Admissions is a curious process. For years, the prefrosh arriving on campus have groomed themselves into the types of individuals universities would want. Each student’s cocktail, whether founded on academics, athletics, notable leadership or other qualities, met the scrutiny of picky admissions offices. For a high school senior, I remember the process being miserable.
Once acceptance letters arrive, everything flips. Now, each university — and the students within in — needs to prove to its crop of prefrosh that the “_____ campus” is right for them. Princeton and its peers are now competing for someone else’s affection.
To this day I believe that Princeton was the right choice for me. But looking back, I realize that I made that decision for the entirely wrong reasons. Many of my justifications have held to my junior year, but overall what I’ve loved about Princeton were factors I didn’t even consider when making my decision back in the spring of 2009.
So, without further delay, my top five overhyped aspects of Princeton and the five reasons you (prefrosh!) should come anyway:
Overhyped
5. Lecture series — I don’t mean to discredit the campus lecture series — Princeton can pull some great speakers. I’ve just needed to pick and choose which ones I can make. Academic and athletic obligations can prevent students from attending even the best talks the administration sponsors, so a college decision shouldn’t be made or broken based on which speakers come to campus.
4. Nassau Hall — It’s a great photo op and may be Princeton’s most “historic” building, but I’ve only ever been in Nassau Hall twice as an actual student — and only when I was invited. I’m not complaining either. It’s an administrative building, not a museum for me to explore.
3. Beautiful libraries — I tried studying in the Chancellor Green Rotunda (in my opinion, the most beautiful spot on campus) during my freshman fall finals but only found myself distracted by the stained glass and intricate carvings. Some may be able to resist this temptation, but I’ve always done my best studying in the Soviet gulag-themed Firestone recesses.
2. “Science for non-scientist” courses — I’ve taken a couple of these classes in an attempt to stray outside my social science background. Although both courses were taught well, the bimodal distribution of “science people looking for an easy course” and “social science and humanities students filling a distribution requirement” created an environment where half the class got an easy A, half the class PDFed and nobody paid attention.
1. Residential colleges — Since my first Orange Key tour my junior year of high school, I had envisioned the residential colleges as some sort of Harry Potter-like house system where each college had its “thing” or “quirk” that united its denizens. This was, in hindsight, a ludicrous theory. When I arrived on campus, I discovered that none of my fantasies were true and that the only college with a “thing” was Forbes, which I gathered was Princeton’s Alaska. Alas, filing students according to their personalities and interests was the job of student organizations and eating clubs, not Nassau Hall. The res colleges were great for academic advising, “shrinking the campus” and whatnot, but as far as actual social connection I — and most others, I suspect — look elsewhere.
Undersold
5. Princeton’s geographic size — Over winter break I discovered that my “10-minute walk from the Slums to the Street” apparently didn’t stack up impressively against my friends’ own commutes. Although the Forbes-E-Quad trek is undoubtedly a pain, most of Princeton’s amenities are within a short walk of each other. And as a college student, time is sleep.
4. Athletic events — I never really thought of Princeton as a sporty school until I came to campus. Though we may not have the same high-octane traditions as USC or Ohio State, Princeton games — from basketball to squash — are some of the campus’s most unifying experiences.
3. The Wawa / Nassau Street — The only thing I ever heard about the adjoining Princeton community was that it “wasn’t New Haven.” I guess this is natural, as the town isn’t actually a service the University administration provides. Nonetheless, between late night stops (the Wa, Hoagie Haven) and more traditional fare, we actually have a pretty nice community at our doorstep. Triumph even brews its own beers.
2. Reunions — Most of us are only going to be actual Princeton students for four years. We’ll be spending most of our time as Princeton alumni. Luckily for us, being an alumnus is awesome for at least one weekend out of the year. As a student that’s worked at Reunions at every chance I’ve had, I feel like I can assert with some confidence that the event is a blast for everyone from the bewildered freshmen to the Old Guard. You don’t stop being a Princetonian once you graduate.
1. Independent student organizations — This one’s been huge for me. I didn’t know it when I came to Princeton, but many of our campus organizations (The Daily Princetonian, Business Today and WPRB 103.3 FM, just to name a few) have no “umbilical cord” to the University. Running these organizations is akin to running a small business — an opportunity I hadn’t even considered when I was making my college decision.
