<p>Haha...nice try. If you think that I am right now wallowing in grief and bitterness over my rejection from Princeton (the-highest-ranked-ivy-league-school-by-three-different-magazines), you're seriously deluded. Yeah, Harvard, Yale, Amherst, etc are such crap schools that no one in his/her right mind would attend, right? I can assure you that I'm not crying into my pillow at night. And I'm not insecure enough that I would need to sneer at other people's rejections to make myself feel better. What a cheap move. </p>
<p>But, back to topic. You accused me of having a Harvard bias. Prove it. And I'll spare you the trouble of digging up more of my old posts to see what other schools I got rejected from by telling you now that those were the only schools I applied to. So now, you have no excuses. Please prove my alleged Harvard bias.</p>
<p>Princeton or Yale. I really think it depends upon the major you are interested in. For sciences, mathematics and engineering I think Priceton is a far better choice. environment and community are important too, but not as important as the strength of the academic program you are interesred in. right?</p>
<p>Okay, I think we've all missed the point of this thread. We are supposed to be giving Iki the reasons he should attend Princeton...and right now I don't think I would want to attend if I was him. This whole argument is absurd. The rankings are arbitrary and really when the rank is just one or two different but still in the top ten, what does it matter? </p>
<p>Iki, I think that you should decide what you want. Do you want urban or suburban? Which school has the residential plan that you like better? Yale has those four year res. colleges with frosh all living separately; Princeton has the two year res. colleges then co-ops, and upperclassmen housing. Do you want the possibility of the eating clubs? Both schools have tons of ECs in so many areas, but is there a specific EC that one of the schools has that you want? What are you interested in studying? Which school has a better program in the area you want to study? How easy is it to change majors/concentrations at each school?</p>
<p>While we (the CCers) can give you our opinions on both schools (and I garauntee they are biased), we aren't the ones making the decisions. My advice is to do some research, some self-questioning, and go visit. If you decide on Yale, I'm sure you will have a great time. If you decide Princeton, I'll see you there in the fall.</p>
<p>pcessly has destroyed this thread and the one in the yale forum as well with his narrow minded (and almost pathological) views on why princeton is better than yale. But he can't give one good reason unlike many other posters. He just quotes the admission selectivity criteria for usnews or PR. He doesn't even go to princeton.</p>
<p>pcessly - I'm not so narrow-minded as you are. Just because I got into a school doesn't mean that I have to gush about how great it is or claim that it is the best. I see Harvard's faults just as I see Yale's or Princeton's faults. Again, I remind you that I applied to Yale EA. Maybe now you can get that ridiculous idea of my being Harvard biased out of your head. (btw: you still haven't produced any tangible evidence to support your accusation, except to make nasty insinuations).</p>
<p>HYP are all great schools. The best one is the one that will fit you the best. If for you pcessly, some random ranking in a magazine is the most important factor when picking a school, then by all means, go to Princeton. But please stop quoting anymore rankings, because in case you haven't noticed, no one else really cares.</p>
<p>I agree with enjeneer, this thread has totally missed its purpose. Let's get back on track. Frankly, I'm more interested in learning about these schools than arguing with pcessly whose narrow-mindness really scares me sometimes.</p>
<p>Crimson, I am repeating myself because you keep saying the same thing. My point is that whether the ranking is based on selectivity or something else, the national publications keep putting Princeton ahead. You have tried to minimize their impact by referring to them as selectivity polls. That is NOT TRUE.</p>
<ol>
<li>US News is not a selectivity poll. Selectivity is only one factor of many it considers. </li>
<li>The Fiske Guide's opinion of Yale has little to do with selectivity. I suggest you read it. </li>
<li>The National Student Review Guide (that cannot be mentioned here) rating is based on quality of academics.</li>
<li>The Princeton Review "Tough to Get Into List" is a selectivity with a sophisticated formula.</li>
<li>The Atlantic Monthly is also a selectivity ranking with a different formula.</li>
