moodathis

"I went and visited both, realized that

2) I dislike parties.

Oh, and I am getting more money from Princeton.

Which college is has the smaller partying scene and has more things to do aside from that?"

^^
I am making the same decision and this is a conundrum for me as well

TarHeel3007

@ the pton preview, i met a lot of kids who had also visited mit...and no joke, they said MIT had crazy parties cuase everyone in the boston area--like BU, BC, H kids all go to MIT for their parties...idk why or if thats even true. but i think eveyrone told me that htey have surprisingly good parties...

JoeTrumpet

I had the same problem with parties. I don't like them, and I was worried that Princeton would surround me with way more partiers than my alternative school, the University of Chicago. When I visited, I was placed in "substance-free housing," which pretty much showed me that if that's what I select for next year, I really have nothing to worry about. What'd we do Friday night? Went out to eat, watched some a cappella groups, and played the game Taboo till almost 4:00 AM. Pretty sweet, if you ask me.

I talked to more kids from Princeton about that, and they told me that many kids in substance-free housing sound just like what I'm looking for: people who would rather play a board game / see a concert / play some tennis on a Friday night rather than go to some party. One of the girls I hung out with (freshman) told me she had the same concern before you went to Princeton, but was very pleased with the people she met. She lives in substance-free housing.

Princeton is just large enough that, from what I hear, you will definitely be able to find your niche. Though a majority of the students party (like at any college), you can easily find people who don't.

At least, I hope so, unless everyone is lying to me! I've already accepted my offer of admission to Princeton, so at least you know of one person who doesn't party.

Edit: Oh, and about regretting your decision, don't worry about it. Just keep trying to organize your thoughts, and I promise you, no matter how unbelievably difficult it will be to say no to your other school (University of Chicago was my top choice for several months), you'll be very excited about your decision. No matter what you choose, you'll know you couldn't go wrong: you'll love either school. I felt sad the night I accepted Princeton, but right now I'm just very, very excited!

mtpaper

After we left Princeton Preview days, I asked my dd (who has already commited to Princeton) what she didn't like.

She said that there was too much drinking at the Arch Sings on Thursday night, but she realized that she'd run into that at any school. Friday she participated in the Geography Bee and had a blast. Too bad she didn't find the Taboo group- she would have loved that.

As for Substance-Free housing, she was concerned that there would be a stigma attached if you chose that - as if you're super up-tight. She found out that not only is there no issue about it, but that the room assignments are often/usually nicer! Our feeling is that you sign up for Substance-free the first year. If you don't like it, change your mind for future years. Easier to do that than to be in a dorm that parties too much.

We left with the distinct impression that you can find your niche there and there are always activities going on that are not drinking-related.

aznfishy

for me if i had to make this choice: handsdown, mit wins.

from my experience at the previews, princetonians seem to be much bigger drinkers & partyers than mit kids. they also seemed much more elitist than mit ppl.
i went in to pton preview expecting to like princeton, but it just left me extremely biased against princeton. sry

Alumother

Princeton kids are on average bigger drinkers and partyers than MIT kids. That is true. However, they are not more elitist.

Can someone PLEASE define for me what they mean by elitist? Do you mean they wear fancy clothes? They are Republicans? They think they are better than you and try to exclude you?

Elitist on this board seems like a code word for something to me, and I am not sure what it's a code for.

kartrider360

go to Cornell :P. It has the best engineering out of the Ivies (no it is not Princeton as much as you guys want to think it is) and also has the best physics program in the states.

sunshine_breeze

In case anyone's wondering, I picked Princeton.