Princeton Undergraduate Engineering

EyeVeee
Sun, 03 Aug 2014 15:47:44 +0000

I will tell you that we have family connections to Princeton, yet my (almost) freshman engineering student wouldn’t even apply.

This decision is after 2 separate visits. During the first, the impression was that the engineering students are the outcasts…sent to the edge of campus to toil amongst themselves. The tour was OK, but nothing significant other than “here’s the new building”. No real interaction between the guide and anyone in the building…very cold. All business. Shhh…people are working.

The second trip was spur of the moment given an opportunity to stop. Maybe visit one was a bad day.

We walked the Engineering building, then up to the admissions office and back. 30-40 minutes in total. Nobody smiled. NOBODY! Not even the person behind the admissions welcome desk, who seemed a bit upset we interrupted her by opening the door.

It might be a great place to study engineering, but it was the least friendly school we visited (of 8 or 9). I know you’re not looking for comparisons, but at Dartmouth (not the final choice) on a Saturday morning last August, one of the professors found us wandering (at 8am) and walked us through the engineering building on his way to a meeting. He was there for other reasons, and was so friendly, and so proud of the school, he took the time to see us around. The 3 or 4 students in the building all smiled and said hello to him / us. Not even the slightest sense of that openness or community at Princeton.