Student Life at Princeton: Challenges and Advice

Princeton students thrive on diverse experiences while balancing sleep and intense academic pressure.

### Life as a Princeton Student: Balancing Academics, Diversity, and Personal Growth
* 😴 Many students at Princeton report getting only **2-3 hours of sleep a night**, which they acknowledge is **unhealthy**.
* 👩 ‍🎓 Students like Kate, Maya, Brian, Mel, and Kendall are pursuing various fields such as **quantitative social science**, **anthropology**, **economics**, **molecular biology**, and **aerospace engineering**.
* 🏫 There is a prevalent stereotype that Princeton students are "**posh and preppy**," but many believe that the student body is **diverse and passionate about public service**.
* 📚 The university's focus on the undergraduate experience fosters **close relationships with professors**, allowing students to feel **cared for in their academic journey**.
* 💻 The overwhelming number of emails received daily can be daunting, with students often receiving **50-60 emails** from various listservs.
* 🌟 Students advise prioritizing **sleep and personal development** over the pressures of comparison, as college is a time for **exploration and self-discovery**.
* 🐝 Engaging in new activities, such as joining clubs or taking classes outside one's major, can **enhance personal growth** and **foster connections with peers**.
* 💬 Ultimately, students emphasize that college is not just about academics but also about **becoming the best version of oneself** through diverse experiences and relationships.

Are you able to sleep enough as a student here? I mean, 2-3 hours a night really, which is like, not good at all. What is your name and what are you studying at Princeton?

Hi, I'm Kate. I'm undecided, but I will probably do a quantitative social science. Hi, I'm Maya. I don't know what I want to study, but maybe anthropology or the School for Public and International Affairs. Hi, I'm Brian, an econ major. My name is Mel, and I'm studying molecular biology. Um, I'm Kendall, and I'm studying mechanical and

aerospace, more on the aerospace side of engineering.

What do you think is the biggest stereotype of Princeton students? I think a lot of people assume that we're all like posh and preppy. That's not necessarily the case. People are pretty serious and like passionate about

public service; like that's the whole Princeton feel, you know. I've heard pretentious, obviously, like, fair to a degree, but I also think that people here are so cool and like come from all different backgrounds, which has been really cool to like interact with.

That's kind of hard to guess, cuz I think Princeton students are pretty diverse. Although one thing is like everybody is super—they grind a lot; they're all like super driven.

What did you think coming in? Were you intimidated, or did you have false conceptions? Because I come

from like a pretty predominantly white area, so I was kind of expecting it just to be like that again. But getting here, I mean, a lot of people say it's not that diverse, but to me, I think it's extremely diverse from what I'm used to, so I think...

It's pretty cool. Did you see the Wall Street Journal just ranked you guys number one? I think so, yes. Surely you knew about that?

Heard it. How do you feel about that? Do you think it's deserved?

Uh, honestly, I think education-level, you'll probably be just as well off at UCLA or another school that's fairly well-ranked as well. I think what makes it number one is that it's very focused on the undergraduate experience. You feel cared for; we have really close relationships with our professors, which is so cool, and they're all doing super interesting research.

There are a lot of faculty here that genuinely do care about you being able to succeed, and also there's a lot of teaching assistants, or UAs they call them now. Are they human? Why would they call them AI? I learned from AI, but it's actually a person.

Yeah, I mean, I think it's deserved. I mean, like, it didn't fully sink in to me what it meant to go to Princeton until I got here. First night, they were like, okay, we're going to have an ice cream social for you guys, and there's like... it's like a rave! I thought we were just going to have like a little bit of Popsicles or something, but like they just go so overboard. Things like that where it's just like, dang, that's crazy culture.

You like... did you find yourself having to study a lot as an Ivy League student?

Myself, and like, every second I would take a break, I'd stop the timer. So I think I would average like eight hours a day outside of class. Yeah, I started having class, so I think freshman year I was grinding. Do you find yourselves

procrastinating a lot? I'm trying not to this year. Last year was terrible. I think there's so much to do all the time that, like, inherently you will procrastinate, but I get it done. Do you think you work better under pressure, or is that just because you're distracted?

I think I do. Like, if I start writing something two days before versus like a week before, it's going to be better two days before. Maybe that's just what I'm telling myself. I don't know. What do you procrastinate with?

I think just like bigger projects. I usually take a bit more time with those. If it's like something that's smaller, I'll do it right away. For instance, like all seniors do a thesis, and honestly, I'm not touching that until I get a job. So are you able

to sleep enough as a student here? I have to sleep in order to be functioning, so I get eight to nine hours a night. How about you? I mean, in high school I was like the type of person who would get like two or three hours a night, which is like not good at

all. Here, I've actually been getting more sleep than I did in high school, which is lovely. On a good night, six to eight. Yeah, you? On a good night, I can get in a good eight. I think like six hours is pretty normal.

But I've been trying to get more like, maybe 7 hours. It's really like, how much do you value sleep? I don't think a lot of people schedule their sleep; it just happens at the end of the day when everything else is done. For me, I think

that's the biggest problem I face in college. Do you think that there are any bigger problems that college students face? When you get to college after high school, at least in America, you haven't been able to specialize very much, and I think you get here and you see a lot

of people who at least pretend to be super interested in a couple of things. I think it can be kind of stressful to feel like you don't know what you're doing or what you want to do with your life. Like, a lot of these things just

kind of come pretty naturally, and it's not something that you have to force or feel bad that you haven't figured out yet. I think like, just adjusting from high school—like you're just not used to actively having to put effort into studying. Mine's more like the social

aspect. I feel like it's like isolation, kind of. When you're studying, you're kind of just by yourself all the time, or like, especially I felt it last year. When you come here and you're in a new place, you might not be the most

willing to go out and make friends. If you feel isolated, there's a chance everyone else does too. I think there's always a feeling that you have to be busy, especially at Princeton, like to take harder classes than you need to, and there's a feeling where it's like, oh, if

I'm not doing anything if I spare time; that's actually bad. I'm not maximizing my chances as an engineering student, which I feel like is a pretty toxic way of thinking about time. Did you ever feel imposter syndrome when first coming here? Were you intimidated?

