Transferring from the Miami Dade Honors College to Princeton University has been one of the best experiences of my life and attending Princeton has been a lifelong dream come true. However, at first, I didn’t know what to expect of  Ivy League coursework. I questioned if my educational background as a community college student was enough to succeed at Princeton. As you prepare to make this transition, you might also have these concerns, but as a senior and after two years at Princeton, I can assure you that you are in great hands. 

As part of Princeton’s second transfer cohort since the program’s relaunching in 2018, I’ve come to appreciate this University’s transfer program because it’s unlike any other in the country. With each cohort amounting to just a handful of students, we all receive personalized advising resources from the program’s director, Dr. Keith Shaw. By taking a transfer-based writing seminar course during our first semester with Dr. Shaw, the program offers opportunities to have regular check-ins with our adviser. Moreover, the program also integrates resources provided by the Scholars Institute Fellows Program (SIFP) , which assists first-generation  and/or lower income students in their transition to Princeton. The transfer program also introduces students to the McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning and Writing Center, which offer tutoring and essay advising sessions.

Taking advantage of these resources has made the transition to a major four-year institution so much easier.  Rather than being thrown into a large transfer cohort, we’re guided each and every step of the way as we take on challenging classes and begin to engage in unique extracurricular opportunities. In a way, the transition is almost seamless. The program equips you with the necessary resources to easily integrate into Princeton’s broader student body, while adapting to the academic rigor.

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 If it were not for the program’s one-on-one guidance and countless resources, I would not have been able to take advantage of Princeton’s many extracurricular opportunities.  A week into my very first semester, I began volunteering for the PACE Center’s ESL El Centro program, in which I taught several weekly English classes to Spanish-speaking members of our community. I felt as though I was able to balance my extracurricular commitments with a challenging set of courses. However, a few weeks into my second semester, the COVID-19 pandemic upended my plans and routine, as it did for countless other people. I struggled to find worthwhile summer internships and fellowships after evacuating campus and self-isolating at home in Miami, Florida. Yet, after having engaged for at least a full semester’s worth of coursework and having built connections with several faculty members, I found myself working for two different professors as a research assistant. Throughout the summer, I helped curate research data and built several coding data frames.

During that time, I also led the founding of the Princeton Transfer Association as the club’s president. Through the group, we have worked to further facilitate incoming transfer students’ transition by offering experienced transfer students’ insights during the orientation process and fostering a sense of community between each transfer cohort with community-building events. Additionally, Princeton's opportunities are available to all of its students, including transfers. At the start of my second year, I was also selected by one of Princeton’s most selective public policy fellowship programs, Scholars in the Nation’s Service Initiative (SINSI). The program offers about six students every year the opportunity to partake in an internship with a federal government agency. SINSI helps students interested in public service and policy find a way to begin engaging with the federal government. 

Princeton’s transfer program offers a unique opportunity for students to not only make a transition from  community college to a four-year university, but it also helps students thrive in the process. The transfer program has created an environment in which students from any academic discipline and background can expect to overcome the academic obstacles within the classrooms of a world-class institution, while also benefiting from unmatched professional development opportunities. 

You're likely familiar with Princeton's senior thesis, where each student works closely with a faculty advisor to conduct original research, and you might have even heard of the "JP" or an "independent study," which are earlier opportunities for research. But there are also so many ways to get involved in research during the summer months, which offers you the chance to explore a research field at a time when you're not juggling your coursework. This summer, for instance, I got to work on an amazing molecular dynamics project with Professor Bourg through an internship with Princeton's High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI).

Each summer HMEI offers paid internships for Princeton students, many involving international travel! Some of the ones this year included studying rock dissolution in the French Alps, studying dinosaur extinction in the Andes mountains, and conducting X-ray diffraction experiments at Princeton. When Covid-19 travel restrictions led to my HMEI internship being transferred to an online format, I was initially disappointed (sadly no French Alps this year). But I found the new project, which studied organic contaminants via molecular dynamics simulations, to be incredibly fascinating and its findings applicable to the real world. I even decided to continue it this fall as an independent study with Professor Bourg, which will allow me to see the project through more of its phases.

The best part of research at Princeton, in my opinion, is getting to work closely with your professors. You see how they approach challenges and problem-solve in the quest to uncover new information and develop solutions, and they get to know your strengths, weaknesses and working style as well. For me, getting to know Professor Bourg was particularly rewarding because he is one of my professors this fall! When I walked into his class on my first day of Introduction to Environmental Engineering I was a little overwhelmed by seeing live people in the classroom! But Professor Bourg immediately recognized me and welcomed me to the class, which made me feel much less nervous and more comfortable.

