My class-of-2025 twins are from California, but will be on the east coast for spring break to look at schools, and are thinking about visiting Princeton. Unfortunately, Princeton’s tours have all filled up for the window where they’ll be there, and they’re trying to get a sense as to how to make the most of a possible visit.
(A bit of backstory here is that my wife and I suspect the vibe at Princeton won’t totally match what they’re looking for (the liberal arts emphasis and focus on undergraduate teaching is a great fit; eating clubs and privilege/preprofessional vibes are not), so suggestions that will help them get a sense as to what the student population is like would be great, so they can rule it in/out next fall.)
Walking the shops on Nassau St. is already on the list, but in terms of a campus visit, what should they be sure to check out? One is thinking about either math, CS, or EEB, the other is less sure about major, but I suspect it will be more humanities-ish.
If they have about 5 hours to spend at Princeton, what should they do to maximize their visit? I thought you all might have some suggestions. What would you recommend?
Go walk from campus to Hoagie Haven (about .4-.5 mi) around 12:30 pm-1 pm. You may want to call and ask for their busiest time of the afternoon. You should find an interesting sample of the student body there.
We did a big college tour trip last spring break kind of last minute. We ended up getting tours at all except one. My advice is to check frequently especially close to dates as people cancel. We also got added day of at one so stop in hour before tours happen. Good luck!
Princeton won’t be on break so they will get a lot of just walking around. I recommend do a virtual info session just before. Maybe a virtual tour and take note of the route… you could then follow it in person.
Check for a recorded tour. D22 toured schools when things were mostly closed. We got a lot of following a tour on You Tube while walking on campus. Princeton tours don’t go inside, so it really wouldn’t be much different.
Taking your insightful joke a step further, touring a college town at 11 p.m., in some cases, is not the worst idea in the world. We took in some local color at a few public schools after 10:30 on Wednesday and Thursdays. Interesting to see how active “Main Street” could be on a random night.
I suggest to try the Firestone Library to get a good ‘visual sampling’ of students. I don’t know if visitors are allowed to walk around freely in the library, but I think visitors can get into the front section (where some of the bathrooms are) and talk with a librarian. East Pyne Hall is beautiful if you can get a chance. The WaWa on-campus is in operation 24 hours and very popular with students. As others have pointed out, the members of (most of) the eating clubs are quite diverse in racial and economic status makeup, as membership selection at many of the eating clubs is sign-in and does not require the competitive bicker process (that said, bickering is still quite intense at the clubs which use it). Some of the students who receive financial aid get subsidies to cover most, if not all of their eating club membership fees.
I looked up their princeton.edu/events page and learned that
on April 12, there is the Larry Ellis Invitational Track and Field event open to the public in Jadwin Gym. Might be fun to catch a glimpse. I hope that your students will have a good time there.
I am not a fan of the “check out what students are wearing and draw conclusions from that”.
Is there anyone from your town (even a friend of a friend of a friend) who can walk around with your kids for an hour or two? Reach out to your kids GC to find out if anyone has attended P in the last few years and might be willing to have lunch with the kids?
I don’t think P has as much of a privilege problem as many other colleges which have a less august past; I think the eating clubs are yet another social option but NOT as snooty/superficial as Southern Sororities (sorry Southerners, but you know young women get rejected for being 10 lbs over what the sorority considers “our look” and the amount of money families spend on Rush outfits is insane).
So try to find a current student to spend time with them. The campus isn’t that big so the actual tour isn’t nearly as helpful as it would be to hear directly from an actual student.
We loved P. None of my kids applied (for various reasons) but none of us had any concerns at all about social fit or acceptance. I’ve got nieces, nephews, cousins–recent grads-- some oddball (hate to put it that way, but they are as far from the preppy rich stereotype as you could imagine) and they all loved their years at P.
From past experience, I know you could always go to the tour center or admissions office and try to ask them if you could tag along a tour, and if not, would they be able to give you a self guided tour or suggestions as to which buildings are must sees at Princeton and where they are.
I think walking from the top of the campus down towards the footbridge over Washington Rd. is nice. The new science buildings are lovely. Prospect Gardens should be in full bloom, and you can see the campus center and some of the newer dorms on your way.
My $.02 on the eating clubs: yes, a couple are old-school and selective but most aren’t, and they are all co-ed and have very different vibes. My club (Terrace) was kind of grungy and hipster, a place where the queer community had a home long before being LGBTQ+ was more mainstream. What I appreciate about them in hindsight (especially when visiting schools that don’t have this unique social option) is that they were a) frequently open to people who weren’t members, especially on the weekends, b) provided a place to hang out and connect with people casually at pretty much any time of night or day, and c) an option for just about anyone who wanted to be in one (I think the school took it into account in financial aid packages). There’s not much of a bar scene or club scene in Princeton because students go to the Street where beer is free (well, free in the sense that you don’t walk up and open a tab – obviously members pay a semiannual fee to cover meals and parties/booze.) It felt (at the time, anyway – I hope this is still somewhat true) like a much more socially open system (as opposed to parties in people’s rooms where you have to know people to find out about them.) For me, a kid from a lower middle-class background on copious amounts of financial aid, this made for a more level playing field. I didn’t need to have money to hang out with friends and go to parties on the weekends.
I don’t think any college today would START a system like the Princeton clubs-- but from my observation, they have MANY advantages over some of the other social organizations at other places.
The main one- they are ON university property; they are part of the university. There are social clubs at other places which are technically not university organizations. All kinds of problems there.
I have not heard of 16 year old HS kids crashing eating club social events, date rape drugs, assault, etc. at Princeton, but it happens at other places. The university can’t oversee or provide risk management training to private parties that aren’t happening on their own campus but that are run by their students and have “open invitation” admissions- especially to attractive HS girls.
I think the U has done a good job of taking an archaic construct and making it as accessible as possible. Rather than trashing the system and letting a dozen unregulated organizations take over.
That is not true. The clubs own their buildings and land. The university had to negotiate and purchase the land required for the new expansion.
Princeton doesn’t exactly love the existence of the clubs but I think deals with them reasonably well. What they have done well to somewhat counter their effect, is offer lots of alternative fun and social opportunities for students who choose not to join.
Still, like was stated the clubs are fairly open institutions. Members bring outside friends for meals regularly and they host a variety events. The clubs have a good system in place with bouncers and monitors during events.
Your kids can do a self-guided “Orange Key” tour here with the campus map and detailed info at each tour stop prior to visiting Princeton.
I’d mark any specific locations of interest on and off the tour on Google Map to guide your kids for actual visit for further exploration.
Just about all campus buildings and facilities are off-limit to visitors, such as libraries (you can get inside the Firestone Library lobby but no further), classrooms, residential houses, Dillon and Jadwin gyms, Lewis Arts complex, etc. During each visit, though, I was able to get inside the chapel. Their art museum is an exception; it’s open to all visitors. Unfortunately, it’s currently under construction for expansion and will not reopen until 2025, I believe. Speaking of construction, there are several concurrent projects happening on campus, so expect some ugly sights and noise.
