You will work harder than you have ever worked before but you will take away one of the best educations America has to offer. The environment is highly conducive to learning; your peers are motivated, every lounge and common room is a potential quiet study area, the professors are brilliant and care about their students. My computers' professor told me that he wished he didn't have to assign grades, since the important thing was learning something, not performing well on a test. That said, there is a LOT of pressure to get good grades. Widespread grade deflation doesn't help. Many students find their motivation to learn transformed into motivation to keep up their GPA. If this happens, you'll continue to take in an astonishing quantity of knowledge in an astonishingly short amount of time, but you will have a smaller soul. Resist the pressure.
Do you enjoy the experience at your school?
You are certain to find some extracurricular, be it club, dance group, or volunteer service, to consume your extremely limited free time. You will probably end up a leading board member of said club or dance group while spearheading your own community service initiative. How Princeton students manage to juggle their exhausting rigorous academic schedules and their absurdly over-committed outside-the-classroom lives mystifies everyone, especially the Princeton students.
Campus is stunning. The facilities (gym, lounges, libraries) are great and well maintained. School pride is embraced to the point of cultishness. If you don't let your commitments eat you alive, you'll love it here.
Do you feel you’re getting value for the money you’re spending on college?
Princeton has one of the best financial aid package of all the Ivies. If you don't qualify, however, then you are paying an obscene amount of money for a degree you could theoretically get somewhere else for half or even a third of the price. Is it worth it? I think so. My professors are the best in their field, I have 3 different academic advisers, and campus life is overflowing with free food/events/lectures/performances. This semester I'm going on a University-sponsored trip to Bermuda for coral reef research. There are universities as expensive as Princeton where that simply would not be a viable option. I'm not sure what these universities are spending their money on, but Princeton spends it on undergrads. You are the university's economic priority.
Do you have any tips for prospective students?
Know why you want to come; because it's Princeton is not a good enough reason. It won't convince admissions officers (they know it's Princeton) and it won't prepare you for your experience here. You should have some feel for the work load, the expectations, and the culture before you enroll. If you don't, you'll probably end up loving it anyway, but you will have a VERY difficult first semester.
Which types of students will excel at your college?
Highly self-motivated, initiative-taking, stress-resistant multi-taskers with leadership skills who aren't daunted by the prospect of not being the best at everything.
You will work harder than you have ever worked before but you will take away one of the best educations America has to offer. The environment is highly conducive to learning; your peers are motivated, every lounge and common room is a potential quiet study area, the professors are brilliant and care about their students. My computers' professor told me that he wished he didn't have to assign grades, since the important thing was learning something, not performing well on a test. That said, there is a LOT of pressure to get good grades. Widespread grade deflation doesn't help. Many students find their motivation to learn transformed into motivation to keep up their GPA. If this happens, you'll continue to take in an astonishing quantity of knowledge in an astonishingly short amount of time, but you will have a smaller soul. Resist the pressure.
You are certain to find some extracurricular, be it club, dance group, or volunteer service, to consume your extremely limited free time. You will probably end up a leading board member of said club or dance group while spearheading your own community service initiative. How Princeton students manage to juggle their exhausting rigorous academic schedules and their absurdly over-committed outside-the-classroom lives mystifies everyone, especially the Princeton students. Campus is stunning. The facilities (gym, lounges, libraries) are great and well maintained. School pride is embraced to the point of cultishness. If you don't let your commitments eat you alive, you'll love it here.
Princeton has one of the best financial aid package of all the Ivies. If you don't qualify, however, then you are paying an obscene amount of money for a degree you could theoretically get somewhere else for half or even a third of the price. Is it worth it? I think so. My professors are the best in their field, I have 3 different academic advisers, and campus life is overflowing with free food/events/lectures/performances. This semester I'm going on a University-sponsored trip to Bermuda for coral reef research. There are universities as expensive as Princeton where that simply would not be a viable option. I'm not sure what these universities are spending their money on, but Princeton spends it on undergrads. You are the university's economic priority.
Know why you want to come; because it's Princeton is not a good enough reason. It won't convince admissions officers (they know it's Princeton) and it won't prepare you for your experience here. You should have some feel for the work load, the expectations, and the culture before you enroll. If you don't, you'll probably end up loving it anyway, but you will have a VERY difficult first semester.
Highly self-motivated, initiative-taking, stress-resistant multi-taskers with leadership skills who aren't daunted by the prospect of not being the best at everything.