Accepted to Princeton for REA (with good aid as well) but my mom thinks I'm jeopardizing my future if I don't still apply to Yale and Harvard

Applying to College
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If the apps are done already, why not just submit them?

You mention the cost, but if you truly didn’t expect to get FA at Princeton, then that cost doesn’t seem like a big deal to your family (maybe you are paying yourself? Perhaps mom would pay?).

If you’re admitted to either or both it’d give you a chance to attend admitted student events and likely cement your decision that Princeton is right for you.

It’s unlikely the FA will be better at HY but if it is Princeton will match it.

Having said all that, I disagree with most of your mother’s opinions. Princeton is well known in most parts of the world, certainly all over the US, and isn’t an impediment to law school.

Honestly I can’t see a prospective SPIA major finding as good a fit at HY but who knows.

As others have mentioned, grade deflation policies at Princeton were abandoned years ago. There might still be informal remnants, and Princeton is definitely a rigorous school (generally viewed as not as easy academically as Harvard), but you’ll be fine with proper course selection and if you want to work hard.

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Family makes more than $225k/year, so FA or application fees shouldn’t be a consideration

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OP stated that at the top. Concern is if accepted there will then be more pressure to attend one of them vs preferred personal choice of Princeton. So days of holding out now, versus months of uncertainty followed by a month of internal family pressure.

That said, seems more that likely if the apps are done they will be submitted. And at the end of the day, either it solves itself (not accepted to either), or its good to have options.

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Opening post indicates “surprisingly good aid” and ability to attend without loans. So it seems like a factor for this family.

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One thing that may be of interest to an aspiring law student are the Mock Trial teams. Of the peer group, they sent the fewest teams to Nationals over the last 10 competitions. For those that don’t know, 48 teams make it to nationals. A school is capped at 2 teams per year.

UChicago: 14
Yale: 13
Harvard: 9
Stanford: 7
Princeton: 3

The downside of going to a school with good historical performance is that it may be difficult to make the team.

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No, but it would still be a significant payment right after the holidays and I know that the money could go to something else. Also, if I didn’t get in to either and went to Princeton like I was originally hoping to, it would feel like a waste of $150.

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That amounts to 0.05% of the price your mother is willing to spend. Is that really a legitimate reason not to apply?

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So basically your choices are

  • 1 talk to your mother now about why you’re happy you got into the best university in the US and don’t want to waste time&money on applying to universities that offer nothing Princeton doesn’t and don’t offer you what Princeton does
    Or
  • 2 sabotage your H/Y application (putting H/Y in the wrong essay will do it) and accept to waste $150

I would pick 1.
(2 being your plan B if 1 fails)

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90

You already vibe more with Princeton, to the point that you made it your REA choice. And that is enough reason to choose it over H and Y.

Further:

Among HYPSM, Princeton is the most undergraduate-focused. There are far fewer grad students with whom to share the time and expertise of the faculty, relatively more money available for undergrads, more energy devoted to undergrads, etc.

Though it is a university, we hear of kids having LAC-like relationships with professors.

The senior thesis is another unique aspect of Princeton. This is a project typically reserved for grad/PhD students – a full-blown thesis – which Princeton bestows upon its undergrads. I imagine it is a highly beneficial endeavor.

If Princeton is your #1, and you have already been accepted, I would waste neither one second nor one dime on another app: no university does undergrad better than Princeton. And the argument could be made that no university does it as well as Princeton.

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My child attended another college that required a senior thesis. I can confirm that the thesis was very impactful to her because it gave her an advantage in jobs and in getting into her master’s program. To the OP, I’d definitely consider the importance of a senior thesis because it can differentiate you from other applicants who won’t have that on a résumé.

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The senior thesis is not unique to Princeton. I did a senior thesis back in the day at Cornell and currently many of the honors students at Purdue do a thesis.

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The senior thesis is reserved for select few honor students at Cornell and other universities and not a part of requirement for graduation. Princeton University is unique in that it’s the only university that requires both the junior paper and the senior thesis of all students. It’s a distinct Princeton tradition that other universities cannot emulate due to the size of undergrad population and faculty resources. Generations of Princeton graduates look back on the senior thesis as the most valuable academic component of their undergraduate experience.

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I’m sure the OP and the moderators will be delighted if the conversation moves beyond senior theses, particularly when the college mentioned isn’t HYP

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What @skieurope said. :smiley:

If anyone wants to continue the discussion on senior theses (or any topic not related to this OP), please start a new thread.

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So, I ended up talking to my dad, and ended up sitting down with him and my mom to discuss if I should apply to any more schools. Showing her the articles about Princeton’s grade deflation and law school placement helped a ton, and my dad and I were able to convince her that I should be able to decide if I wanted to keep applying or not.

I am definitely eliminating Harvard – it has 24,000 students total, and I didn’t love the campus or feel a connection to it. So that leaves Yale, where I was born while my dad was in law school. I do feel a connection to it, but not as much as I do to Princeton. Plus, it’s just not as undergraduate focused, it doesn’t have as good of an IR program, and (purely on aesthetics and surrounding area) the campus wasn’t as nice, and I didn’t feel like it totally “clicked” the way Princeton did.

However, it has a great reputation for environment – supposedly friendly and welcoming. And that makes things a bit difficult because my main fear about Princeton is that while it has my dream program, a course catalog that I could spend hours looking at, and an incredible undergraduate academic environment, I won’t do well in the social environment. So far, that fear has been totally unfounded – the people I’ve met via Instagram have been friendly, kind, and absolutely welcoming.

But I have heard reports of exclusivity/elitism (especially surrounding eating clubs) and some people say the academic environment is more competitive than Yale. I know that it’s silly to attend an Ivy League school and not expect some degree of preppiness to be present, but while I am really passionate about learning and genuinely enjoy academics, I don’t like academic competition (and I’m coming from a small high school in a small city where I’ve known most of my grade since kindergarten).

My dad also attended Princeton (though he doesn’t really donate or volunteer) so despite having a comparable resume to the other (unhooked) student who got in from my school, and one of the highest GPAs in my grade, there is a fear that “oh maybe I didn’t deserve to get in and will flounder academically.”

I would be a legacy at Yale though, so it’s not like getting in would assuage my nerves, and I think that a lot of my concerns are coming from a sense of imposter syndrome and nerves about college in general. I still know that Princeton is my #1 choice, and I’m inclined to order my sweatshirt, confirm my decision, and celebrate. But if anyone could provide some confirmation/clarity about my concerns, I think it might help me decide whether to delete Yale off my Common App account and be done once and for all or not.

103

Easy - delete Yale from your application list.
Good job on having the conversation now and on convincing your mother. :+1::confetti_ball:
The positives you listed for Princeton far outweigh the vague fear you might not find your people there, which is already being proved unfounded from early online exchanges.
Btw, no one needs or really has one hundred friends. All you need is 4 or 5 good friends. If it doesn’t sound like you wouldn’t find them at 1 college that is rationally an excellent fit for you, the problem isn’t Princeton.
Really, you’re having jitters. You’re smart and used to analyzing everything so you’re second guessing yourself. Trust yourself. You applied REA to Princeton for a reason - well, for many, good reasons. You even convinced your mother.
Time to rest and enjoy the year :hugs:
(I mean, worst case scenario: you spend a year at Princeton and don’t like it… there’s such a thing as lateral transfers, meaning P<->Y<->H).

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