Although all Princeton students were invited back to campus for the Spring 2021 semester, students also had the option to continue learning remotely.  I’m one of those students who chose to continue remotely — but I also was looking for a change of pace from the Fall 2020 semester.  Instead of staying at home in Colorado, I’m currently living in the Czech Republic with my grandparents.

I decided to make the move in order to spend more time with my extended family and to sharpen up my Czech language skills.  I study Slavic Languages & Literatures at Princeton, but there’s nothing quite like an in-person immersion to really ramp up the pace of learning.  Here’s what my typical school day looks like: 

8:30 a.m. - I usually wake up around this time.  Because of the time difference, all my classes are in the evening, so I don’t need to set alarms to wake up.  One of the perks of living off campus!  After I wake up, I get ready for the day and make myself tea and bread with jam for breakfast.  

9:30 a.m. - Time for work.  I check my email and then start working on assignments.  Today, I’m working on a problem set for my linguistics course.  Later, I’ll read a poem for my Russian course, so I’m prepared to ask questions and comment on the material during class.  If I finish early, I might get a head start on my readings for my history seminar — I do about 150 pages of reading a week for all of my courses.  

12:00 p.m. - Lunchtime!  During the week, my grandma usually cooks meals so I have time for my coursework.  On the weekends, I cook or we make something together.  She’s an excellent cook!  After the meal, I help clean up.  

1:00 p.m. - Now it’s time for our daily walk! It’s a cloudy day, but it’s not windy or cold.  We had snow here for a while, but it’s finally melted and we can see the beginnings of spring.  Today’s route takes us past the river, and we also get to see some animals.

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2:30 p.m. - After our walk, we have our afternoon coffee or tea.  It’s nice enough to sit outside today while we sip. 

3:00 p.m. - Back to my desk to finish anything I need to do before classes.  Usually I have more emails around this time, as those on campus begin their day.  

4:00 p.m. - Classes start!  I’m on Zoom for my linguistics lecture and my Czech class. 

6:00 p.m. - A short break for dinner before the rest of my classes.  For me, lunch is usually the biggest meal of the day and dinner is something quick.  

6:30 p.m. - Back to Zoom for the rest of my classes.  My Russian class is first, and then I have another break before my linguistics precept.  

10:30 p.m. - Classes are finally over and it’s time for bed.  Tomorrow is another full day!

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Everyone’s new at college, until they aren’t.

Last semester, I took a fairly easy schedule, all things considered — I was only taking classes with other first-years, or 200-level introductory courses. I wanted to give myself a chance to ease into the college experience and try out some extracurriculars without feeling like I was straining myself. I highly recommend this strategy for incoming students. As first semesters go, I had a very good one.

That was then, and this is now; I took my first “real” class this semester, a lingusitics course, LIN 306: The Structure and Meaning of Words. Unlike all my other classes, this class had prerequisites (gasp!) and is filled mostly with sophomores, juniors and seniors. The first day of class, we shared our backgrounds and reasons for taking the class. As the spotlight moved around our virtual classroom, my heart began to sink: it sounded like everyone in the class was an upperclassmen studying in the department, who had taken years of collegiate linguistics. All I had under my belt was the introductory course! I was worried about what I’d gotten myself into, and I felt very much like a little kid playing dress up. Everyone else in the class was a real linguistics student, and I was just a fraud.

To my surprise, the first lecture passed, and then the second, and the third, and I found myself understanding a lot of it. Sometimes, the professor would ask a question, and someone would respond so quickly that I didn’t have time to register the question or the response. But other times, the professor would ask a question, and another student would respond, and I would be thinking the same thing. And still other times, the professor would ask a question, and I would answer myself. The places where I found myself struggling were places where others were struggling as well.

Now, the semester is still young. Ask me in May, and perhaps I’ll tell you that taking a 300-level linguistics course was one of the worst mistakes of my life. But I doubt that will happen. I’m enjoying the course, and if I take the time to do the readings and work on the homework independently before I study with others, I find myself able to keep up the course — and the other “real” students in it. Rather than thinking about my schedule as having “real” classes and easy classes, there are just classes, and the students that take them, and the homework and the exams. 

