Dartmouth or Princeton?

PimpDaddy1
Sat, 30 Apr 2005 21:55:06 +0000

FountainSiren, you’re an idiot. I never said to ignore your experiences at a school, I just said one should be careful about judging an entire student body after a single visit.
That being said, Princeton and Dartmouth are very similar schools but if you really like Dartmouth then go ahead and have fun. However, having a good deal of experience at both schools (unlike most posters) and since the Princeton defense has been a bit weak, here goes nothing:

Academics:
Princeton and Dartmouth will both offer one a fantastic education but if there is any advantage to be had here, Princeton has it. The sizes of both schools are comparable and undergraduate focus equal (Princeton has no professional schools, Dartmouth has small professional schools) so there would be no difference here. Princeton currently posts a 5/1 student to faculty ratio while Dartmouth is 9/1 (these stats are from USNews 2003). Nevertheless, both will have tons of small classes and speaking from my experience in Princeton, most of my non-intro classes have been quite small (8-15 students, and thats as a freshman). As for the intro classes, they are usually broken down into smaller preceptorials which really give you the best of a large lecture by a renowned professor and the experience of a smaller learning environment. I don’t have much knowledge about Dartmouth in this respect but I can’t imagine it being much different. Princeton students also tend to place into better graduate programs that Dartmouth ones according to some WSJ study I saw a while back but I really wouldn’t pay much attention to that. Additionally, Princeton’s programs are basically stronger across the board. With world-renowned departments in Economics, Physics, Mathematics, History and Philosophy, Princeton is host to quite a few Nobel Laureates and some of today’s greatest minds (John Nash, Joyce Carol Oates, Andrew Wiles, Cornel West, Ed Witten (Institute of Advanced Study). Dartmouth has its share of scholars as well but Princeton to my knowledge, Princeton has a faculty of greater renown (whether measured by Nobel Prizes or NRC Faculty Rankings). To what extent this would effect the quality of one’s undergraduate education is arguable but its something to keep in mind.

Campus- Princeton is in a small town and close to New York City and Philadelphia. Dartmouth is in an isolated part of New Hampshire but this isolation has its benefits, ie. a more outdoorsy campus (ski slope and all!). Both are also incredibly safe campuses and I would venture to say the safest among the Ivy League. Princeton’s architecture is predominantly gothic with a few modern and romanesque buildings scattered around campus. I would Dartmouth’s buildings to be a bit more New Englandish (not quite sure what architectural style one would place them in) in flavor but I found the campus to be quite beautiful as well. I personally favored Princeton’s campus but they both are wonderful.

Academic Schedule- Princeton has a very traditional one, shared by only Harvard in the Ivy League. It runs on a semester system as follows:
Fall Term: Classes, Midterms, Fall Break, Classes, Winter Break, Reading Period, Finals, Intercession
Spring Term: Classes, Midterms, Spring Break, Classes, Reading Period, Finals
Many do not like the fact that Fall exams are after Winter Break but I for one love them. It lets you catch up on sleep and relax a bit before Finals and I really enjoyed that opportunity.
While Dartmouth’s D-Plan is loved by many, it was one aspect that turned me off of the school. I didn’t like how we were forced to stay on during Sophomore Summer as I figured that would be the time where I could spend time with friends from home. Nevertheless, this is definately a matter left up to personal preference.
On a side note, Princeton is voting to change its schedule to a system in which we have Fall Term (with exams before break), a one month P-term (where one can take an elective course or two) and then the Spring Term.

Prestige- This should have no effect on your decision.

Student Body- Both schools have students that LOVE the school and both brim with school spirit. Unlike other institutions of similar prestige such as MIT, Harvard and Cornell, Princeton and Dartmouth tend to graduate students who love the time they spent there. Both colleges have similar student bodies, at least in terms of diversity (both racial and socio-economic). Considering the fact that Princeton and Dartmouth presumably share many applicants, I don’t see one student body being particularly distinct from the other. However, Princeton does have more uber-students, if i may call them that, than Dartmouth such has Olympiad medalists. Nevertheless, I do not see the average Princetonian being much different from the average Dartmouth student.

Campus Fun- Dartmouth has its Greek Life, Princeton has its Eating Clubs. Now before anyone makes any comments about elitism, let me just state that the Eating Clubs are no different from a frat. In fact, they are probably more accessible than frats are. Anyone can go to most of the Eating Clubs on the nights they are open. Some clubs occasionally have members only parties but those are the exceptions. Ivy is the only club thats relatively difficult to access but all you need is to know a member or a friend of a member to obtain a pass to get in.
Unlike Harvard’s Finals Clubs or Yale’s Secret Societies, the Eating Clubs are not a bastion of elitism and wealth. The majority of the student body joins one during their upperclass years none of them have racial quotas or anything of the sort as a previous poster seemed to imply.

Athletics: Yes Dartmouth has its winter sports, but traditionally, Princeton has been at the top of the Ivy League in most sports. Though this year was a definate down year, with the Women’s Field Hockey, Men’s Lacrosse and Womens Lacrosse teams failing to win the conference in the first time in a decade, our Women’s crew is the top ranked squad nationally and our Men’s Heavyweight recently fell to fourth after being dethroned from number 1 by Harvard. In the fall our Women’s Soccer made it to the Final four (making them the first Ivy team to make it to the Final Four in a 64-team tournament) as did our Men’s Water Polo. Our Basketball team also has a long and storied history, making it to the Final Four once and being the only Ivy League team to ever win a national championship (NIT) in a major sport. They were even ranked in the top 10 back in 1998. I don’t know what role athletics would play in your decision and though I hope it is a marginal one, it is one where I view Princeton as having the edge in.

In my view, the two schools are quite similar but Princeton holds the edge in academics. When I made my decision, I picked Princeton because of this but I’ll admit that Dartmouth is a fantastic institution in its own. While I hope this message reaches you in time and maybe convinces you pick Princeton, you really can’t go wrong with picking Dartmouth and I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful time at either.