Navigating Princeton Academically
Advice from Peer Advisers

On Challenging Yourself Too Much

In the summer before freshman year, I had declared molecular biology or chemistry as my intended major. However, visiting the open house at the Engineering Quadrangle made me consider chemical engineering as a possible major. I didn’t realize introductory math and science classes in the engineering sequence at Princeton were a lot more intense than anything I’d taken in high school. This oversight caused me a lot of trouble during my first semester at Princeton.I thought that taking only four classes and selecting the mid-level introductory courses in physics and math, namely PHY 103, introductory physics for engineers, and MAT 201, introductory multivariable calculus (rather than the highest level of introductory courses for which I qualified) would be a manageable and well-balanced course load. However, I didn’t take several factors into account. First, Princeton’s teaching semester of 12 weeks means that classes, especially in math and science, cover more material in less time than what most high school AP courses cover in 15+ weeks. Second, there’s a very good reason why BSE students, unlike BA students at Princeton, aren’t required to develop proficiency in a foreign language. Introductory language courses are guaranteed to take up a lot of time. At least, that was my experience with Chinese 101, a class with six hours of class time per week and many more hours of preparation.

The most important factor leading to a first semester that was much more challenging than anticipated was that I had less preparation than most of my peers in PHY 103 and MAT 201. In high school, I had never taken physics and had only taken one calculus course. While I did okay in multivariable calculus, PHY 103 proved to be my Waterloo. Every Friday, there was a PHY 103 quiz which I failed miserably despite having done all the homework and studying hard the night before. Unlike in high school, PHY 103 was graded on a curve, which didn’t really help me since the vast majority of my PHY 103 classmates had taken at least a year of high school physics or even AP Physics. Matters were not helped by the fact that the pace of Chinese 101 and of multivariable calculus picked up markedly after the first two weeks of classes. In addition, I was still getting adjusted to juggling academics with my work-study job and to living in a one-room double with a roommate who had a very different sleep schedule.

By the third week of classes, I knew that I needed to change my course load. I dropped PHY 103 enrolled in PHY 101, the introductory physics course typically taken by premeds in their junior year. It was a serious decision because dropping PHY 103 meant forfeiting eligibility to pursue a BSE degree. Although I had been warned by the director of undergraduate studies at my residential college, I was in for a rude shock when, despite the fact that the material was less complex, I did even more poorly in PHY 101 than I had done in PHY 103. The grading curve for PHY 101 was even tougher than PHY 103. In fact, I did so badly on my first PHY 101 quizzes that the head professor for the course called me in to meet with him. Without a doubt, it was the most embarrassing moment of my academic career. I was flunking the most elementary introductory physics course offered when in high school I had done well in science.

This meeting turned out to be a turning point for me. I learned to take advantage of office hours and not to be ashamed of asking the TA who taught my class to spend extra time with me. I’m very thankful that my director of studies arranged for me to get a peer tutor, who was not only a physics major but also very experienced in tutoring. I also attended the McGraw Center’s series about effective test-taking in physics. Before getting personalized help, I was flunking physics. With this help, I managed a C in the midterm and a C- on my progress report for physics. My hard work eventually paid off as I ended my first semester with a B in physics. However, due to so much time spent to improve in physics, my studies in multivariable calculus suffered and I also ended up with a B in that course.

In retrospect, I should have only skipped a level in one of my courses. Given that I had planned on pursuing engineering, taking PHY 103, the introductory physics for engineers, and MAT 104 would have been a more prudent course selection while still being challenging.    The advice I wish to impart by sharing this anecdote is that it’s great to challenge yourself academically, but it might be prudent to take a more conservative course load than you are inclined to choose initially. Furthermore, even though I never seriously entertained the notion of dropping physics entirely and incurring a course deficiency by taking only three courses during my first semester, my director of studies did let me know that I had that option. I’m just thankful that there were so many sources of help available to me as an student in introductory courses at Princeton that by the final drop deadline for my first semester at Princeton, I felt confident that I wouldn’t flunk Physics 101 and that I’d only improve from that point on.
-Katherine Young ‘10

During the spring semester of my freshman year, I decided to take five courses, two of which had a lab component. As an A.B. student, I knew I would have to do this at least one semester, so I decided to just go ahead and give it a try. I think even now I would say that was the toughest semester I’ve had at Princeton, but it was also one of the best. By this point, I had finally felt like I was settling into Princeton, and had a really great group of friends to help me keep my sanity and get through the workload. My time management skills certainly got a workout, but I came out strong. To this day, I still use the study skills I learned during that semester, which makes me really glad I challenged myself early on. I think the lesson I would pass on is to try to challenge yourself a bit during freshman year. Step outside of your comfort zone and see where it takes you. Freshman year is the best time to experiment and see what works for you.
-Daisy Hassani ‘11

