I have a dilemma - and I'd really appreciate the views of anyone who knows anything about Princeton accomodation, or who is facing a similar choice, or who just has any thoughts on this matter!
I'm going to Princeton next autumn to start a PhD in Classics; I have to apply for university accomodation by April 15th - but I'm torn about what sort of accomodation I should apply for.
The choice is between an apartment of my own, or a room in the Graduate College. I've been living in college accomodation broadly similar to that in the Princeton Graduate College for the last four years - and although I've had a great university experience I'm getting fed up with sharing kitchens and bathrooms - so the prospect of a whole apartment of my own, which I can furnish myself, and with a kitchen all my own, is incredibly exciting for me. BUT the graduate college sells itself as the social hub of graduate life - and so I feel like the best way to meet people and make friends outside my programme could be to live there.
BUT in order to live in the graduate college you have to buy into a meal plan, and eat (or pay for anyway) the majority of meals in the canteen there. I think it could be nice and social to meet people for breakfast or whatever - but still the prospect of cafeteria meals for a year fills me with dread. Particularly since there are no real cooking facilities in the college - 3 kitchens between 420 people! I've never had that degree of control over my lifestyle - my undergrad accomodation always had a kitchen as well as a cafeteria in college, which there was no obligation to frequent. Also in the Grad College I would probably have a roommate - which I think I might find quite invasive and wearing.
So basically the lifestyle of the Graduate College doesn't really appeal to me at all - I find the idea of adults living in a boarding school atmosphere that is more communal/controlling than anything I've ever seen at any British undergraduate institution a little odd. And I've been told that the apartment accomodation is really attractive; the graduate college is neo-gothic - kind of attractive, but a bit kitsch in my opinion. They're both about the same distance from the campus. But - I am really keen to meet a wide range of people, and also don't feel quite ready to settle into a retiring academic lifestyle just yet - I'm only 21 and still have some partying in me, I think. So the Grad College could be perfect for that. I don't want to have a perfect, tastefully furnished apartment if I spend my whole time sitting in it on my own! I'm coming from the UK, and know no one in America, so am quite keen to make a few friends at this university! But then again, I'm not sure if eating bad food and having zero personal space for a year is a price worth paying for a more clearly routed social life - part of me is telling myself that I'll be able to meet people outside of the GC anyway if I just make a bit of an effort...
So, if anyone has read all this - thank you! And I'd really appreciate any views at all on this!