My summer research brought me into a community on campus this fall, which has opened the door to meeting even more environmental researchers on campus. Each week at lab meetings I'll get to hear what the other graduate and undergraduate students in Professor Bourg's lab group are working on, and they can tell me about projects they've worked on with other professors in other departments. I'm really looking forward to continuing my project this fall and meeting more of the brilliant and welcoming people here at Princeton.

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One of the most important milestones of the Princeton undergraduate experience is the senior thesis. Almost all departments require a thesis or some type of independent work. Writing a total of 28,000 words and 110 pages was definitely challenging, but extremely rewarding. I was able to embark on my own research project, choose a topic I was passionate about and put into practice all of the historical methods I had learned in class.

My senior thesis, ““Americanos Todos”: Redefining U.S. Latino and Latina Identity during the Second World War”, investigates the wartime experiences of Latinos who served in both the homefront and battlefront during World War II. Despite posing significant contributions to the war, Latinos remain neglected in dominant narratives of WWII. My work attempts to address this historical silencing and uncover the Latino wartime experience. I ultimately argue that the war influenced the emergence of new forms of identity by confounding what it meant to be “Latino” and “American” and catalyzed movements for inclusion that formed a Latino civil rights consciousness.

My research was based primarily on 47 interviews of Latinos and Latinas who participated in the war. Listening to their wartime experiences and how they championed sacrifice and patriotism despite encountering discrimination was extremely inspiring. They were constantly treated as second-class citizens and had to fight for their own inclusion and future in the country, motifs that resonate in modern discussions over Latino immigration. 

The overall process of crafting my own arguments and contributing to the historiography really helped strengthen my writing and critical thinking skills. Moreover, turning in this thesis, the longest research project I have worked on, demonstrated that I could do anything I set my mind to. There were many times that I was stuck with my topic or didn’t know how to approach the primary source, but my adviser was always extremely supportive. Everyone is paired with an adviser for the thesis and my adviser was extremely generous with her time and provided instrumental feedback.

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For prospective students, don't be afraid of the senior thesis! I know it seems daunting but Princeton prepares you and provides you with all of the resources and support you need to succeed. All of the papers I had written in other classes and previous independent work played a huge role in helping me navigate and complete my senior thesis. Looking back on my undergraduate career, writing my senior thesis is probably my proudest accomplishment.

You might’ve heard of this thing called independent work. At Princeton, most students will experience at least one year of independent work: Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) students will write at least one junior paper (JP) and a full senior thesis, while Bachelor of Science in Engineering (B.S.E.) students typically have a senior thesis and the opportunity to conduct junior independent work as well. 

I’m in the Economics department, so I write one paper over two semesters. It’ll clock in around 30 pages. (If that seems long to you, wait ‘till you hear about our thesis!) In some concentrations, students write two, shorter length papers, one each semester. 

I spent the fall semester working on what we call a prospectus, which is basically a proposal for the JP. In an economics prospectus, once you’ve decided on a topic, you review existing relevant literature (studies and experiments), introduce the data sources you’ll be analyzing, and provide an overview of your methodology (econometrics, regressions, etc). 

I’m writing my paper about the impact of work from home policies on energy consumption, so I’m looking at government data on state monthly energy numbers combined with Google mobility data on time spent in the workplace.

Right now I’m working on refining my methodology and performing data analysis. I’m doing that work in STATA, but you can also use other software like R and Python.   

The Economics department, and Princeton overall, offer a lot of resources for doing independent work. Each semester, we have multiple workshops for data analysis and conducting research. Each student also works with a professor and grad student advising team, so if you ever feel lost about how to do a difference-in-difference regression or linear discontinuity like me, you can just hit them up! The University also has data consultants who anyone can schedule an advising session with.

So - not only have I learned a lot about economics and research this year, but I also got the chance to apply my classroom knowledge to an environmental topic I’m passionate about. I’m excited to finally see my paper finished in its full glory - and looking forward to a full-fledged senior thesis next year.

One of the toughest choices to make every semester as a Princeton student is course selection. This may not seem immediately apparent once you set foot on campus (especially as an engineering concentrator) as our first-year schedules are often congested with mandatory prerequisite courses. However, once you declare your concentration and move past the introductory courses, you have more availability to delve much deeper into specific interests and even explore courses outside of your comfort zone. Thus far, I have really enjoyed my classes this spring semester as a sophomore, and one in particular has changed my approach to understanding molecular biology and bioengineering -- Biomechanics and Biomaterials: From Cells to Organisms (MAE344).  While I am taking this course initially to fulfill one of my requirements for the Engineering Biology certificate, it's turning out to be an amazing class experience that I would recommend to any engineering concentrator.  

