Princeton University Top Questions

I am not sure yet because I haven't been there yet!

I wish I had known that my school only offers minors in a few departments; most departments that offer majors do not offer minors (or certificates, as we call them). I had assumed that all departments offered certificates . I also wish I had anticipated how difficult it would be to move across the country a couple times each year. I live a couple thousand miles away from my school, so storing my stuff over the summer can be a big problem, especially since my school only provides storage to international students.

I wish I had known how to balance my time! Sometimes it's hard adjusting to a schedule that has so much "free time" and learning how to use it to study more effectively. I also wish that I could have learned how to organize my homwork. Unlike high school, where time and work are very regimented, Princeton has a lot of work that it expects you to know how to manage on your own.

How strongly alcohol and partying play a role in social life on campus.

I wish I had known that I wouldn't like the major I started off in after two years and that Psychology isn't a stupid major.

I wish I would've known that the workload was so demanding and that the stress level is so consistently high. I would have also liked to know that there is no place on earth that you can learn more. I wish I would have known that this would be the most rewarding decision of my life.

How much orange I would end up wearing haha.

What eating clubs really are.

There are three things every freshman must know before starting Princeton. 1. Dormitory rooms are incredibly small; closets are tiny; bring less of everything. 2. Make appointments to have coffee with your professors; you will miss the best feature of Princeton if you are too shy. There will be no other time in your life when you can have one on one meetings with Nobel Prize winners, Pulitzer Prize winners, famous authors and political consultants you see on CNN and Fox News. 3 Study hard from Sunday to Thursday, party on the weekend: meet your peers, they are incredible!

Mostly, I wish I had known how much I would enjoy it there, so that I wouldn't have stressed out quite so much before coming to campus. But I also wish I had known some more practical things, like that the weather is more rainy than I was used to, or that the most convenient way to get my things from home to campus and back again is not necessarily driving the 1,000 mile trip twice freshman year--finding a place to store things over the summer can be a pain, but is very helpful!