These flyers also have a common phrase on them that happens to echo an iconic Kellogg’s commercial: “Earn your stripes.” Here at Princeton, however, “earning your stripes” is not a simple matter of enjoying a delicious bowl of Frosted Flakes. The idea is that, to earn your stripes, you must host a prefrosh or two and let them stay in your room for the weekend. And a lot of us do choose to host, either out of some perceived duty or simply for the enjoyment of showing the ropes to an eager recently admitted student.
But it doesn’t end at just offering up your room for a few days. It seems that an important part of the “earn your stripes” mandate, and one that applies to everyone regardless of whether you’re hosting, is instilling a positive view of the University in the prefrosh. That’s the whole point of Princeton Preview: to show the new admits how great this place is. For those of us that really enjoy it here, this will be easy and will more likely than not come naturally. But for “those not wearing the rose-colored glasses of cultish Princeton idolization” among us, as Tehila Wenger so eloquently put it, things won’t be so simple.
In fact, people here who don’t love Princeton actually have quite a bit of pressure on them to keep their negative sentiments to themselves, not only from the University but from the rest of the current students, as Tehila highlighted, and the prefrosh themselves. It is obviously bad for the University if people go around telling all of the eager prefrosh that they dislike Princeton; Preview weekend is a time to impress the potential Princetonians, not to fill their heads with the prospect of anything less than utter bliss during their four years here. The other current students do not want to hear anything negative either; in addition to other underlying psychological reasons, they have their own prefrosh to impress, and you could be messing with the positive picture of Princeton that they are trying to project, thus interfering with the delicate process of earning their precious stripes.
The most innocent source of pressure, though, and potentially the strongest, is that which emanates from the prefrosh themselves. For many of them, this is their first taste of what it is actually like to live on a college campus — whether Preview weekend is actually anything like a normal weekend I cannot yet comment on. All of these accepted students have worked very hard toward this goal of college acceptance, and they do not want to be disappointed by their reward.
That is not to say that those unhappy with Princeton should keep quiet during Preview. We need to keep in mind that Princeton Preview is ultimately for the benefit of the prefrosh, and it seems only fair that we give them an even-handed picture of what Princeton is really like: some days it’s as bright and beautiful as those depicted on the Preview posters; other days it isn’t. Tehila’s right — we should lend our ears and those of the prefrosh to the less-than-thrilled members of our community, and these people shouldn’t feel like they have to “love college or shut up,” even during Preview.
Under one condition: Explain yourself.
Point out concrete aspects of Princeton that you don’t like. Tell them why grade deflation or the Street or the lack of hummus in the dining hall is the bane of your existence. Listing actual problems contributes to the Preview experience just as much as all the positive things that are said, and to be fair to the University while making these points is definitely stripe-worthy. A blanket “I’m not happy here” says nothing about the University — except that unhappiness is actually possible — unless you provide specific reasons for this underlying unhappiness. Otherwise, the unhappiness could very well be related to things like missing your family and friends at home or even just being a generally pessimistic person, things that Princeton has no control over.
The prefrosh that come to Princeton Preview can experience for themselves whether or not Princeton gives off the right vibe to them. It is our job as students to provide them with actual information about what being a Princeton student is like to help them make their decision. So if you’re going to express your dissatisfaction with Princeton during Preview, do your duty to the University, your fellow classmates and the prefrosh, and, please, tell us why.
Richard Daker is a freshman from Evergreen Park, Ill. He can be reached at rdaker@princeton.edu.
Read More
5Terra Advisory must distance itself from human rights abuses
Kristin NagyIt’s clear that 5Terra is making the wrong choice by failing to fully investigate their own plans and attempting to build a talent pipeline between students and PIF companies, putting Princeton’s values of service and ethical leadership at risk by wading into possible involvement in human rights abuses.
It’s clear that 5Terra is making the wrong choice by failing to fully investigate their own plans and attempting to build a talent pipeline between students and PIF companies, putting Princeton’s values of service and ethical leadership at risk by wading into possible involvement in human rights abuses.
Didn’t draw into your residential college? This rule says you probably can’t next year, either.
Jerry ZhuRising seniors who apply to their college’s draw receive an additional 0.1 points to their draw weight for every year they’ve lived in their college, ensuring that those who successfully drew in in their junior year get priority. The University must abolish this unreasonable rule to restore fairness to the room draw process.
Rising seniors who apply to their college’s draw receive an additional 0.1 points to their draw weight for every year they’ve lived in their college, ensuring that those who successfully drew in in their junior year get priority. The University must abolish this unreasonable rule to restore fairness to the room draw process.
Princeton, stop using ChatGPT
Ava JohnsonWhen chatbot tools like ChatGPT are consistently used in place of basic critical thinking and simple mental tasks, we lose our ability to complete these tasks ourselves.
When chatbot tools like ChatGPT are consistently used in place of basic critical thinking and simple mental tasks, we lose our ability to complete these tasks ourselves.