then you only pay for the board fee, but no meal plan fee. Within the realm of independent living, you can choose to be a part of a food co-op, which has a fee attached to it. </p>
<p>As for your question about eating clubs, yes you have to pay for the whole shabang, even the alcoholic beverages I'm quite sure. Eating clubs buy alcohol in large quantities, so they cannot anticipate that you may not want to make use of it at some point during the year, and they still need your fee to pay for the parties and events that they do. You are a part of the club, so in joining that club they expect that you joined for all of the club's activities and services, even if you do decide to abstain from drinking alcohol. There is no venue that really forces you to drink anywhere on campus, but in terms of finances, its quite the conflict of interest. Usually people who abstain or live in substance-free housing will not decide to join eating clubs. </p>
<p>Interestingly enough, Princeton is subsidizing the cost of eating clubs for people who are on financial aid through some agreement with the eating clubs. Its not a formal grant system, because that would mean that Princeton would technically be paying you to use alcohol, but I believe the eating clubs have agreed to reduce the fees for students on financial aid, and in turn they are reimbursed somehow per student.</p>
<p>so as of now, this is how its working:</p>
<p>Next year you will be placed in one of the 6 college. Only 2 of them are 4 year colleges right now, I'm not exactly sure when new butler will be built. After your sophomore year you can elect to join a 4 year college. You have preference at the 4 year college that is either the one you are currently in, or the sister college of the one you are currently in (ie Rocky and Mathey both have the same preference to get into Mathey junior year). Until new butler is built, wilson and butler have the same preference into whitman as forbes does. </p>
<p>you are not guaranteed a spot in the college, but you could always buy a meal plan, or you could join the brown co-op, or you could be independent and just eat at frist.</p>
<p>If you join an eating club, you have to pay all of the social fees. THe alcohol budget, atleast at my club, is separate. You pay a certain amount (not very much) at the beginning of the year. There is no way that they could enforce making you pay that, other than to refuse to serve you. However, for members only events, they try very hard to have non-alcoholic options for those members who dont drink, or for hwatever reason aren't drinking that night. If you didn't pay you couldnt get served there either. </p>
<p>The way financial aid works is that the university has a set budget for board. As an upperclassman, starting this year, it is ~$6500. If you are on full aid, they will give you a check for that amount. They don't care what you do with it- you could use it to join an eating club, or buy a residential college meal plan, or use it to cook.</p>
<p>Thanks, tokyorevelation9 and ec1234.</p>
<p>How do you think things will change over the next few years with the new four-year residential colleges, the changes in the dining halls, and the increased student enrollment as far as the eating clubs go?</p>
<p>New Butler is projected to be finished in September 2009. ec1234 is right, you are not guaranteed a spot in the 4-year residential colleges as an upperclass student, but you can just live in upperclass housing and buy a meal plan if you don't want to go independent or join and eating club. </p>
<p>Frankly, although President Tilghman might disagree, I don't believe much will change other than the fact that there will be much more options available for sophomores (rising juniors) in what they want to do their junior year. It will not affect the membership of the eating clubs, as the ones that exist right now are already doing just fine, and I doubt would suffer a membership shortage, as the eating clubs are very respected and popular institutions in the Princeton circle. A majority of people on campus are looking to join one of the eating clubs. President Tilghman thinks that the 4-year res college plan might cut the membership base of the eating clubs on campus, but 1.) eating clubs are already too established, and 2.) if she is hoping for a reduction in alcohol consumption, eliminating some of the few places on campus where the consumption and distribution of alcohol is done in a consistent and safe manner for the most part is a bad idea, and 3.) Eating clubs will always have more popular events than anything a residential college will ever have to offer. </p>
<p>So my prediction is that we will have 2 beautiful new residential colleges by 2009 that will bring more cohesion to Princeton living and make the campus even more beautiful than it already is, but no drastic changes in campus culture will occur. The only thing that may happen is that many of the fraternities and sororities on campus, which already are extremely loosely run and have somewhat weak membership, will likely die out, so Tilghman will win in this regard.</p>
<p>Ramblin--I understand your concerns about eating clubs, but I have always thought that there are many extremely positive aspects of the clubs and they are, on balance, a good thing. From my standpoint, they provide a place where every student at Princeton can attend parties (many events are open to all and there are generally at least a few open parties each weekend). Unlike hs, where I heard many complaints about "there's nothing to do", or where your kid might not have been invited to certain weekend events, all Princeton students can have an enjoyable, generally safe time, in a pleasant location adjacent to the main campus. I actually think that most of the parties are rather tame and my daughter (who is not a drinker or an extreme partier) is very happy to have the option of going to the Street with her friends (in addition, of course, there are many other activities to see and do, such as dance groups, theater, concerts, a capella, sports events etc.).</p>
<p>I am not a big fan of the bicker process, but half the clubs are sign-in clubs open to all. Although bicker, like fraternity/sorority rushing, can result in rejection, many students avoid the process entirely by joining a sign-in club (and there doesn't seem to be a feeling that the sign-in clubs are inferior in any way). Most of the Princeton students are generally interesting, extremely involved in extracurricular activities, academically inclined and non-preppy, and all of these students find a place in eating clubs. The clubs are not a bastion of preppydom or conservative thinking; they are just places where kids can get together with their friends to eat and party.</p>
<p>That said, I believe that the administration is trying to find a way to create different dining options and is committed to the process. I think that the four-year colleges will be fully subscribed and I think that it is likely that, in the future, the university will try and extend the four-year concept to some of the other residential colleges, but I agree with tokyorevelations, that the eating clubs will continue to be extremely popular. I just don't think that they are something to be scared of--I think that your daughter would probably enjoy them and if not, she would have the four-year option (I also think that the university might open the dining areas of the four year colleges to additional juniors and seniors who are not residents of the colleges).</p>
<p>Truer words about our Eating Clubs have not been spoken midatlmom. You do a great service to Princeton and to our prospective students. Thank you.</p>
<p>Go Tigers!</p>