</ol>
<p>Five different national publications, five different criteria. All saying the same thing - Princeton ahead of Yale. </p>
<p>Don't get angry with me, call the publishers if you disagree! In response to the original post, the introduction of unbiased, well researched, educated and respected opinions seems quite appropriate.</p>
<p>My point is and I'm going to spell this out since you have little ability to understand everyone's posts here:</p>
<p>THESE RANKINGS DO NOT MATTER!!! THEY DO NOT INDICATE THAT ONE SCHOOL IS BETTER THAN THE OTHER. IF YOU THINK THAT PRINCETON IS BETTER THAN YALE OR HARVARD BECAUSE OF THESE PUBLICATIONS, YOU ARE DELUSIONAL. </p>
<p>And it seems everyone here agrees with me. And this is your princeton board. You need some insight into your narrow-minded world.</p>
<p>The rankings do not matter? Tell the millions who buy these publications and the GCs and College Reps who use them.</p>
<p>The rankings are only as good as the criteria upon which they are based. And the criteria (as with US News and PR) tells us much about a school.</p>
<p>I guess they don't matter that much. 3/4 or more go to the lower ranked Harvard over Princeton. Can you explain that if your precious rankings are so important. You can't, because they aren't that important. They are not the truth but rather a GUIDE, and should be used as such. You seem to have no opinion of your own.</p>
<p>This beast seems to have taken on a life of its own. I suppose I have no control over the matter, but I started this thread, and I daresay the intention was to have informed conversation on these two schools. This bickering won't solve anything, and ultimately the question of ratings is irrelevant (#1 vs. #2, come one!).</p>
<p>lki, maybe you wrote it before and i missed it amongst all this bickering.
What are your interests? What do you want to major in? </p>
<p>I'm not the best person to give you advice, but maybe if you say more about what YOU want, you would receive better answers regarding what is best for YOU.</p>
<p>Princeton has always been considered the weakest in terms of selectivity of the three top Ivies. They use sleazy admissions tactics to boast their yield; a person with a 1450 SAT is more likely to be accepted than one with a 1550 SAT. Maybe cncm was rejected because s/he was overqualified.</p>
<p>That said, HYP are all amazing schools and to choose one over another based on selectivity is just absurd. There are a variety of factors that need to be considered, like atmosphere, location, academic programs, and a million other things.</p>
<p>Thanks for the prodding, Revan.
Disciplinarily, I'm a bit torn, but my prospective majors are Classics (Latin and Greek), Philosophy and Latin. Realistically, I doubt I will end up as physics major, but I do plan to take some courses. I'm hoping to get a strong liberal arts education in both the humanities and the sciences.
I may eventually pursue a career in politics/policy, but that can wait for grad school. In particular, I have concerns about how Princeton vs. Yale would play in European politics (if you really wanna know why, search for my posts on the old board) - but that is a topic this board might not be best placed to answer.</p>
<p>Socially - I'm not that worried about elitism at either school per se, but it seems eating clubs DO sponsor a certain cliquishness: certain groups end up in certain clubs. Also, upperclassmen men at Princeton supposedly take all the underclass girls, leaving none for the frosh and soph guys.
Are these claims true?... and is Yale any better?</p>
<p>LOL fids are u kidding me, first of all HYP are pretty much equal, why would they need sleazy admissions? princeton's yield has always been pretty much the same as yale. not only that, but more people i have known with 1400s have gotten into yale and not princeton. princeton has the most unique application and is different from yale and harvard. princeton has always also been ranked as the most selective out of HYP</p>
<p>no, eating clubs dont really create cliquishness, people create cliques. when i visited princeton, i didnt feel much cliqueyness like i did at stanford/vandy/duke</p>
<p>Classics, Latin... definetely not my strong points. I will almost surely major Physics at Princeton. But for Classics, i won't recommend anything. </p>
<p>Perhaps someone who knows Yale and Princeton better can comment on their programs in Classics, Latin, Philosophy, it would help. But comment and compare, do not rank!</p>
<p>As for the girls... look at it this way: Upperclassmen hiting on freshgirls, means a lot of upset and desperate upperclasswomen for freshmen.</p>