Princeton University Top Questions

See comments in stereotypes section...also I would add that it looks more diverse than it actually is, i.e. if you go beyond race and look at values, economic background, etc.

Just as in high school, the majority of students around me are those I wouldn't associate with. Many are interested in going into investment banking upon graduation; many are members of fraternities and sororities; many are athletes. That's not my scene. But whereas I think I once would have been ridiculously outcast at Princeton, I now have many communities to belong to. There's a small but very welcoming and visible LGBT community, for example, which to me has made all the difference. Most Princeton students come from wealthy American suburbs--I'm from a more modest suburb in California, and I've learned the names of the great Westchester County/Long Island/North Jersey/D.C. area schools that send so many kids here. Most are upper- or middle-class; while there's a wide range of who's on financial aid and who isn't, that's partly because your parents can make over $100,000 and you can still get a third of your tuition paid. I think low-income kids are genuinely underrepresented, and if I were in their number I would feel very isolated. There's a certain expectation that you have money to spend--especially on organic/name brand/etc food--that even I do find awkward at times. That said, though, I think there's a wide range of folks within the socioeconomic uniformity. Personally, Princeton kids are as different as can be--politically, socially, etc. If you were to poll the student body on basically any item of preference, you would probably find a majority swinging in one direction, but significant minorities choosing every other option.

They are constantly surprising in their background, abilities and psychological issues.

They are brilliant, caring, intelligent, hard-working, ambitious.

The two kinds of guys at Princeton are guys who wear loafers and guys who do not. For girls it's more complicated.

I have kept a journal for years, and I recently saw an entry that I had written as a junior at Princeton. I wrote, "I've seen the statistics and this is a diverse school, on paper. The people here are smart and unique and everyone had to distinguish themselves just to be seriously considered for admission. So why do I feel stuck in a sea of sameness? Everyone wears the same clothes, cuts their hair the same way, goes to the same club every Thursday and Saturday. Today in precept, everyone but (the quiet girl) and me just kept going around in circles agreeing with one another." This might have been a bit harsh, but it was certainly how I felt at the time. I think there is a general sense at Princeton that it's important to fit in. Maybe it's a feeling that distinguishing oneself should be through accomplishments rather than, say, a force of personality or fashion. The truth is that, below the superficial, most students do have something unique and significant about them. But, just as they won't always feel the need to wear their erudition on their sleeves (though some will always try to prove they're smart enough to be in the room, as it were), most Princeton students don't flaunt their accomplishments. You have to get to know someone to find out that they took a year off to bicycle through the contiguous 48 states, or that they started a web business from their dorm room that's already profitable. In a way it's refreshing that pretty much everyone is approachable. But I still find it odd that a student accomplished enough to get into Princeton would call her parents crying because they won't let her spend more than $1000 on clothes this month and she just CAN'T live without all the things she circled in the latest preppy-clothes catalog. (Different person from the crying-about-clothes roommate I mentioned elsewhere.)

My classmates are highly intelligent and highly motivated students, who all have something special about them--something beyond good grades--that got them into the school.

They are very nice and friendly!

A Princeton student explains who shouldn’t go to Princeton and who would feel out of place at this school.

A Princeton student explains who shouldn’t go to Princeton and who would feel out of place at this school.