First of all, the instructor for the course, Professor Daniel Cohen, is extremely knowledgeable and is currently spearheading research in controlling group behaviors in tissues. His lectures, which never fail to spark my interest, strike a healthy balance between teaching important biology concepts and establishing mathematical intuition necessary for engineering. For example, one of the lectures dealt with one of the most groundbreaking methods employed in this field for cell imaging: atomic force microscopy (AFM). AFM relies on a tiny cantilever to detect specific features on the surface of a cell by measuring deflection forces that result from interaction with the cell. While Professor Cohen emphasized the cantilever equations that are pivotal for AFM, he also carefully explained the advantages of using different cantilever tips for certain applications. He ensured that we did not simply memorize the material, but that we were able to think critically and synthesize from the scientific techniques that we learned.

In addition to the lectures, the class also meets every other week for “journal club,” in which we read an assigned scientific journal article so that we can discuss anything we find interesting. This has been tremendously helpful because these sessions have trained me to skim through an article in order to parse through specific information. At times, academic writing can often be very dense, cluttered with jargon and indecipherable figures, and it used to take me hours to get the general gist of a paper. However, I can now take this newfound skill with me through the rest of college and even graduate school.

I’m also looking forward to the final project, where we will take all that we've learned and will individually attempt to solve a bioengineering problem by designing a biointerface, allowing us to fully embrace our creativity.

I have really enjoyed this class so far and encourage anyone interested in the physics of cells and tissues to take it!

This year, I have faced the scary reality of being a senior, and more significant still, a senior in my final semester of Princeton. In addition to all the more sentimental considerations attached to the reality of an imminent graduation, I have also had another topic on my mind — my senior thesis.

Independent research or “independent work” in Princeton slang, is one of the defining elements of the Princeton experience. Most Princeton students complete a research assignment or essay their junior year (the Junior Paper or “JP”) and then all Princeton students, with the exception of B.S.E. computer science concentrators, write a senior thesis.

The thesis requires each student to develop a unique research idea, pushing us to crystalize four years of learning into an ambitious project. Yet, the very ambitious nature of the work means that it’s not a solitary enterprise. A strong support network is a must and your thesis adviser is an essential part of that network.

I had my own fears about thesis advisers. What if mine was too busy to respond to my emails, didn't hold me to deadlines or even had rigid, unrealistic expectations? 

Yet, I know from personal experience that a good relationship with your adviser can really make the experience. While naturally shy and not typically assertive, during my time at Princeton I have learned how lucky I am to be surrounded by the world’s greatest scholars, almost all of whom are easily accessible. If such scholars are willing to meet regularly and help me make my own small contribution to an academic field, I would be remiss to ignore the opportunity to engage fully.

In the end, my experience with independent work and with professors at Princeton has shown that it pays to speak up, to ask questions, to be assertive about your needs and to admit when things are not going well. Positive relations forged with my advisers have allowed me to learn so much more via the process of my independent work and develop important skills that will prove relevant in my life after Princeton. While I have hit plenty of frustrating road blocks in my own independent work journey (and my thesis is not finished yet!!), I have learned so much from my adviser and the countless other professors and graduate students who were willing, even happy, to take the time to read over a difficult document with me or ponder an interesting historical question. 

As such, independent work, and working with advisers, is not something to fear or dread. Rather, if approached right, it has the potential to be one of the most meaningful parts of your Princeton experience.

When I decided to transfer to Princeton, there was an air of mystery about what the next three years of my life would look like. Since Princeton’s last transfer class graduated around the early 1990s, I wasn’t sure what to expect. It honestly terrified me that there was no previous transfer student to ask about their experience, but from the moment I saw that orange tiger with the words "Congratulations" appear on my computer screen, my initial reservations subsided. I was so excited to realize that I would become a part of Princeton’s first transfer cohort since the early 1990s! Now in my final year, I am thankful for my experience as the transfer program has gone above and beyond to make sure that I felt supported.

At first, I was concerned about transferring in as a sophomore as I had already completed two years at Miami Dade College. However, without that "extra year," I wouldn't have had the opportunity to explore my academic and extracurricular interests to the extent that I've been able to. Looking back, I wish someone would have told me that I would want to spend more time at Princeton, not less. 

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Starting at Princeton as a sophomore gave me more time to explore myself and venture into new spaces. Although I came in with a strong sense of who I was and what my aspirations and academic strengths were, Princeton has taught me to never stop exploring and to pursue every opportunity that intrigues me. Though I had originally planned on pursuing a different concentration, I switched to Spanish and Portuguese when I learned I would have more flexibility to pursue coursework and independent research on immigration. Now, I am writing my senior thesis on how Mexico has become this “big jail” for migrants seeking asylum. Switching concentrations was the best decision I’ve made at Princeton as it has given me so many skills and new perspectives that have even informed my post-graduation plans. You never know where or when you might discover a new passion.