Because I entered Princeton with the intention of being pre-med (and just coming in as an eager freshman who wanted to take many classes and get pre-requisites out of the way), I ended up with a pretty dense course-load first semester filled with required classes, none of which I was very thrilled about. Unfortunately, the combination of difficult science and math classes took up most of my time and led me to have a lot of work without really enjoying any of my classes. Second semester was much better, as I continued to take required courses, but added one or two fun and interesting classes that really intrigued me. This was a much better semester as I really enjoyed learning and doing the work for these intriguing classes, and ended up getting better grades all around. My advice would be to ALWAYS plan for at least one fun and interesting course, no matter how far it may stray from your major or expected interests, but just take at least one class per semester solely because it sounds interesting. Doing so exposed me to amazing professors, topics, and learning experiences that have really shaped the person I am, even if I didn't end up majoring in the subject.
-Ashley Schoettle ‘10

On Challenging Yourself Too Little

On Selecting the Right Courses

If you are not a serious math or science person, do NOT take normal math and science courses. Princeton offers math and science courses that will cover QR and ST requirements without requiring strenuous math and science. Such courses include, but are not limited to, PHY 115A or 115B, and AST 203. I made the mistake of taking premed physics my first semester of freshman year because my faculty adviser did not realize that the course was geared towards serious physics students rather than liberal arts majors. I recommend talking to students, not professors, when choosing distribution requirements, especially when they are for courses that you are not as strong in. Additionally, it is never a bad thing to PDF a course that you are struggling with. Although language and major requirements cannot be PDF’d, the option is available for most courses. I found in my experience that the PDF option really helped when I was struggling to maintain my grades with five classes, for example. But remember that you only have four PDFs and you can only use one per semester. Many students never use their PDFs at all, but it is a very valuable option for trying new courses outside of your field of study, as well. If you are concerned about grades but want to try something new, PDF is a great choice.
-Jordan Cruzzavala ‘11

For me, the most difficult distributional requirement area to fulfill was Social Analysis (SA). Different people will tell you different things regarding how to go about fulfilling these requirements. My freshman adviser was all for "take whatever you like now and worry about the requirements later!" whereas my sophomore adviser took a different approach: get them out of the way by your junior year this way you have more freedom in your remaining semesters. The great thing about Princeton's course offerings is that you WILL find a course that interests you (to some degree) to get those requirements out of the way. If nothing jumps out at you from the first perusal of the course catalog, don't settle on a course right away. Talk to people in your major and see what they did for each distributional area. I would recommend waiting until the next semester if nothing jumps out at you right away. Princeton's course offerings are diverse enough that if you can't find a promising SA or EM or EC this fall, something to suit your fancy might be offered in the spring.

I enrolled in the sociology course: Creativity, Innovation and Society (SOC 214) to fulfill my second SA requirement. As an art major, it sounded intriguing: how new ideas are generated and either adopted or rejected by society. After the first several weeks, I found the precepts fulfilling but the lectures rather dull (I was getting more out of the readings than attending class!) I sought the advice of my adviser-- should I stay in the class just to get an SA out of the way or drop it? The class was not too rigorous and I felt I could keep up with the workload and do well even if it was my fifth class that semester. I enjoyed the independent research I was doing for the precept component of the course. My adviser suggested I stick with it since it was not a matter of being "overloaded" with course work. I did continue with the class-- honestly, the lectures never got better but I did meet some great people in the sociology department who helped me along in my independent work, which is actually feeding into my art thesis! Consequently, if you're debating whether or not to drop a course you might not find particularly enthralling but you DO need to fulfill a distributional requirement, I would stick it out if it's not hindering your performance in other classes. If this sociology course was a tremendous amount of reading and I felt my efforts in my major classes (art history, Italian, visual arts) were compromised by it-- drop it. Ultimately, I was glad to have the SAs out of the way and now in my senior year, I can take classes truly, truly interest me and not have to settle on something just to fulfill a lingering requirement.   

Somewhat related to this matter is the issue of courseload and how many courses to take per semester. I have taken five classes every semester except freshman fall. I was able to cope with five (though you hear some brilliant Princetonian's do six or more) mainly because they were not all high-intensity courses. You will find certain courses at Princeton, and based on your strengths, require different levels of effort and time commitments. I am not a math student by any means, so science and quantitative courses require much more effort on my part whereas I can cope with heavy-reading and writing classes better. In building your semester schedule, try to balance courses you think you'll excel in with more challenging courses this way you can take more.
-Kaitlyn Hay ‘10

The best advice I received about how to pick a major is to go through the course catalogue and circle ANY course that interests you. Then, look back at all the courses you circled and see what department they are in. I was surprised to see that almost all of the courses I was interested in fell in one department, so I knew that that one must be for me and I have really loved my major.
-Ashley Schoettle ‘10

