Princeton vs Yale

PtonGrad2000
Mon, 29 Aug 2011 12:16:12 +0000

Cmburns, I took no offense, but you are providing terribly inaccurate information to prospective students here.



cmburns14:

. . . they are easily among the world’s best- especially if you exclude varsity athletes and development cases- who together comprise probably 30-40% of the class.



This is incorrect by orders of magnitude.

The percentage of recruited athletes in each class at Princeton varies from 15% to 20% in any given year, a percentage that is similar to its peers’ numbers. By the way, the concept of the ‘dumb jock’ is completely false at places like Princeton where the varsity athletes must still meet high academic standards and where those athletes often go on to win a significant number of post-graduate awards, including the Rhodes Scholarship. By development cases you are referring to those students who were given a significant advantage because of the potential for large gifts from their families. This is far rarer than some might suppose and never exceeds more than a handful of students in each class constituting significantly under 1% of that class.



cmburns14:

The stats you’ve quoted suffer from selection bias.



No, they don’t.

You are suggesting that the tougher grading standards at Princeton result in many discouraged students not even applying to medical school since they assume they stand no chance of admission. If this were the case, then, following the institution of the new grading policy, Princeton would have seen a reduction in the total number of students applying to medical school. This has not happened. In fact, the most recent numbers show an increase in applications to medical school.

Misleading or simply incorrect statements do a real disservice to the high school students who spend time on these boards seeking useful information.

On another note, I love the town of Oxford but I’m a bigger fan of the more open and bucolic setting of Cambridge. I’ve spent time at both places but not as a student. Are you a UK national?