77 percent of sophomores bicker or sign-in to eating clubs, holds steady since spring 2017

The admissions process for bicker and sign-in eating clubs took place last week, with 1,016 sophomores participating, representing 77 percent of the Class of 2020. This represented a 1 percentage point decrease from last spring’s participation rate of 78 percent, according to a press release by the Interclub Council of the Eating Clubs of Princeton University.

The official ICC data does not list individual acceptance statistics from the selective clubs, therefore the data was provided at the discretion of each individual club or its members.

Out of 209 students who bickered Ivy Club, 71 people or 34 percent were admitted, according to Folasade Runcie ’18, the club's president. According to Rachel Macaulay ’19, president of Tower Club, 178 students bickered at the club and 125 were admitted, representing an acceptance rate of 70 percent. The club did not hold bicker for upperclassmen this year. In the case of TI, an officer reported that 174 students bickers, and 79 were accepted, of whom 41 are female and 38 are male. This represents an acceptance rate of 45 percent.

Several Cap & Gown Club members told The Daily Princetonian that 267 students bickered at the club, with 97 sophomores and 6 juniors accepted. All club members were granted anonymity because they are not allowed to discuss club matters. This translated to an acceptance rate of 39 percent. Cottage Club president William Haynes ’18 declined to share admission statistics with the ‘Prince,’ but a club member estimated the number of students that bickered this year at 208, with around 80 students accepted. The presidents of Cannon Dial Elm Club and Tiger Inn had not responded to requests for comment at the time of publication, but their members shared estimations of statistics under the condition of anonymity. For Cannon, 185 students bickered and 110 were accepted, representing an acceptance rate of 59 percent.

All bickerees used the ICC website to apply, and they were informed of the results by 9 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 9. Students joining sign-in clubs also used the ICC website to join a club. In all, 881 sophomores or 67 percent of the class were accepted to either a bicker club or a sign-in club after this year’s process, representing a 2 percent decrease from last year. For students that did not join an eating club this week, the ICC portal will continue to be available for registration in open sign-in clubs through Feb. 17.

According to the official statistics, 202 sophomores signed in early to one of the five sign-in clubs (Charter Club, Cloister Inn, Colonial Club, Quadrangle Club, Terrace Club), which was a 30 percent decrease from the 287 sophomores who joined sign-in clubs last spring. Students who bickered a club and did not get in can still join a sign-in club. At this stage in the process, 325 sophomores have been placed in open clubs, representing a decline of 14 percent from 379 at the same time last year.

753 sophomores, representing 74 percent of applicants, bickered for at least one of the selective clubs, (Cottage, TI, Cap & Gown, Ivy, Tower, and Cannon), which was a 6 percent increase from last year. 556 sophomores were accepted into selective clubs, which was a 4 percent increase from 536 last spring.

As has been the case since last year, all six selective clubs participated in double bicker, meaning students were allowed to apply to up to two selective clubs. Fifty-six percent of students applied to two selective clubs, an increase from 46 percent last spring.