Princeton University Top Questions

Most of my experiences with racial, religious, LGBT, etc., were during my last two years at Princeton as an RCA. Any student can easily feel out of place at Princeton depending on who they room with, take classes with, are in close proximity to, etc., freshmen year. Princeton makes a strong push to integrate all students but in reality, it's a two way street. Students wear a variety of attire to class, ranging from sweatpants and t-shirts to more preppy, high end wear. Different types of students interact for classes. Most Princeton students are from educated backgrounds. Financial backgrounds vary from the very wealthy who pay full tuition as well as donate profusely to those who pay nothing or only a couple thousand a year for tuition. Students tend to be less politically aware at Princeton compared to other schools and are predominately center. Students, especially seniors, talk about how much they'll earn post graduation given that quite a few enter the working force.

Princeton is mostly apathetic politically, but like every college, there is a small cadre of political zealots who "run the show," politically. The domination of campus dialogue by this relatively small group takes place mostly in the context of the Daily Princetonian, lectures put on by student groups (political and special-interest), and dialogues with the administration. Most people here come to college undecided politically. They tend towards liberalism because it is seen as the "nice guy's political orientation," though most don't spend enough time thinking about politics to be able aptly to defend their convictions. As is always the case, there are hard-liners on the right and the left, but I find that at Princeton, there's an unusually large base of middle-grounders, many of whom I've found to be highly open to reasonable argument.

Princeton provided me opportunities to interact with a much more diverse group of people than I ever had before. Students who grew up in urban, poverty-afflicted areas would probably feel most out of place. Most students would wear jeans and a shirt or button down to class, a few got more dressed up Four tables: asians, jocks, nerds, miscellaneous A lot of students seem to be from the East Coast, namely New England Upper middle-upper class predominate The majority are politically aware but fewer are active, predominantly left Some students do talk about money

A student who would feel out of place at Princeton -- someone who feels naturally drawn to the "popular kids" but is generally quiet and finds it hard to get involved in their own interests. It can be easy to get swept up in the "glamour" of the bicker eating clubs, but if you are confident enough to follow your own interests rather than popularity, then it's a really great place. The political activity on campus is shamefully low, myself included. I think people are interested, but not active.

Princeton makes great efforts to increase diversity on campus and admit students from different backgrounds, but that being said, the vast majority of students are white. Minority groups tend to self-segregate, creating their own social groups. Of course there are exceptions, and this "segregation" isn't enforced by any real social pressure. Students in general are sadly politically unaware, but you can still see demonstrations around campus almost every week (the local branch of PETA is pretty active).

Princeton has a weird social scene- its hard to meet new people and the entire class doesn't get together much. So its hard to know really who would feel out of place. I would say that different types of people don't interact nearly as much as i would have liked. everyone gets into a group freshman/soph year and sticks with it. People do interact through extracurricular activities though, which i thought was the best way to meet people. I thought that on the whole, Princeton students are pretty apathetic when it comes to political issues, etc. But when you really talk to people, you can see how smart/talented/remarkable each Princeton student is individually, even if it doesnt come out in the larger campus picture.

One of the first things you do at Princeton Freshmen Orientation is meet with a number of racial, religious, LGBT, and other groups on campus. I think some people find it hard to meet people if you aren't joining any clubs, groups, or sports teams. Some students show up to class in pearls and polos, while others show up in sweatpants. I can't really describe four tables at a dining hall... a ton of people mix and mingle. I guess I could see one sports team table, one religious/racial/LGBT group, and then one table of people all in the same dorm. The important thing to realize is how diverse the student population is. You can get people with wealthy backgrounds sitting with people with low socio-economic backgrounds, football players sitting with econ die hards, and so on.

Princeton students look remarkably uniform, but underneath this I think there's a good amount of diversity (aside from socioeconomic as I said before). There's a substantial (or maybe just outspoken) contingent of conservatives, but lots of liberals as well and many apathetic people. The university provides support for various groups in the form of a women's center, LGBT center, international center, among others. In my experience, however, people tended to hang out with people like themselves, and there was talk as well of self-segregation on campus.

Prineton is incredibly diverse.

Princeton students are very motivated and ambitious, which is why a lot of students are apathetic about the outside world. However, I can't imagine that this is too different from our peer schools. Princeton is incredibly diverse, and the University invests tons of time, effort, and money into ensuring that everyone feels welcome. Despite all of the diversity, however, people do tend to self-segregate.