What comes to mind when you think of your professors? Brutal arbitrator of your academic performance and professional future? Source of worry; bearer of your latest discouraging essay comments?
These are valid feelings, but consider: what type of person becomes a professor at Princeton? My freshman year taught me that professors can be so much more than administrators of a class and preachers of a syllabus. Our faculty members are extraordinary scholars in their respective fields; they are political architects of historic federal legislation, energy physicists advancing the power sources of tomorrow, philosophical visionaries of novel terms to describe social phenomenon, and countless other versions of deeply brilliant minds bending the limits of human achievement in the 21st Century.
You may be learning seemingly tedious, introductory material from these faculty in the literal classroom, but the scope of your professors’ experience likely extends much further. Whether or not you know what discipline or path you’d like to go down, getting to know faculty separate from the course will undoubtedly add to your base of knowledge, give you a glimpse of what meaningful and innovative scholarship is, and broaden your vision of what it means to be a Princetonian giving back to the world.
The work of one Princeton professor—Professor Jesse Jenkins of the School of Public and International Affairs and the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering department—caught my eye on the university website back in 2020, during my sophomore year of high school, and became the reason I decided I wanted to attend Princeton. I recently took his class about the engineering, economics, and governmental regulation of the electricity grid, and what he taught me both inside and outside the course has shaped my ability to contribute to the debates at the quantitative yet ideological nexus of climate science analysis and energy politics. He also now follows me back on Twitter!
Furthermore, last fall, I was so pumped for my first political theory class that I booked a meeting with the professor prior to lectures beginning. When we grabbed coffee in spring semester, he told me he had never witnessed a freshman do this, that it stood out instantly. I came to realize, very few people will pass up an opportunity to talk about their own research and interests! Lending a showing of interest in your professor’s life work, which they (very) likely care quite a deal about, is the perfect stepping stone for a fruitful lifetime professional connection, thought-buddy while floating through the great universe of ideas, or simply a good friend whom you can learn from over a Small World drink.