<p>What’s good about Princeton besides prestige? Of course I can’t go into a school just because of its prestige. What makes it different from other Ivy League? What are its strong departments/weak departments for undergraduate? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.</p>
<p>Princeton has the best undergraduate education program in the world. </p>
<p>If you want to learn how to think, the best place to do it is at Princeton.</p>
<p>Strong departments include the departments of Economics, Political Science, History, Math (all four were ranked 1 by USNews), Physics (Einstein taught here), Psychology, Computer Science, English, and pretty much every department listed here:
[Princeton</a> University - Departments & Programs](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/main/academics/departments/]Princeton”>Areas of Study)</p>
<p>There are no departments which I would call “weak” at Princeton.</p>
<p>I hate Princeton but I must agree, it probably has the best undergraduate education program in the world.</p>
<p>You would be better off just assuming EVERYTHING is good and getting a (rather small) list of things that AREN’T good about it (and even those things are mostly subjective…like Princeton being suburban while you might want urban)</p>
<p>Compared to the rest of the Ivy League, it has a better undergraduate program (I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it’s the best in the world, though). It also has the dubious distinction of being the most snobby and preppy Ivy League college. I’m interested in philosophy and math, two departments in which Princeton excels; I don’t know that much about other departments, but it’s consistently good across the board. In terms of weak departments, I would say that Princeton’s offerings on economy are heavily math-based and severely limited from a theoretical, conceptual perspective (although this shortcoming might be endemic to most American colleges).</p>
<p>Weakest programs are Pre-Law, Pre-Med, Pre-PhD, Pre-MBA programs, because Princeton does not have Medical, Law, Business schools and very small PhD program. </p>
<p>Very few Princeton graduates enter top Law, Medicine, PhD, and MBA programs.
At Yale Law this year.
82 from Yale University
63 from Harvard University
26 Columbia University (26)
20 Brown University (20)</p>
<p>17 Princeton University (17)</p>
<p>This girl posted this on Harvard and Yale’s boards too…</p>
<p>German_car’s an idiot/■■■■■. But he knows that.</p>
<p>Begoner, pretty much all top economics programs are heavily math based. I don’t think it’d be accurate to say Princeton’s econ department is anywhere close to weak. Many of the econ departments professors, such as last year’s Nobel Laureate Dr. Paul Krugman, also are a part of the Woodrow Wilson School’s faculty and teach public policy related economics.</p>
<p>Yeah, I think my criticism holds for virtually every American college, not just Princeton. Still, at the bare minimum, a economics major should be expected to read The Wealth of Nations, Das Kapital, The Road to Serfdom, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, The Limits to Growth, and The Theory of Money and Credit. The economics education one typically receives at American colleges is shockingly narrow – it’s as if a history major were only expected to know of the period from 1800-1850 or an English major to only be familiar with the works of Hemingway.</p>
<p>What about Princeton’s biochemistry?</p>
<p>Are you pre-med ?</p>
<p>Pre-med at Princeton is not good, because Princeton does not have medical school. </p>
<p>Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Stanford UG pre-med students can do medical research from their medical schools during school year and can receive recommendation letters from their medical school’s faculty member ( who are known to the admission committee). </p>
<p>Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Stanford medical schools also strongly prefer their own UG applicants. e.g. Columbia never admits more Harvard UG than Columbia UG.</p>
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<p>Your replies are getting more nonsensical. I think you should call roadside service because your car is breaking down. But that’s what happens when you try to get on the Autobahn with your Trabant.</p>
<p>Pre-med at Princeton is not good, but has nothing to do with Princeton not having a medical school.</p>
<p>Letters from med school faculty would only be good if you want to go to that med school. I certainly wouldn’t want to go to Princeton for med school, so it makes no difference to me whether or not Princeton has a school of medicine.</p>
<p>By the way, german_car, has anyone ever told you that you have horrible English and it adds to you sounding like a complete ■■■■■■ every time you post?</p>
