Princeton University Top Questions

It's hard to talk about Princeton's student body as a continuous group because there is so much diversity. I think that one way to describe the student body is involved. While I'm involved with two club sports teams and a sorority on campus, everyone I talk to is involved in something else. Every student seems to find their niche, with involvement in any assortment of activities. The active student body creates a really positive feeling on campus. Students here are from all different social and economic backgrounds. While a lot of kids are from NY/NJ or CA, I have never felt lonely being from Oregon. People care a lot more about what you bring to Princeton and how you interact on campus rather than your background.

Contrary to the stereotypes, there are many, many types of people at Princeton. During your freshman and sophomore years, the residential colleges provide an opportunity to meet people who have been somewhat randomly thrown together. Some of my best friends from college were the people I lived with or near freshman year. You will be given the chance to meet lots of people at all of the various orientation programs during freshman week. I highly recommend participating in either the Outdoor Action (camping in the woods) or Community Action (volunteering in a city) programs as a way to feel connected to your new classmates. Once you get into junior and senior year, you have another chance to meet people by joining an eating club. Plus, because precepts are small (usually about 10 students), you can really get to know people in your classes. Overall, it's not hard to branch out and make new friends at Princeton.

Princeton students are from every background possible, and despite stereotypes, everyone seems to get along with one another. It really doesn't matter what your financial background is. I feel like Princeton is a very accepting environment, and everyone's free to be who they want to be. There's no expected persona.

The only kind of person who would feel out of place is someone who is judgmental or close-minded. Students here have an innate curiosity to better understand their peers; to learn from them and support them in their passions.

Most students are outwardly preppy, which is nice, because it means students are able to express themselves in ways other than clothing. I think we have a relatively diverse student body. People have an amazing range of interests, passions and backgrounds.

I don't belong to any racial, religious, LGBT, socio-economic or other groups of this type. However, they are fairly prominent on campus, and hold many events open to the student body throughout the semester. I can't think of a particular kind of student who would feel out of place here. There are certainly minorities, but as a whole the student body is so diverse that it seems everyone can find a place to feel comfortable. Most students get dress nicely for class (i.e., not sweatpants and a t-shirt) but it's pretty casual. Different types of students interact in classes, but outside of academia, Princeton can be pretty clique-y. There is a lot of grouping, and stereotypes that follow those groups: sorority, fraternity, eating club, sports team, a capella group, dance group, etc. Football guys (beefy, making immature jokes); international table (speaking strange eastern European languages); frat/sorority table; engineer's table (working on problem sets while they eat). Princeton students are literally from all over the world. A fair number seem to be from New York City or New Jersey. Many students come from extremely wealthy financial backgrounds (i.e., fly to school in a private jet and have family members who own islands), but Princeton also has a generous financial aid program, which allows them to admit students from less fortunate financial backgrounds. Other than College Democrats and College Republicans, Princeton doesn't seem to have a hugely politically active environment. It's not that people are apathetic - they seem generally aware of what's going on in the world, but they don't necessarily want to discuss politics at the dinner table. It seems to be a pretty even split between liberal and conservative ideologies. Students don't really talk about how much they'll earn on day, but have a general sense that they will be well-off.

Most students care about what they wear to class. i know that i wouldn't dare look like a slob - I know I wouldn't take myself seriously, and I wouldn't expect anyone else to take me seriously in that situation. Fact is, most people seem to be rich and white but that's just the image everyone puts forward. Not everyone is. I promise.

Every kind of group or organization you could ever want. We even had a club called Taste, which was essentially made up of gourmands who received money from the university to go eat exotic food in nice restaurants. Pretty fantastic. My roommate is gay and says she doesn't feel there are a lot of lesbians on campus, at least not ones that are 'out'. LGBT center is very active and present, but I don't know if this is the best campus for gay kids. Its not bad, but it could be better. Students wear everything... some get dressed very, very well to go to class, others are in sweats or pajamas. That's not all that common though. A lot of Princeton kids are from New Jersey actually, but definitely a strong showing from the coasts. A bunch from England and not as much other European countries. Kids are pretty well off for the most part, though the University says that 55{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} receive financial aid. Students are predominantly liberal, but there are definitely a strong showing of conservatives. Students are very, very aware of their earning potential and a huge amount of kids here will go on to Wall Street, investment banking, etc. Very, very popular path for Princeton kids.

The student body is incredibly diverse, and all the students are active and involved with something in some way. It's amazing the amount of talent that floats around Princeton - you can meet someone new and discover that they've spent their summers working in labs at some famous company for the past three years. It's fantastic. Especially as an arts person, I have thrived in such an inspiring community of students who are so passionate, from music majors to engineers. I feel confident that anyone could find their place at Princeton.

There is a certain degree of segregation on campus. But I feel that for the most part, the campus is pretty accepting of different groups. In general, there is a pretty good amount of diversity, so there is nobody who really feels too out of place. However, it is not uncommon that athletes tend to stick to themselves to a certain degree. The same is true of other groups too, but this is just in general. There is a lot of intermingling on a daily basis.