How do I get to church?
Princeton University belongs to the East Brunswick YSA Branch for single students living on campus, and most married students living in the area belong to the Princeton 1st Ward.
Services for the Princeton YSA branch are held in the Princeton LDS Chapel at 901 Canal Pointe Boulevard, about 1.5 miles South of campus. Sacrament meeting begins at 2pm, with Sunday School/Elders Quorum/Relief Society at 1pm. Students often carpool together, so please email us to get in touch if you’d like a ride.
The Princeton YSA branch is part of the New York, New York YSA Stake, and often we attend stake activities in the city either by carpooling or by taking the train.
If you’d like to connect with the YSA branch, you can find up to date information by joining the Facebook group here or following our instagram page here. Up to date meeting schedule information for the family ward can be found here.
How many LDS students are there at Princeton?
Though the number fluctuates each year, usually there are approximately 15 active undergraduates and a couple of single graduate students. There are also typically 5-10 married graduate students or postdocs who are a terrific asset to the LDSSA community.
How easy is it to get to a temple?
The closest temple to campus is the stunning Philadelphia Temple. Temple trips are organized throughout the year by both the ward and local YSA. Additionally, the on-campus train station makes independent trips to the New York Manhattan temple eminently doable (~1.5 hour ride).
Can I go to Princeton and still serve a mission?
ABSOLUTELY! Princeton enthusiastically supports LDS students serving missions. Deferring admission to serve prior to freshman year or serving after freshman or sophomore years are all common choices that Princeton goes out of its way to accommodate.
Is it hard to attend Princeton and still maintain LDS standards?
If you choose to attend any non-church school, you will meet, interact with, and befriend a diverse spectrum of people with widely divergent backgrounds, beliefs, and moral standards. This is especially true at Princeton, and it is easy to find friends who have similar standards or are supportive of your choices.
Though drinking is common, Princeton University is unique in its dedication of large sums of money and effort into providing fun, alcohol-free activities on campus. You won’t have to choose between keeping your standards and having a fun college experience!
The most important thing is that you come to school with a firm commitment to your standards. As long as you have that, there is no reason to struggle throughout your college years. It has been our experience that if you are making choices because of an earnest conviction rather than familial or societal expectations, Princeton students are almost without exception genuinely respectful and will frequently go out of their way to ensure that you are able to maintain your standards.
How do I know if Princeton is right for me?
Despite not being able to recommend Princeton more highly, no school is right for everyone. It’s important to not limit yourself and explore all your options. It is also crucial to remember that your worth and present or future happiness are not based on a hurried decision made by a committee of stressed people who have never met you. While Princeton is a terrific school that affords unparalleled opportunities to chase dreams, we don’t believe we would necessarily be any more or less happy had we been rejected or chosen to attend a different school.
That being said, Princeton is, in our unapologetically biased opinion, the best place in the world to attend college. As you likely know, Princeton long ago chose to limit both the overall size of the student body and the number of graduate programs in order to focus on the experience of each individual student, particularly undergrads. Owing to its small size and the feeling of life-long belonging that an intimate environment fosters among generous alumni, Princeton has the largest per-student endowment in the world. This means that Princeton has both the resources and the ability to individualize each student’s experience and focus on helping you achieve your individual dreams. You can feel this commitment in a very real way as you seek out your unique path.
Though there is legitimate reason to be concerned by the relatively small size of the Mormon contingent, we have not only found this to be a relatively minor issue, but also to have distinct advantages. Beyond the obvious “more missionary opportunities” and “the chance to learn from friends of other faiths”, being the only Mormon most of your friends know pushes you to be the best example of Mormonism and Christ that you can. If you are earnest and humble in your desires to live righteously, your friends and classmates will quickly start to admire you for being different, in many ways making keeping the commandments easier than if you were surrounded by Mormons.
Additionally, because the Mormon community is so small, it is very united/non-cliquey and easily lends itself to the development of lifelong friendships. We legitimately enjoy spending time together and look to each other for support.
For what it lacks in terms of YSA, our ward makes up in inspiring role-models, doting members, and opportunities to meaningfully serve. The Bishopric of the 1st ward goes above and beyond to support students, including everything from driving campus in the middle of the night when necessary to ensuring that students have meaningful and fulfilling callings. Ward members constantly invite us over to their homes for delicious home cooked meals and are always willing to lend everything from their car to a tent for a fall break camping trip. Covering a ginormous area, the ward counts among its members people from all walks of life and present situations. This rich diversity of experience helps lessen the comfortable isolation of the Orange Bubble and with remaining grounded in the rarified world of Ivy League academics.
Please feel free to contact us (ldssa@princeton.edu) with any and all questions or concerns you may have.