On Not Being Afraid to Change Your Major

I walked into my first Majors Fair as a freshman definitely pre-med with proposed interests in Creative Writing, Neuroscience and Psychology. However, by fall semester of my sophomore year I was extremely unhappy.  I was taking both Medical Anthropology and Neuroscience but realized that I much preferred and was actually excelling in my Medical Anthropology course.  I spoke to a number of students about changing my proposed major from Psychology to Anthropology and now I couldn’t be happier.  I have an A/A- departmental average in Anthropology, and have formed outstanding relationships with every professor that has taught me.  I also decided to take on a certificate in African Studies, was accepted to write a creative thesis in fiction by the Creative Writing Department and won the Ward Prize in order to undertake an internship at The New Yorker this past summer. I'm still pre-med, but none of those other accomplishments would have been possible had I not made the fateful switch to "Anthro" and my only regret since then, is that I did not make the decision sooner!
-Mgbechi Erondu ‘10

On Taking Advantage of Office Hours and Other Resources

I was always scared to approach professors. Hey, let's face it, some of these people have written enough books over the years to have their own published bibliographies. So, during my first couple years of Princeton, I only went to see the professor when it was absolutely necessary. After having made up an excuse to see a professor only to have it not be very beneficial, I stuck to talking to my (grad student) preceptors. After all, I figured, they would be the ones grading my papers, and they would be the ones I would see in class every week.

Big mistake! When I studied abroad in London, I learned what a valuable resource a one-on-one talk with a professor could be, not just for getting help with an academic problem, but also for yielding unexpected brain surges and developing personal relationships. We had personal tutors there, and I got to know my tutor on a much deeper level than I ever had at Princeton. Consequently, when I had issues related to my JP, it was my tutor who was willing to go beyond the call of duty to help me out (from across an ocean, I might add) when I desperately needed it.

So, when I came back from London to Princeton I carried this lesson with me, and I learned that I should have done so much earlier. Not only did I wish for better relationships with professors when it came to asking for recommendations for graduate school, but I also discovered what amazing people Princeton professors are! One of my professors just seemed like a really interesting guy, so I went to speak to him in his office hours on a not-at-all-imperative excuse. We talked for nearly an hour, and from then on he remembered my name and always said hi to me, even though there were nearly 80 students in the class.
Princeton professors are some of the most engaging, student-oriented people you will ever meet. Take advantage of those office hours--even when you don't have a reason.
-Rachel Dunn ‘10

One of the things I've learned during my time at Princeton is how helpful it can be to seek assistance on problem sets. It may be humbling at first, especially if you are not used to asking for help or didn't need to ask for help in high school; however, it is well worth your time, especially given the complexity of some of the problem sets and concepts you learn about in a lot of the classes here, and the importance of not only obtaining the correct solutions to particular questions but also thoroughly understanding the underlying concepts. I went to the McGraw Center and professors' office hours for physics and math help a number of times during freshman year, and I found the student tutors, professors, and TAs to be quite helpful, patient, friendly, and open to questions. They are usually very good about putting you on the right track when you are attempting difficult problems and about explaining concepts that you are having trouble understanding. Even if seeking assistance initially feels strange, rest assured that many of your classmates are doing the same thing; these resources are there to assist you, so please don't be shy about taking advantage of them.
-Kelly Lack ‘10

"Don't be afraid to ask for help!" The question(s) that you have regardless of how small or simple are important, so ask for help.  Don't put off seeking an answer to your question(s) because you feel intimidated by asking a question - we are all a family at Princeton and want to help each other to succeed. I found throughout the past four years I have been at Princeton, most students feel that they don't want to ask for help because "coming to Princeton" means you must be smart and know all the answers and they are afraid to ask feeling they will be "judged" for not knowing, so some students don't want to ask until they are in trouble with grades, etc.  The most important thing is to feel free to ask for help.
-Philicia Saunders ‘10

Faculty-student relationships is an area that many Princeton students do not take advantage of, yet an area that is in my opinion, one of the very best assets of Princeton. No matter how large a lecture is or how intimidating a professor may seem, GO TO OFFICE HOURS. I know you hear this a million times, but GO! Even if you do not have any specific questions or anything in particular to talk about, professors love to get to know you and will appreciate your reaching out to them. I am very fortunate to be able to call several professors friends, whom I have coffee with regularly. These relationships stemmed from reaching out on my part and keeping in touch after the end of the class with occasional emails and office hour visits. If you want to get the most out of your Princeton experience, do not forgo getting to know your amazing professors, who have so much to offer.
-Ashley Schoettle ‘10

