<p>my personal opinion is that the clubs are very good, on balance. they provide a central, reliable social scene every weekend, at no cost to students and their friends. on any given thursday or saturday, all of the clubs will be “on tap” and many if not most will have some form of entertainment, whether it be dj, live band, or just house mix. most will be open to anyone with a princeton ID, and the rest will be open to student members and those with guest passes (easily obtainable from such members). most students, after determining their favorite clubs, divide their time on a given night between those few clubs, depending on what’s going on. with free beer, it’s easy to overdrink. but with safeguards at the doors, and club officers responsible for all goings-on inside, people are very responsive to problems. contrast this to social scenes at other schools, which consist largely of room parties featuring hard liquor and with little incentive to address problems. as for your other questions, the clubs are neither country-clubish nor fratlike, in that they are all accessible to all students and they are all open to both sexes (contrast this to harvard’s all-male final clubs). they are more expensive eating options than ordinary meal plans, because the fees cover entertainment costs and general upkeep as well as meals, but the university offers financial aid to cover the difference. rambling, but i hope this helps!</p>