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Hi, I posted the same thing on the Princeton board but wanted to get more responses from a different perspective.

Anyway, what's the difference between Princeton's residential college system and Yale's?

I know that Yale's came first and that Princeton adapted it because it was so successful (so please don't say "ours is better because ours came first!"). I also know that Princeton's residential college system is only for freshmen and sophomore (I don't see that as a bad point either, so don't make it one).

Thanks!

By Hstudent (Hstudent) on Monday, July 26, 2004 - 03:43 pm: Edit

yale you are affiliated for four years

and IMO you are much more attached socially to your res college than at princeton (where you identify more with your eating club)

By Pentheselia (Pentheselia) on Monday, July 26, 2004 - 04:07 pm: Edit

From what I've seen, because you're only in a residential college for 2 years, as Hstudent said you aren't as attached to it. It sort of divides the upper and underclassmen, because the older students have their eating clubs while the younger ones have a residential college. I know you said not to make it a bad point, but one of the reasons I chose Yale over Princeton is because of the eating clubs and two year residential college system at Princeton, which does fragment the class.

By Goldoro99 (Goldoro99) on Monday, July 26, 2004 - 04:15 pm: Edit

dont know much about the res college system at princeton...but from what i heard (mostly from friends, and read in rule of four, pretty good book :P) the social scene is fairly dominated by eating clubs, even for underclassmen, while for yale its all about res colleges, you really grow attached to your college, its like a second womb

By Hstudent (Hstudent) on Monday, July 26, 2004 - 04:22 pm: Edit

those are the main differences i think

not that eating clubs arent fantastic and cool in their own right (dont mean to make them sound like a negative for pton - for some they are, some they arent - I know tigers who are infinitely more attached to their eating club than yalies to res college and vice versa)

By Goldoro99 (Goldoro99) on Monday, July 26, 2004 - 05:20 pm: Edit

but eating clubs are self-selective...res colleges force u to interact with people you might not have otherwise, since theyre randomly assigned unless you have legacy (in which case you can choose either to be in that college or not)

By Netmet (Netmet) on Saturday, August 28, 2004 - 01:40 pm: Edit

I actually think that the residential college systems at Harvard and Yale are almost identical.

By Soozievt (Soozievt) on Sunday, August 29, 2004 - 12:37 am: Edit

"I actually think that the residential college systems at Harvard and Yale are almost identical."

One difference between Yale's and Harvard's is that at Harvard you are assigned your residential college (House) at the end of freshman year, whereas at Yale, you are assigned as you enter the university (even though freshmen do not yet live in their residential college).

Susan

By Happystudent (Happystudent) on Sunday, August 29, 2004 - 10:38 am: Edit

That is the only difference between the two.

By Aparent4 (Aparent4) on Sunday, August 29, 2004 - 01:21 pm: Edit

Those of you who are applying for future years should know that Princeton will have several four-year residential colleges by 2006, so you will have the option of staying for either 2 or 4 years. There are pros and cons to each system.

Having just returned from bringing my second child to Princeton, I will say that 1) actually living in a residential college from day one, rather than in a big first-year dorm area, felt very welcoming and intimate. 2) I think Yale and Harvard's actual rooms/suites for freshmen are more reliably nice than those for freshmen at Princeton. The latter is in a huge dorm-building frenzy, so this is going to change, but after visiting H and Y I have the impression you can pretty much count on getting a suite with a common room, where P's housing is more variable. It wouldn't have changed my kids' minds about where to attend, but in the interest of fairness I thought I'd mention it.

By Rower1386 (Rower1386) on Thursday, September 02, 2004 - 08:26 pm: Edit

and princeton sucks. thats an important difference,too.

By Mzhang23 (Mzhang23) on Friday, September 24, 2004 - 02:46 am: Edit

"but eating clubs are self-selective"

Totally not true, because half the clubs are sign in ones. With the sign in clubs you get an ecletic group of new members every single year.

And as far as I know, there is a fair amount of residential college pride here even after students turn juniors and seniors. There is a tremendous number of applications to be Residential Advisors in the res colleges because so many students want to stay in the environment.