Come to Princeton!

It's a safe bet that all the high school seniors here this weekend know Princeton's a great place to learn. Every day, Princeton students get to interact with topnotch faculty who are the leaders in their field, something that many of us get used to after a while — and may even start to find annoying when we're called out for "forgetting" to do the reading.

What makes Princeton Princeton is the students here. Work hard, play hard. It's a cliche, but it's true. The girl who's researching private water companies in South America is working just as hard on a dance show. That guy who just walked by you is on the football team and spends just as much time in lab.

But what really makes it nice is that people just seem to get along here. It's not a hyper-competitive place, and that laid-back pace is what drew many of us here. If you need a bustling urban area, a Columbia or a Harvard is probably better for you. If you don't like to be near civilization, go to Dartmouth.

This weekend — like everyone else's pre-frosh weekend — is a show. The University gives a nice theme park version of what Princeton really is. No, there's not a comedy show every Friday. There isn't a big town-gown festival every Saturday. And the eating clubs aren't always closed at night.

Princeton does all it can to downplay the significance of the eating clubs and consequently generates a very misleading picture of student life. Your Orange Key tour will mention them in passing, while in the glossy admission brochure you saw last fall, they were only briefly mentioned as an alternative to residential college dining. When admitted seniors finally get the chance to experience Princeton first hand the eating clubs close at the request of the University.

Princeton is a lot more than academics, and for better or for worse, the eating clubs are the backbone of the Princeton social scene. The University may not approve of these institutions but to deny their existence for the weekend is to present a flawed and misleading view of Princeton life.

The parties you'll see this weekend are not the way Princeton social life usually plays out. In place of room parties and hard liquor, the Street generally offers music and beer — both painfully watered down. Maybe it's not your thing — and for many Princeton students it isn't — but the Street is an important part of what makes Princeton unique.

Of course, the Street isn't the whole Princeton scene, and at other schools it frequently gets blown out of proportion. Princeton students are very smart and they like to have fun. So, whether it's the arts, the newspaper, juggling or athletics, you'll probably find a student here who dedicates herself to it.

Here, we're about as laid back as you can be at an Ivy, but the days of Fitzgerald's "This Side of Paradise" are no more. It's a lot of work, but we know not to leave the fun behind.

So, relax, enjoy the show and make some new friends. Just remember, you'll have to come back this fall for the real thing.