Princeton is a wonderful place, and I will extol its virtues presently, but it isn't necessarily what you see in these three days, despite (or perhaps because of) the Admission Office's best efforts. Princeton is Princeton in the spring, when the sun shines and the birds sing and kind preceptors allow you to have class outside. But Princeton is also Princeton in the winter, when snow turns to slush and mixes with the gravel they throw down on the paths. The gorgeous cherry trees which blossom in the spring lose their leaves in the fall.
The food at Whitman, as you may have already discovered, is great, but you won't always eat there, and there are other dining halls. Some rooms have air conditioning; some have bug infestations. There's really not a great way of guaranteeing where you'll live; you could luck out and get put in Whitman your freshman year only to have the last drawtime of upperclass draw your junior year.
Now, if all this sounds very dark and dreary, let me assure you: I love Princeton. I love it now more than ever, but the Princeton I know and love is only very superficially related to the Princeton I met when I visited the campus in 2005. I suppose the pretty buildings are still there; some of the ugly ones have gone away.
Like any university, Princeton has its ups and downs. Right now, I imagine most of the schools are having nice weather, and most of the schools have nice people, and cool clubs and their fair share of good and bad professors. And to be fair, it's probably very hard to get a solid feel for the social life at a college in just three days. You can get a feel for the environs and if that were all that mattered in a school, then your choice would be clear.
But then there are the things that you cannot see in three days, and ultimately, these are the things that really make Princeton great. You probably won't get the opportunity to really feel out the eating clubs or the residential colleges. Certainly you won't experience the educational experience first hand. In these three days you'll be spared the mountains of work seniors put into their theses, and likewise, you won't reap the rewards of knowing that you have faced a monumental task and emerged victorious. You won't know what it's like to be in a five hour dress rehearsal the night before the midterm exam, but you also won't know what it feels like to bond with your castmates who are all in the same boat behind the curtain. You won't have to schedule a meeting with the librarian to discuss sources for your junior paper, but you also won't stay afterwards to discuss life, the universe, and everything with her.
In short, Princeton Preview allows you to see Princeton when it is all fun and games. The sun shines. Precept is outside. The birds sing. People go to Hoagie Haven for dinner and then T-Sweet for desert. There is song and dance. But Princeton is hard work; for the most part, it is work we are glad to do.
So how can you discover the true Princeton? Unfortunately, the answer is that there is no one true Princeton. Princeton is what you make of it; the raw materials are great - I would say the best - but you must be the craftsman of your own collegiate destiny. The opportunities are here, but only if you seek them. So there is only one way to discover the Princeton that rings true for you, and that is by becoming a Princetonian. If you find my words alarming, please don't despair. Ask as many questions as you can and make them count. In the end you'll have to go with your gut, and to be frank you'll probably be fine. Princeton is a great place to learn and grow; I love it, and if you were to choose so, it could give you the adventure of a lifetime. But you'll have to choose your own adventure.
Martha Vega-Gonzalez is a history major from New York, N.Y. She can be reached at mvega@princeton.edu.
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