is princeton truly sophisticated?

Eiffel
Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:19:44 +0000

@Frosty: I don’t know. Lifestyle and behavior are extremely linked. Someone’s lifestyle is almost always defined by their behavior.

But anyway, I don’t think it’s a big deal, since whitecadillac has clarified what he meant. I already understood that was what he meant in his original post, although I guess it wasn’t as clear for some. It should be clear now, I think, that his inquiry was about the activities people at Princeton pursue rather than their actual wealth.

Regardless, I had been under the impression that many Ivies were more “sophisticated” than other schools as well, and I am slightly shocked to hear that the social life is pretty much just the same as all other schools (i.e. partying, drinking, et cetera). Of course, I knew that kind of social life would exist at any school, but I did think many people attending Ivies might also engage in so-called “classier” extracurriculars. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to assume that there are sophisticated teenagers in our world and that they may be attracted to particular universities that carry a sophisticated reputation.

And I’m sure that there are at least some kids like that. I mean, there are almost certainly going to be plenty of wealthy people at Ivies who grew up living the “high-class lifestyle”, and then there will also be those people like whitecadillac and myself who live the lifestyle regardless of wealth.

Also, whitecadillac, I’m not sure how true it is, but I hear the Elizabethan Club at Yale is characterized by old-school sophistication. People sitting around drinking tea with British professors and discussing Shakespeare, that kind of thing. It sounds like it might be right up your alley! :)