<p>I just don’t get why someone like him is on CC in the first place…</p>
<p>Be nice. Everyone is entitled to his opinion. </p>
<p>Um… Princeton is good because everything is nice and shiny where people never get sick or hungry foreverz. It is where happiness and sunshine livez. Um… a giant ivory tower surroundz the plaze and people stay in it and talk about boring stuffz likes geopolitics and famines in Somaliland, and that makes them sad that other people are sad. But they get happy again as they are the bestest place in the world, they know that becauze the happy people there subscribe to US Newz. And US Newz never lies… because lies are for bad people. And Princeton doesn’t have bad people you see. The people at the tower made sure bad people didn’t exist, as happiness and badness can never ever exist together. So boring stuff like “gentrification” and cost of livin made things nice for the happy people. So Princeton is the happiest place in all the worlds. The end. </p>
<p>As I said, “everyone” is entitled to their opinion. Now German_car’s argument doesn’t seem too nonsensical does it? And I believe in everything I just said.</p>
<p>German-car - Are you for real? </p>
<p>Let me give you my perspective as I dropped by kid off at Princeton last week. </p>
<p>I went to so-called top 10 USNWR schools, undergrad and grad. Did well academically at both. I came from nothing and nowhere, and went to school on an athletic scholarship (you might guess where I went to undergrad given the Ivies’ no scholarship policy). Paid for all of grad school on my own dime - and no loans, no outstanding obligations, nothing but me. </p>
<p>I had a single parent, but she was sick and never employed and I learned to live on, and have, virtually nothing. Surviving was about being a tough SOB. </p>
<p>It was a bit unnerving to be surrounded by such wealth, but there wasn’t a day that went by that I did not think I was the luckiest person in the world to be going to a school that was one of the privileged places in our society. All of the schools you pontificate on and on about are indeed incredibly privileged places. I felt luck every day I walked into a classroom, and even with athletic competitions, went out of my way to rarely, if ever, miss a class. Again, I was lucky just to be there, and knew it every darn minute. </p>
<p>Which brings me to my point. Life is about what you make of your opportunities, no matter where you go or what you do. And posting on a message board about the tiny plus and minuses of elite institutions makes little sense to me, and reflects, frankly, a wimpy and effete mindset that is caught up with status, both conflating and accusing it with achievement. </p>
<p>What matters more than the name of the school is competence, tough mindedness, discipline, and unyielding intellectual drive. There are numerous institutions in which these traits can prosper, including many “lesser” ranked schools. </p>
<p>By the way, for what it is worth, given its focus on undergraduate education, I can’t think of a better place to spend four years than at Princeton - what a marvelous and privileged opportunity. I impressed that on my kid - I don’t want her stuck with the same elitist, overbearing and ridiculous mindset that you seem to have adopted. Employers complain about the elitist, rest on your laurels attitude of some Ivy League graduates - any way you can warn them about you?</p>
<p>^Mam1959, you are my new hero. This post should be required reading. Kudos!</p>
<p>My father went to Princeton. I have also done some research. Without even considering the academics, the Princeton undergraduate experience is by far the best. Everyone gets so many privileges, and the campus is secluded. It’s like being in a dream world, where everything is beautiful, and every student is brilliant. Obviously graduates would agree, because Princeton has massive reunions and incredible school spirit. Sadly, I will not be going to Princeton (well, maybe for graduate level), but I know the experience must be unlike any other. If I were to walk onto the campus, it would feel like a fantasy. I think the band would be a good way to sum it up.</p>
<p>To me, although the education is amazing, the best thing about the school is the experience. If I were to go to Princeton, I would go because of the four year ticket to being special, which supplements the great education.</p>
<p>50 bux says german_car is Asian.</p>
<p>Princeton is good because we don’t have idiots who attack someone like german_car simply for holding an opinion and trying to explain his reasoning (which you’ll notice he did, if you’ll actually read what he wrote (another thing Princeton kids sometimes do)).</p>
<p>Nor is Princeton filled with racists.</p>
<p>lol 10char</p>