Make no mistake, you should try to figure out a schedule that works for you. I started this semester with five classes, but quickly dropped to four! It wasn’t realistic for me to take all five with the extracurriculars I was a part of. But no one has more of a right to a class than anyone else. I met the requirements, I do the readings and I show up to the lectures just like everyone else. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll be one of the upperclassmen scaring off the first-years in an upper level class. For now, I’ll just stick to reading about morphology and trying my best on the homework.

As an African American Studies (AAS) concentrator, I often find myself diving into a bunch of rich literature I adore. My concentration is reading intensive. That means, unlike some STEM courses that may be centered around labs or problem sets, AAS is more about reading many sources or chapters to make connections and discuss! Nonetheless, seeing those 30-50 pages of reading for Monday doesn’t get any less daunting. Here are the ways that I approach my reading load. 

1. List them by due date, class and quantity: Being organized helps me know which readings I need to get ahead of and how much I am anticipating per day. 
2. Pick the readings I find most interesting: Although the assignment is more than expected or may have a later due date, I find that I can knock out the readings I think are most interesting quickly and then focus my attention on assignments with the most immediate due dates. 
3. Split up 50 pages into 25 and 25: I would read the first half one day and the second half another or I would read in the morning and then the evening. This gives me the feeling of reading less and not just staring into the sea of words for hours and hours. 
4. Read the assignments with fewer pages earlier: Tackling my readings with less pages first helps to get them out the way. 
5. Multitask: I like to save videos or podcasts for dinner or while I'm doing something passive like cleaning around the house. 
6. Start reading a few pages sooner rather than later: The thing about reading heavy classes is that you spend a lot of time outside of the classroom, you guessed it, reading. So just starting when you have a few free minutes can make a world of a difference.
7. Don’t worry about getting to everything: A common myth about reading heavy classes is that you need to read and understand everything. In my opinion, reading 30 out of the 50 pages while making connections and getting a clear understanding can be more fruitful during class discussions than reading all 50 pages and not understanding anything.

I prefer my reading-intensive concentration because I find myself very attuned to the power that books hold and the ways that they are essential to my knowledge! With reading, you’re not really looking for a particular answer. Your responses are shaped by your personal perspective and the same text can be read in so many different ways. When picking a concentration, I would suggest looking into what the workload would look like and ask questions such as “How much time would you spend a week reading for class or preparing the material?” Understanding if you’re not a big reader, like me, or need time to wrap your head around readings can be helpful to gauge your interest in a department. 

When I was applying to Princeton, I was curious to learn more about post-graduation outcomes and the types of careers Princeton students pursue. I hope this blog post sheds some light on what life after Princeton looks like.

Following graduation this upcoming May, I will be pursuing a Master’s in Management at The London School of Economics. I discovered an interest in entrepreneurship during my time at Princeton, so I decided to further my education and strengthen my quantitative skills before launching my career. I am very excited to move to London!

While attending a graduate program in management might be ‘unconventional’ for a history concentrator, there are many skills that I have acquired through my liberal arts education that are essential in the business world: the ability to write a compelling and effective argument, strong reading comprehension skills and a systemic understanding of human institutions.

My friends are pursuing a myriad of careers, all the way from software engineering at Amazon to independent journalism. I have also met many students that changed career interests or are undecided about what they want to do after Princeton and that is totally fine! The advantage of a Princeton education is that the world-renowned academics and extracurricular opportunities provide you with transferable skills that prepare you for the real world.

Princeton is known for its strong alumni network and I have met many alumni that have offered me mentorship and provided invaluable advice. One thing that stood out from my conversations with alumni is that being a Princetonian doesn’t end at graduation. With more than 95,000 Princeton alumni living all around the world, there are various opportunities and events to meet other Princetonians and nurture meaningful connections post-graduation. 

My message to prospective students is that no matter what you want to do in the future, a Princeton education will place you in a good position to fulfill your aspirations. Make sure to tap into the alumni network throughout your undergraduate career and learn from their experiences!