On Exploring a Variety of Courses

When choosing courses for the first time at Princeton I hadn't the slightest clue what I really wanted to study. No single subject had ever really presented itself as the gateway to fulfilling my academic dreams - so instead I decided to try a little of everything, choosing courses as incoherently as possible whilst remaining within the bounds of what my academic adviser would allow. I explored many paths, from Electrical Engineering, to Environmental Studies, to Theatre and Languages. Had I not delved into these different courses, I would have never discovered that which I really wanted to study – the philosophical implications of Artificial Intelligence, with a particular emphasis on the future developments of Machine Translation (so obvious in retrospect!).
-James Hodson ‘10

At Princeton, there are many stereotypes about specific courses and majors.  Some classes are commonly viewed to be much easier than others, as course nicknames like “physics for poets” imply.  Along those lines, there are many people who dismiss Sociology as a joke major for people who just want to take the easiest classes possible without regard to serious content.  During my first two years at Princeton, I never took a Sociology class and had no reason to doubt what was a commonly held stereotype about the major.  But during my Junior year I decided to check out an intro Sociology course, SOC 101, just to see what it was like.  After the first lecture by Professor Duneier, I was thrilled with both the class and the field of Sociology.  The Professor had explained the purpose of the field in such an interesting and compelling way that these days whenever anyone knocks Sociology I launch into a defense of it based on what I heard during my first days in SOC 101.  Throughout the semester, the course remained very interesting and well taught, and it’s been one of my favorite Princeton classes.  What my experience with SOC 101 has shown me is that you should never accept a stereotype about a class or a major until you’ve seen for yourself what it’s like. 
-Jon Extein ‘10

At Princeton, after taking several linguistics classes purely out of interest, I was captivated by a sociolinguistics class on the origins of English vocabulary taught by Professor J.T.Katz. My enthusiasm to conduct independent work on the topic solidified my decision to minor in Linguistics. During my junior year, I completed my thesis of three case studies on South African languages: South African English, Tsotsitaal, and Fanagalo. In addition to studying dictionaries to trace the historical development of my chosen words in these languages, my research took me back to South Africa in the winter of 2008 to conduct interviews with present-day speakers of the obscure yet dynamic languages I was studying. I presented a poster of my research at the Cornell Undergraduate Linguistics Colloquium, and am currently preparing my paper for publication. On the complete opposite spectrum, I am a Chemistry major and am conducting work on cholera, doing both lab work and public health research. My experience goes to show that you can explore completely different interests during your time at Princeton - and you should definitely take advantage of these opportunities!
-Karolina Brook ‘10

On Developing Study Skills That Work

I always work best on my own and enjoy working in sunny areas not surrounded by too many stressed out students, so have had to find places amenable to my study habits. I really did not like studying anywhere without natural light (I cannot stand the depths of Firestone), but found that the 3rd floor of Frist during the day is often pretty empty and offers great light and proximity to snacks below. I also enjoy studying in the new Lewis Library- great quiet place without too many students. Finally, I occasionally venture off campus to work at the Princeton public library or even at Small World Coffee (when I have lighter work, such as reading), as it is always nice to realize that the world does exist outside of Princeton.
-Ashley Schoettle ‘10

It took me three years of Princeton to learn this, but I've finally figured out the secret. Pay attention in class. The results are amazing. If you learn the information as you are being taught it (it's such a novel idea, isn't it?) you actually find that come finals period, you know the information already, and all you have to do is review. Focus is, in fact, key. Don't go to class to nap. Turn off the Internet. Don't bring your laptop to class - that took me three years to figure out, too. Even if you have OneNote and the latest recording devices, it doesn't matter. Don't bring it to class. Pay attention, and learn it at the moment, not the night before the final.
-Jinju Pottenger ‘10

On Coping with Disappointing Grades

Coming from high school, where I was used to getting "good" grades all the time, the transition to Princeton with grade deflation was really hard at first. Just come in knowing that you might not get the grades you wanted (especially at first), and take advantage of office hours. The less you stress about being perfect and getting good grades, the more you will enjoy your classes and make the most of your experiences. And actually, I have found that when I worry less about grades and just delve into the subject, I actually end up getting better grades in the end!
-Ashley Schoettle ‘10

It's the hardest thing for an ambitious high school senior who always got the best grades and was the president of every club to get that B. Or that C. Or even - gasp! - that D. Of course it's disappointing. Of course it's heartbreaking that your hard work ended up being mediocre, which is something you never felt you were. But the most important thing to remember at that point, is that grades do not determine your worth. It's as simple as that. Your worth is independent from your GPA, from your transcript, from your resume. It's independent from how many friends you have, too, or from your position in school activities. As long as you can remember this, the worst grade in the world means nothing more than you should probably change your study habits. But it says absolutely nothing about your value in this world.
-Jinju Pottenger ‘10