Oh yeah, for sure! Like, we have a pretty hard math class called Math 2011, and I thought I was good at math. Like, I got a 5 on the AP BC exam; that wasn't that bad. But Princeton math? Wow, different level! I would not recommend taking it unless you're BC. How'd you get through it?

A lot of studying freshman year—8 hours a day. That's what most of it went towards. Yeah, honestly, this is something I experienced. But have you already noticed that it's really hard to go through your emails? Are you bombarded by a ton of random emails?

So many emails, like all the time! There's a lot of emails from different listservs that we're part of—like, free food from the college, different clubs. Most of the stuff I don't really look at. There's a lot of spam.

Yeah, probably like 50-60 emails a day. They can get really overwhelming sometimes. I like never got that many emails before I came to school, and then I'll close my phone for like 10 minutes and I already have like 15 emails. So I'm curious about your thoughts on this. There's a new platform coming out,

it's called Cloaked. They create working identities for you so that way when you sign up for things, you're detached from the email list, and then also your privacy isn't being sold to other companies.  'Cause I don't know if you heard, but the College Board is recently...

accused of selling SAT/GPA data to Facebook.  Yeah, I should get that; that's what I need. Cloak was super nice enough to sponsor this video, so go check them out if this interests you at all. This aims to help students who are constantly bombarded by discount codes,

loyalty program invites, and other unwanted spam. Don't let discounts come at the cost of your privacy. Get Cloaked and use my code for 20% off your first 3 months. Okay, I have one more question, and it's: What is your best college advice?

Whatever school you go to—I won't say you will like it 100%, but there are a lot of different things that stats, rankings, and, to be quite frank, even college videos like reviews don't tell you about. You really have to be there

in person as a student to really absorb the whole thing. So I guess, like any college, as long as you do your diligence, I think it's fine. Prioritize your sleep. I really mean that. I think as the year progresses, more and more stuff starts to pile up, and I get

less and less sleep, and whenever it's time for me to go to lecture, it gets even harder for me to stay awake. So I think if you consistently get enough sleep to just keep you going, I think that might be really helpful. Don't pay so much attention to whatever

everyone else is doing. We're adults; we can live our own lives and not be pressured by other people. Comparison is the thief of joy, right? I think when you get to college, there are a lot of opportunities; there are so many clubs and classes and everything you can take and

I feel like in high school, you're running the rat race a little bit, just trying to reach the endpoint, trying to do all the best activities and everything. But I think when you get to college, there really isn't a bad way to do it, as long

as you're passionate about what you're doing. Try not to define activities as productive or unproductive; instead, evaluate how they make you feel—like, doing it for yourself rather than others. Yeah, because I think ultimately, part of the goal of college is

personal development, you know? It's not always professional development; it's like, how do you become the best person you can be? I've heard advice like, try new things—like beekeeping. There's a beekeeping club, and I want to join an equestrian club.

I saw that they have one here; I'll join it, too. And also, I joined an acting class, just randomly. I feel like you learn a lot about yourself, and you learn a lot about other people through just trying new things, like being part of new

communities. It's kind of funny, though—like, I've been going to some auditions. You meet people at these auditions, and then the next day you see them all, and there are so many more people to just say hi to.  It's

like, that's a good thing—people are friendly. Yeah, that's all. Thank you so much; this is so fun. I appreciate it.

Asking Princeton Students If They Ever Sleep

Colby Martel

Student Introductions and Initial Stereotypes

Students introduce themselves, stating their names and intended majors (or undecided status).

Discussion on common stereotypes of Princeton students, including being posh, preppy, and pretentious.

Students offer counterpoints, highlighting the diversity of backgrounds and passions for public service.

A student notes the commonality of hard work and driven nature among Princeton students.

Princeton's Ranking and Student Experience

Discussion on initial expectations versus reality regarding diversity at Princeton.

Mention of Princeton's #1 ranking by the Wall Street Journal.

Students discuss whether the ranking is deserved, emphasizing the focus on undergraduate experience, close professor relationships, and support systems.

A student shares a positive anecdote about the welcoming culture at Princeton.

Students discuss their study habits, including average study hours and procrastination tendencies.

Discussion on working better under pressure and procrastination strategies.

Students share their approaches to large projects and thesis work.

Students compare their sleep patterns in high school versus college.

Discussion on common challenges faced by college students, including uncertainty about future plans and adjusting to the demands of college-level study.

Students share personal challenges, including feelings of isolation and pressure to constantly be busy.

Students discuss experiencing imposter syndrome and the difficulty of a challenging math course.

Students describe the overwhelming number of emails they receive daily.

Introduction of Cloaked, a platform aimed at protecting student privacy from email spam and data selling practices.

Students offer advice to prospective college students, emphasizing the importance of prioritizing sleep and not comparing oneself to others.

Advice on focusing on personal development and exploring diverse interests and activities.

Students share personal examples of trying new things and joining clubs to enhance their college experience.