Ever wonder what sort of books are assigned at Princeton? Since I’m concentrating in English, I’ve definitely read my fair share of books here. From Jane Austen to Toni Morrison, Justin Torres to Susan Stewart, I’ve read a wide range. But with each new book comes a new perspective, a new understanding of what words can do, a new appreciation for how a story is pieced together, and a new reflection on my own life and the world around me. So without further ado, here are my top five best reads at Princeton (so far): 

Emma by Jane Austen

It was inevitable that Austen would make the list, because c’mon, we all know she’s a fiction queen. In a course called “Jane Austen: Then and Now”, we read all of Austen’s novels and paired them with contemporary adaptations. I’ll admit, it was a real toss up between Persuasion, Pride & Prejudice and Emma. I stand for the clear sense of female empowerment in Persuasion, I’m obsessed with the romance in Pride and Prejudice (and who doesn’t love Elizabeth Bennett?), and Emma inspired the movie, Clueless—enough said. But I ultimately chose Emma for much more than its contemporary icon. Out of all of Austen’s novels, Emma left this question lingering in my mind the most: to what extent does Austen critique social structures, and to what extent does she conform to them? While not much actually happens in the novel, you finish reading feeling as if it were action-packed. If you’d like to make a case for another of Austen’s novels, feel free to email me and we can chat :)

Good Talk by Mira Jacob

Since I took a course called “The Graphic Memoir”, it was also inevitable that at least one graphic memoir would appear on my list. Good Talk is about trying to explain a world you don’t fully understand to your kids, and in the process, making sense of it yourself. What’s especially interesting about this graphic memoir is the relationship between images and text. Pay close attention to the way that Jacob places the character cut-outs, background images, and text in conjunction with each other, and don’t miss out on the repeated images that occur throughout the memoir. I give it a 10/10, and would recommend it if you’re interested in conversations about race, politics, sexuality, love, privilege, self-growth, childhood and so much more.

The Myth of Seneca Falls: Memory and the Women’s Suffrage Movement, 1848-1898 by Lisa Tetrault

This book is a MUST-READ for literally anyone. It was one of the first books we read in the course “The Long 19th Amendment: Women and Voting Rights in the US”, and it stuck with me throughout the class and beyond. While Seneca Falls is widely celebrated as the “birthplace” of the women’s suffrage movement, Tetrault deconstructs this myth and reveals that the movement was already in the works by women who were glossed over in history. How has framing the birth of the women’s suffrage movement at Seneca Falls shaped women’s history? Who has this myth left out of the narrative, and why? What are the prolonged effects of the myth and who created it in the first place?

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Speculative fiction has never felt so real, so urgent, so now, as it does in Ishiguro’s novel. I always find it so incredible when a science fiction/speculative fiction author can create an entirely different world—one with different rules, different challenges, different settings—and yet make that different world feel the same as ours. That’s exactly what Ishiguro accomplishes, and trust me, you will get attached to the characters in this book like no other. Amidst the clones and guardians and creativity culture is a story of what it means to be human: to love, to lose, and to persevere. I read this book in a course called “The Novel Since 2000”, and it was definitely my favorite on the reading list. 

The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark

In the aftermath of World War II, Spark immerses readers into the May of Teck Club, where social hierarchies, body image, gossip, and arguments over a shared dress dominate behind closed doors. Spark integrates the societal and historical context beautifully with the daily interactions and goings-on at the May of Teck Club. This is the kind of book that you’re going to want to read and reread, again and again, because Spark packs so much into such a slim text. Trust me, if you take your time with this novel, you’ll discover double (or even triple) meanings to words and symbols, nuanced perspectives on characters and their decisions, and a constant debate about what Muriel Spark meant when she referred to the women at the May of Teck Club as “Girls of Slender Means”.

Hopefully this list gives you a glimpse into some of the reading assigned at Princeton. Ultimately, however, it’s not the books that make the course, it’s the thought-provoking conversations that these books inspire.

As part of the Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) degree, undergraduate students are required to demonstrate proficiency in a second language. This can be done by either testing out through AP tests or SAT subject tests (if applicable) or taking classes in that language for three of four semesters at Princeton. While I was already fluent in English and Spanish, I decided to take Italian my first-year and sophomore years. 

