I’m from Jersey City and I’ve been considering applying for Princeton University. If I do get accepted, should I consider commuting to Princeton or residing on campus?
In some College o Universities is mandatory to dorm in campus freshman year. Look Princeton rules, if is not, depend if you can pay for dorm or if you want. You can try sleepover before enrollment.
Princeton will require you live on campus - if you didn’t you’d miss a lot on the resources, networking, and opportunities that exist outside of class, in residence halls, etc.
Run the NPC: if tour family makes less than 75k Princeton will likely pay for tuition, room, and board (rent and food).
Probably a better use of your time to get admitted first, then decide (if the university even allows you to live off campus).
That is an awful commute. The traffic can be horrendous, especially on Rte 1. At a minimum it would be an hour each way but easily could be longer. The train is even slower.
Even if it were permitted, I’d not recommend it.
College is a lot more than just taking classes. By commuting you might save some money but you’ll miss out on things that no money can buy, and I repeat, THINGS THAT NO MONEY CAN BUY!
That you ask this question indicates that you have no idea what an elite college education is all about. You may want to consider Rutgers Newark as a reach given your SAT score of 980/1600.
I’m planning to retake the SAT in November to get a higher score.
Hmm, if your current score truly is 980, aim for 1200, but unless that’s the top score at your high school this year it won’t be sufficient for Princeton.
Are you attending a lower performing high school?
Does your school have Naviance?
What classes are you registered for, senior year?
Elite colleges aren’t just a place to take classes as if they were high schools. They’re a community, a little society that is formed from living there. Most of them advantages come from everything on campus and from belonging to that community (for instance, there is a network if people who know people both in your dorm and the career center; while living there you get to know them; they’ll help you find a summer internship. If your internship is unpaid, the college’ll chip in rent and money for food. That doesn’t exist at most colleges.)
Princeton requires all students to live in one of the Residential Colleges for the first 2 years.
@ValuedCrown keep working hard. If you can’t get into Princeton as a first year, Princeton is striving to diversify it’s student body even more by taking transfers including transfer from students that complete their first 2 years at a Community College.
Actually the commute from Jersey City to Princeton isn’t bad at all. You would be doing a reverse commute, against traffic. By car it would take 50-60 mins each way. By train it takes about 90 mins.
The Dinky station is right on campus.
But I agree with other posters. It wouldn’t be feasible to commute. Besides Princeton doesn’t allow it. I know a few kids whose parents live in Princeton borough and they are still required to live on campus.