Why Princeton over other Ivies?

jacknophat
Fri, 14 Nov 2014 21:48:24 +0000

Ditto what sherpa said. I realize you said that you couldn’t fly out from the west coast, but even if you could do Spirit Airlines, I would try that. My son and I flew out and hit 4 schools–Penn, Princeton, Yale and Columbia–in two days and just carry-on luggage. My son’s top choice had been Yale but after visiting the campuses, he crossed Yale off his list entirely and put Princeton at the top of his list. The campuses do have different vibes. For some, that’s not a big deal. For others, it is. In our case, my son was struck by how intellectual the students were at Princeton. The Yale tour emphasized the social scene at Yale too much (tales of students puking their guts out at the club nearby didn’t impress him or his dad). Also, he found that he preferred the suburban enclosed campus of Princeton to the urban and more open campuses of Yale and Penn. Also, as to Penn, and this is totally subjective, but my son thought Penn was filled with “beautiful people.” ie. rich kids who were athletic and had lots of money. That may not be true, but that is certainly the impression that was given on our tour. My son attends an academic magnet school where most students are sort of “nerdy” and he found the Penn students to be intimidating in physical size and athleticism. Bottom line–know who you are and then look for the school that best fits you.

Why do you want to study economics? Is it to work on Wall Street? Go on to grad school? You just like the subject? I think you are splitting hairs when you talk about Harvard vs. Penn vs. Princeton economics departments.

You are going to be spending 4 years of your life somewhere where your intellectual and emotional development is going to grow exponentially. If you can’t do an in-person visit, look at YouTube videos of the school, scour their websites, look at everything on this site. Also, since you are on the west coast, I would give a very strong look at west coast schools. Speaking as a parent, if an emergency occurs, you want to have good flight schedules to return home or to have a parent come for a visit, if necessary.