Language classes at Princeton are small and you get to know your professor—in my Italian 101 class, we were only nine students. Classes took place from Monday to Friday and I really enjoyed learning from my peers as we tackled learning a new language as a team. I was forced out of my comfort zone as the professor would randomly call on us to speak in Italian, sing a song or read a script. We also got to watch movies and learn about Italian culture once we learned the basics.

One of the highlights of pursuing Italian at Princeton was going to watch an Italian Opera at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. We all took a bus to the city and all of the expenses were covered. I was amazed by the interior architecture of the opera house and felt grateful for the opportunity of going on this trip.

After a few semesters of Italian, I can proudly say that I can read and understand Italian. In fact, I recently visited my friend who goes to school in Milan and got to put my Italian skills to practice. Moreover, learning Italian allowed me to connect with my family ancestry, as my grandmother is from Italy. Learning Italian has opened my horizons in many ways.

If you are a prospective student worried about the language requirement, don’t sweat it! Language classes are one of the best at Princeton and you can choose from  Arabic, French, German, Hebrew or Wolof, to name a few. 

Zoom isolation is real, especially for the other first-year students and I who haven’t yet had the chance to live on campus because of Princeton’s fully virtual instruction during the fall semester. Oftentimes, during classes or clubs I feel as though I’m the odd one out. Everyone who has been on campus has a shared vocabulary of buildings, Princeton traditions, courses, professors and dining halls. It’s been hard for me to feel a connection to Princeton — or with anyone save the people I've been living with, for that matter — when everything has been filtered through a screen. So, the little pockets of community I found throughout my first fall semester became especially meaningful to me, like the introductory poetry workshop I was able to take.

This year, the Program in Creative Writing offered workshops only for first-year students. I knew that I wanted to pursue creative writing at Princeton, so I applied and was accepted, and every Tuesday for the fall semester I met with eight other first years and our professor for two hours to discuss poetry. This was a completely new world for me, and one I was keen to experience. I’ve been writing creatively for most of my life — and writing poetry since high school — but had never before had the chance to devote so much time to it at a high level. At my high school, poetry was taught but rarely written, and I didn’t have a chance to spend more than a sporadic few weeks on it in a class. Being able to spend a whole semester writing, reading and editing poetry was something new and did wonders for my writing.

More often than not, we spent our time discussing things completely unrelated to poetry: how we were doing with midterms, what we were looking forward to doing over the weekend, one of our classmate’s new dogs. It was wonderful to be in such a small class and to all be first-years, all interested in poetry, meeting every week for the whole semester. Though, it wasn’t the same as being in the same classroom, but for a while each week, I was happy to join a Zoom call where I knew everyone and everyone knew my name, the type of poetry I liked to write and where I was living for the semester. 

This isn’t to knock larger classes — I took an introductory metaphysics course in the philosophy department which I loved — but a recommendation to try out a smaller class. Especially for your first semester of college, it helps to have a little pocket of the undergraduate community that you can feel at home in, even if it’s only in a Zoom call.

Dear First-year Self,

These next four years will be some of the best years of your life—you will take classes with world-renowned professors, form life-long friendships, and travel the world. There will be various obstacles and challenges in your way, but you will learn from these experiences and turn out to be stronger and wiser. I know you are apprehensive about fitting in and succeeding academically, but rest assured, you will get the hang of things.

I’ve written some of the biggest lessons that will help you in your time at Princeton:

Embrace failure

You will soon learn that failure is inevitable. You will face rejection from the internships you apply to, not getting the grade you wanted, and trying to compare yourself to others. Remember that every time you fail you come out a stronger and more resilient person. Don't let failure discourage you from trying new things at Princeton and putting yourself out there!

Live in the moment

Although you care about academics and trying your hardest, there are life-long memories to be made at Princeton. Go out with your friends instead of staying in for a problem set, go to New York City for a weekend and most importantly, have fun! Remember that it's ok to have fun once in a while and enjoy the company of your peers. When you look back at your time in college, the experiences that you will cherish the most are those in which you chose to live in the moment.

Be open to change

It’s ok if you change your major or if you drop a class you thought you would enjoy. I know that you are used to following a rigid pathway in high school, but this will not be the case in college. Your time at Princeton will be of self-discovery and adventure: chase after your true passions and you will find where you belong. Unexpected changes will make you reflect on what matters most to you.

