<p>My son is applying and would love to spend time in a dorm, in some classes and around students. Can anyone suggest a way to set this up? Contacts? Student group? Looks like the admissions office does not do this. Thanks.</p>
<p>there is no chance that could happen</p>
<p>i mean i dont thiknk so</p>
<p>I think that Princeton intends for students to wait until Princeton Preview in the spring, if they get accepted. Is there a reason why youād be visiting early?</p>
<p>Otherwise, your best bet is a personal contact. Sports teams bring recruits onto campus. There are also a few targeted programs that do this, I think (Humanities Symposium?). You can of course come to campus and take an Orange Key tour, butā¦thatās just a tour, unfortunately.</p>
<p>I have a quick question about the Princeton supplement. How much detail should I put in the response about summer activities? For example, should I just list that I did summer theater, or could I go into detail about my roles?</p>
<p>Can someone please tell me if itās possible to earn more than one certificate (ie: minor) during a typical 4 year undergraduate period? If yes, what is the most number of certificates that are actually feasible?</p>
<p>Lastly, if a student has a very good idea from the start what subject(s) they wish to earn a certificate in, can/should they start taking classes towards it freshman year, or is that not even allowed?</p>
<p>Itās definitely possible, though not a lot of people do more than one. It just requires some careful planning. It also depends on the certificate; some are much more time-consuming than others; some overlap with certain majors; etc. </p>
<p>And almost always, you can start taking the required courses whenever. It depends on the courses, but in my experience sometimes professors will even allow freshmen to take courses that arenāt supposed to allow them if the student expresses interest. Usually a certificate requires some intro level stuff anyway.</p>
<p>Of course, is it a good idea to take a bunch of upper-level courses freshman fall? Ehā¦</p>
<p>Was Princeton your first choice? Did you have offers from Harvard or Yale? If so, why did you choose Princeton over them?</p>
<p>Thank you tiger14!!</p>
<p>@hsmom: no problem!</p>
<p>@looshin: MIT was actually my 1st choice (I didnāt apply to Harvard or Yale) and I had an offer there. I chose Princeton for financial reasons, actually. But I think Princeton actually fit me a lot better, personally. I absolutely adore my school ā talk about a great backup, huh? 
My department is great, the people are great, and the institution takes great care of us. One thing that I did prefer about Princeton was that the CS department was still strong, but much smaller, so I feel like I can get more attention. And I wanted a more diverse student body, rather than a tech-centric one. Iām a geek, but I donāt want to talk shop /all/ the timeā¦</p>
<p>Pton - tell us about your midterm experience, your course load, and some of the adjustments you have made to cope academically.</p>
<p>@stemit: me? I guess Iāll go ahead and answer since I donāt have anything better to doā¦btw, are you a student? </p>
<p>My course load: I always struggle to decide how tough I want it to be. Typically I go for two or three departmentals, which amounts to maybe 10 hrs/week each, and then some fun random classes outside my discipline, one of which I may PDF. I focus on picking āelectivesā with little mandatory weekly work, since Iāve found that this contributes a lot to my stress levels. Depending on a number of factors (health, available courses) I adjust my courseloadās difficulty. I almost always have at least one free day a week if I manage my time well.</p>
<p>Midterms: eh, really not a big deal. Depends on my classes. Freshman fall I didnāt study ā OOPS. Generally my midterm season isnāt so bad; finals is what always kills me. For some reason almost all of the CS classes have both final assignments AND final exams. Grumble.</p>
<p>Adjustments: prioritizing sleep, learning <em>how</em> to study (seriously, I didnāt learn til I got here), learning when Iām most productive and how to capitalize on that. I didnāt do much work in high school so a lot of this was new to me. 
I refuse to do all-nighters.</p>
<p>Hey I was reading their optional arts form and it said to submit 20 images on a CD. Does anyone know if that means UP TO 20 or EXACTLY 20? I have 14 right nowā¦</p>
<p>What can you tell me about Merit based aid? My son will not apply for need based. Also, what can you tell me about the engineering program? He is into robotics, works as a software developer but is lately interested in genetic engineering. He doesnāt want to narrow his focus until more exploration. 2300 SAT, 800 Math II & Physics, 4.0 uw</p>
<p>There is no merit aid. And Iām afraid youād have to be more specificā¦I donāt have a canned spiel or anything about the engineering program.</p>
<p>Thanks tiger14, it is a big help to know there is no merit aid. I appreciate your prompt response.</p>
<p>No problem :)</p>
<p>Tiger14, especially since you seem pretty activeā¦Iām looking at Princeton CS. Which side of the AB/BSE line are you on, and which do you recommend? Also, are there research opportunities for CS students?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Lol, Iām active because Iām procrastinating. Weird habits, I knowā¦</p>
<p>Iām BSE. It really doesnāt matter; Iād say pick which one based on 1) will you maybe switch to another major? then is that major AB/BSE? and 2) whether you like languages, independent work, etc. Life as AB/BSE COS is basically the same, except for a few things. Check out the humble undergrad guide for CS and youāll see this exact question: [Undergraduate</a> Computer Science at Princeton University](<a href=āhttp://ugrad.cs.princeton.edu/humbleUG.html#Becoming_a_Major]Undergraduateā>http://ugrad.cs.princeton.edu/humbleUG.html#Becoming_a_Major)</p>
<p>Also note that itās incredibly easy to switch between AB/BSE once you get here given that you keep up with the requirements for each.</p>
<p>Research opportunities ā plenty, since weāre all required to! 
Most people start doing independent work, as we call it, junior year. I do know a few sophomores doing independent work, too, but itās somewhat unusual.</p>
<p>JOIN US computer science is the best. :D</p>
<p>How hard is it to do CS at a school like Princeton if you have no programming experience? I never took Java or AP CompSci (although I wish I did now) and Iāve only recently had exposure to programming (and Iāve fallen in love!). </p>
<p>Also, is a major in CS and a certificate in finance feasible? Ultimately Iād like to get into finance and I know that the quantitative skills involved in CS are very valuable.</p>