@kapathy - thank you! (Can Moms take it? 
)
@fretfulmother - unfortunately, itās a no audit courseā¦but check out our registrar for courses that you can audit!
@kapathy - ok thank you! Iām unlikely to be able to travel to P anyway, but those courses look AWESOME. Hm, but considering that P also covers unlimited laundry use, maybe I should just come visit very, very often and bring my chores!
@fretfulmother Iām currently in my second semester of HUM. If your daughter has any questions, I would be happy to answer them.
@zaralee - thank you!! (Itās my son but I assume itās still ok to ask questions ) I do have a question: is it reasonable/possible to read some of the works ahead of time to make the workload more manageable?
@fretfulmother There are 3 books assigned over the summer (Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid), and then for the rest of the year, the courseload is 2-3 books/week
How hard is it to get into the Woodrow Wilson School. For me that is the real draw but I hear that it is insanely difficult to get in. What do people major in who are rejected by WWS? And does this mean they are unlikely to be admitted as a graduate student?
We are wondering if keeping a car is a good idea at Princeton. Do you need a car to get around or will we just waste money between lease payments, maintenance and parking fees? Can anyone shed some light? I assume Princeton is a self contained town? Also how are the dorms for freshmen?
In general freshmen/sophomores are not permitted to keep cars on campus at Princeton. I say āin generalā because there have been applications approved for exceptions, but under compelling reasons I believe. Transit around campus is good and Nassau street is handy. A connector train from the campus to the Princeton Junction is also available and runs frequently so itās very easy to get to New York City. Getting to Philly is a bit more involved but also certainly can be done. Many students have bikes on campus which is the easiest way to get around. Even if you have a car, it needs to remain parked at the south end of campus since traffic is limited in and out of main areas, and there is no where to park legally near the dorms except for during move in/out dates.
Having visited other campuses with more cars I can say that the absence of vehicle traffic on campus is a welcome reprieve. Consider that Princeton existed long before cars so it really isnāt designed for that kind of traffic flow. Princeton is often called, āthe Orange Bubbleā because students could literally go weeks or months without ever leaving campus. So in that sense it is very much self contained with Nassau street (shops and restaurants) bordering the north side of campus.
Dorms (called residential colleges on campus) vary greatly from one to the next. Most are older and not air conditioned. They look nice from the outside but inside are mostly just functional. A number of great activities are planned through the RCās such as trips to Broadway etc. Incoming freshmen are assigned to a college for the first two years (you may choose your room and room mates within that RC second year) and then the last two years there is upper classmen housing or 3 of the RCās (Mathey, Butler and Whitman) as options. My son initially wasnāt assigned to the college he wanted but later discovered it was really great being there. Very few undergraduate Princeton students live off campus (<5% I think I heard).
All of the residential colleges have their own personalities and all have pros/cons but in general the dorm life tends to be what you make it.
Just wondering- without A/C are there mold problems in housing? Allergiesā¦
My son has an allergy to mold as well and didnāt seem to experience any problems with housing. He did keep an air cleaner running in his room every year so that may have helped.
Thatās a good idea. Thanks @Cantiger
@klingon97 WWS has open enrollment. You take the prereqs and then declare during the spring of sophomore year just like every other major. They used to limit the number of students in the major, but that is no longer the case.
What is the humanities scene at Princeton? I look through the academics page and it seems like P doesnāt offer as many humanities programmes (compared to Yale and Columbiaās). I got info on the Humanities sequence and itās more like a watered down version of Yaleās Directed Studies to me.
Is creative writing have a program here? I love Princeton, and I think this FAQ will be help a lot. I also didnt take AP World in ninth gradeā¦ Will that hurt my chances?
The undergraduate creative writing program may be the best undergraduate creative writing program in the country. The creative writing program was started in 1940. Here is an article on the history of the program: http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S25/54/68K82/
Professor emeritus Joyce Carol Oates describes her dedication to teaching creative writing at Princeton after the sudden death of her husband. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/08/i-am-sorry-to-inform-you/308042/ and http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S29/84/77K34/
Here is a link to a description of the Creative Writing Department: http://arts.princeton.edu/academics/creative-writing/
Many of the professors have won Pulitzer Prizes for their writing.
Additional graduates of the creative writing program include novelist Jonathan Ames '87 and Walter Kirn '83 author of Lost in Meritocracy. Author Mohsin Hamid '93 started his first novel at Princeton while taking Toni Morrisonās writing seminar. His latest novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist was a NYT best seller and an international best seller. Anne Kogler ā03, said that when she admitted in Oatesā fiction workshop that she was interested in sports and Oates encouraged her to write about it, she was shocked. āIt didnāt seem like a serious subject ā¦ but that was the first story I wrote, which turned into my thesis.ā Later, the thesis turned into her first novel. Susan Wheeler, director of the Program in Creative Writing said that āPrincetonās creative writing faculty may be the strongest group of teaching writers of any undergraduate creative writing program in this country, and each has a lot of latitude in structuring a syllabus and a workshop.ā
I am planning to attend NYCC from October 7-9, would the loss of this weekend be a serious blow to my academics? Midterms are about two weeks after. Iām debating not attending but Iām just not sure how bad the workload will be (AB, freshman).
Itās not uncommon for Princeton students to have other commitments that take up an entire weekend. Varsity athletes do it all the time for travel for tournaments and competitions. My BSE son is graduating next week and as an athlete had to learn to juggle all sorts of schedule changes. He learned to use little blocks of time wisely, doing homework/studying in one hour blocks, on the road, in the air, in the hotel - you name it. Just work ahead as you are able and try to get a bit of work done over the weekend and you should be fine!
Hi, I also made a new thread, but could anyone please advise me as to how bad it would be for my rising freshman to miss the Friday and Monday of MLK during reading period for a family event out of state? Thank you!!
Hi again, another question: I feel like I saw it come by in the stream of mail/email, but do freshmen know yet about their mailing address (mailbox # in the student center)? I ask because we have a local election in September and DS wants to write for an absentee ballot, for which they need a mailing address.
ETA: I feel a bit silly because I just found where Iād kept the link:
http://www.princeton.edu/printing/mailfaqs.html
but Iām leaving the info here instead of deleting the post because others might wonder! 