Enjoy these four years because they will fly by. 

Sincerely,

Senior-year you
 

One of the main reasons I chose to concentrate in the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) is the format of the junior papers (JPs). In one semester, juniors enroll in a research seminar, in which students learn quantitative and qualitative research methods and then write a research-based JP. In the other semester, juniors have a policy task force, which involves writing a JP that makes recommendations about the best ways to address important public policy problems affecting society today. As I was deciding which department to concentrate in, the policy task force excited me because it would allow me to gain practical skills in policy research and development. I just finished my task force and greatly learned and benefited from this experience. 

My task force was called Improving Health Care for Vulnerable Populations in the U.S. During the COVID-19 Pandemic and it was taught by Heather Howard, lecturer in SPIA and former Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services. One of the coolest parts of the task force is that they are often taught by people with real-world experience in the subject being studied. Professor Howard has an amazing breadth of knowledge and I learned so much from her. Our class only had nine students, so we all had the opportunity to get to know each other and contribute to class discussions.

It was fascinating to study the pandemic as it was unfolding in front of us. Each week, we talked about a different theme, ranging from racial disparities in health outcomes to vaccination strategies to maternal mortality. I was inspired by a discussion of the disproportionate impact the virus has had on people residing in long-term care facilities such as nursing homes. I wrote my JP on the importance of home and community-based services, which ensure that senior citizens and people with disabilities can receive support and assistance at home in a way that maximizes independence and prioritizes safety. I conducted research on how other states provide home and community-based services in order to make recommendations for the state of New Jersey.

In the last week of the semester, my classmates and I presented our recommendations to a group of stakeholders who work at the New Jersey Department of Health. It was incredible to be able to discuss our research findings with the people in charge of making decisions about the state’s health care system. They listened to what we had to say and will hopefully keep our research in mind going forward.

Because of my task force, I feel more comfortable researching and evaluating the best policy proposals to solve a problem. I plan to use these skills in my senior thesis and future career in policy and advocacy. This experience confirmed to me that I made the right choice in concentrating in SPIA.

I’ve always had a passion for reading and writing, so I knew I wanted my time at Princeton to involve those interests. Luckily, I found a home for my love of the written word within the Journalism department. Princeton’s journalism classes are consistently some of the highest-rated classes in the whole university. They are all small seminars that foster a close-knit classroom environment and push students to explore what it means to be a reporter in our ever-changing media landscape. These classes are so popular that it’s often hard to get into them, but I lucked out by taking two amazing journalism classes.

My first journalism class was, “JRN445: Investigative Journalism.” Joe Stephens, founding director of the Journalism department, taught us tricks of the trade he learned in his many years at The Washington Post. The discussions we held in our nine-person seminar led to powerful insights and new friendships. We heard from many interesting guest speakers, ranging from Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, to Sacha Pfeiffer, reporter for The Boston Globe and subject of the movie Spotlight. Another highlight of the class was visiting the Bloomberg News headquarters in New York City! The class culminated with an in-depth investigative journalism project, so I wrote about the many inaccessible buildings in the town of Princeton. This project forced me to come out of my comfort zone and led to many interesting interviews. It’s one of the assignments I’m most proud of from my time at Princeton.

I just finished my second journalism class, “JRN 449: International News - Migration Reporting,” taught by Deborah Amos of NPR. It has been such an honor to learn from accomplished journalists like her and Joe Stephens. The class focuses on the differences in immigration policy between the United States and Canada, and usually goes on a trip to Canada over fall break. While the travel component could not happen this year, the class was a fantastic learning experience. We discussed the history of the American immigration system and the drastic changes the Trump administration has made to long-standing policies. I’m glad I got to learn and write about an issue as important and relevant as immigration in this class.

Princeton formalized a certificate in journalism in Spring 2018, right before I matriculated. While I would’ve taken journalism classes even without seeking the certificate, I am happy that I can get formal recognition for my pursuit of truth and exploration of writing through the certificate program. Journalism classes really are the best classes at Princeton, and I highly encourage you to take at least one!