<p>Can someone inform me as to differences or general feels for the extracurricular opportunities at the HYP schools. I have grown the opinion that Princeton is less focused on their opportunities out of class than H or Y. Would someone elaborate?</p>
<p>No, all 3 of the HYP colleges have lots of the student body participating in extracurriculars. I wouldn’t say one is necessarily “better” at this than another; it’s a given that there are lots of clubs and activities to join. Lots of extracurriculars are a function of a motivated and active student body more than the educational opportunity provided by the school.</p>
<p>Even though Princeton has fewer undergraduates than H or Y, we have over 200 student run organizations, ranging from performing arts groups (the Nassoons went to the White House last year) to political organizations to academic societies. And indeed, these clubs are either fully self sufficient (the Daily Princetonian, for example) or get so much funding that even students are surprised by how lavish their budgets are. And if one of the 200+ organizations doesn’t have what you want, go to the Projects Board - they’ll dish out money for your wild scheme.</p>
<p>For what I said about funding, I’ll give you an example. Say you want to try debate, though you’ve never done it in HS. At Harvard, you can join the debating society, but they have just enough money to take about 16 or so people to the inter-school competitions, so unless you were a solid debater in HS, it’s an uphill battle (this is pretty unfortunate, by the way, since actual debate tournaments offer the best opportunity for improvement). At Yale, I hear there’s no shortage of funding, but debate is selective, so you may not get the chance to join, at least not your freshman year (Yale’s got a very solid team out there). At Princeton, however, nearly any student can join the Debate Panel, and every member of the debate panel is eligible to go to any competition the panel goes to - you have your full buffet competitions.</p>
<p>Harvard and Yale are great schools, and while I cited an example I’m familiar with, I’m sure there are other specific extracurriculars where H, Y can make very similar claims. The point is not that one school is “better” than the others. Instead, it’s to counter the false impression that “Princeton is less focused on their opportunities out of class”. You’d be hard pressed to find a student here who feels that there aren’t enough extracurricular options.</p>
<p>Sometimes, its actually even better to go to a place where there are less ‘established’ opportunities. Certain people are natural ‘starters’ and want to start things–organizations, events, ‘happenings’ that may well become establishments and tradition a few years down the road. And they’ll always refer to you as the founder.</p>
<p>Anyway, you should also remember that Princeton has a smaller undergraduate population compared to Harvard or Yale, thus, it is only natural that there are slightly fewer extracurriculars.</p>
<p>If you’re interested in finding out more about ECs at Princeton, check out this link:
<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/studentguide/campus_culture/get_involved/[/url]”>http://www.princeton.edu/studentguide/campus_culture/get_involved/</a></p>
<p>The list of interesting clubs was pretty cool- I had no idea that the majority of those even existed.</p>
<p>For the full list, look here:
<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/odus/activities/organizations/public/[/url]”>http://www.princeton.edu/odus/activities/organizations/public/</a></p>
<p>I certainly wouldn’t worry about lack of opportunities. :p</p>