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Every semester pushed me out of my comfort zone in different ways, but there was always a professor or resource to turn to for guidance. I would be remiss to not say that there were challenging moments, tough assignments and plenty of second-guessing, but I never felt alone. I knew I could always turn to our transfer adviser, Dr. Shaw, or a fellow transfer student for advice. The intellectual and personal growth that I've experienced is indescribable, and it's propelled me to become even more determined and energized to achieve my goals. I no longer doubt myself or question if I belong; Princeton helped me realize that I can pursue my biggest dreams. As I move on to the next chapter of my life, I'm so humbled to have been a member of this first transfer cohort, and nothing makes me happier than being a part of this unique community and seeing it grow.

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.

After nearly nine months of doing all of my schoolwork in my bedroom or in my basement, I miss doing work in coffee shops, dining halls and most of all, libraries.  Princeton’s libraries are one of the most amazing parts of the University, so there’s no wonder I miss them.  

Firestone Library is probably the most well-known of the Princeton libraries.  It’s huge, with three below-ground and three above-ground floors.  It’s full of conference rooms, individual desks, couches and books, of course.  Princeton students come here to study all the time.  If I woke up early on a weekend and had a lot of studying to do, I would snag a fourth floor conference room for my friends and I to do our homework together.  If I had a problem set that needed my concentration, I would grab an empty desk on any floor.  And if I had an hour in between classes and needed a break, I would put my headphones on and take a quick nap on the second floor couches (hey, don’t judge). 

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Lots of people also love the Architecture Library for its central location, big windows and relative emptiness.  I spent several evenings working on essays or research at a desk in front of a window, people-watching when I could no longer stare at the screen.  When it started to get dark outside, I’d pop over to Murray-Dodge Cafe and grab a freshly-baked cookie before trekking back to my dorm room for the night.

There’s also a number of study spots on campus that are joked about as places to go when you just want to talk with your friends, but pretend you are studying.  The lower level of Frist Campus Center is one of these places; it seems that the whole student body passes through the building twice a day.  Another one is the Julian Street Library, or “J Street,” located above Wilcox Dining Hall.  Somehow, as soon as you sit down and open up your laptop, a friend you hadn’t talked to in weeks would be passing through and would stop to say hi. 

But my favorite place to study at Princeton would have to be East Pyne.  As a Slavic Languages and Literatures concentrator, my department and many of my courses are housed in this building, alongside our friends in Classics, Comparative Literature, German, Renaissance and Early Modern Studies, French and Italian, and Spanish and Portuguese.  In between classes, I often head to the East Pyne library, one of the most beautiful places on campus, to get some studying done.  It was one of the first places I saw when I visited the University for the first time, and I don’t think I’ll ever cease to be in awe when I pass by.  East Pyne reminds me of how lucky I am and how amazing the school I attend is.

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I can’t wait until the next time I get to set up my laptop and backpack by one of the stained-glass windows of East Pyne.  Till then, I’ll settle for the regular window in my bedroom.  

Independent work is a defining part of the Princeton experience. As a junior, I write a Junior Paper (JP), which, for English concentrators, is a 25-30 page paper of my original research and argument. When it was announced that the semester would be virtual, I was initially nervous about how my JP would work. Would I have access to Firestone library resources? Would I have the virtual support from my JP adviser? Where would I even begin to start thinking about my topic? 

Luckily, the Department of English was more than prepared for virtual independent work. Every junior English concentrator gets assigned to a junior seminar, where we learn to engage with scholars, formulate an argument and close-read texts. The seminar was easily moved online to Zoom. Because there is a very small number of students in the course, we get to have in-depth, interesting conversations each week, and we really get to know each other. To practice for our JP, we submit three papers that each center on a different feature of English scholarly writing, and we also lead the discussion on a text once during the semester. 

English JP advisers are there to talk through your ideas every step of the way. I met with my JP adviser early on in the semester just to share some of the topics I was interested in, and then they pointed me towards various sources that may be helpful for my research. Not only are JP advisers ready to guide you, but other professors in the English department are as well. I’ve reached out to some of my English professors to discuss their research that relates to my topic, as well as just chat during Zoom office hours about my ideas.

Firestone Library also has many resources online for research. I’ve never yet encountered an issue when I needed to access something that wasn’t online, but Princeton librarians are also there to help, should students ever need access to something that they can’t find online. 

For my JP, I’ve decided to write on the role of unnamed female protagonists in literature. I’ll be comparing Zadie Smith’s "Swing Time", which has an unnamed female narrator, to Jane Austen’s "Emma", in which the heroine’s name is both the title of the text and the first word of the opening. As I’m also pursuing a certificate in Gender & Sexuality Studies, I’m interested in the questions: how do we interpret the literary choice to have an unnamed female protagonist: is it merely an implication of a lack of identity (as was previously argued by scholars), or might we center in on the female nameless protagonist, in particular, to understand the gendered implications of this choice? 

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I’m looking forward to exploring my topic further and continuing to have the virtual support that Princeton offers for independent work!