mzhang23

I'm a senior at Princeton in the Woodrow Wilson School. I'll be an RCA in Rocky next year, and I'm here to answer your questions about life at Princeton.

Ask away.

mcmom

Any particular courses you think are very important to take to be accepted to WWS?

mzhang23

The WWS admissions cap is set at 90 students. Having critical foreign language skills (Mandarin, Arabic, etc.) and a science background are two factors that help students get in. They factor in GPA as well.

There are no recommended courses or prerequisites, but the major does have distribution reqs.

superpig10000

If you happen to know,

How feasible is majoring in engineering (ORFE specifically) and getting a certificate in WWS (in term of admission and course load)?

Thanks.

guppy8888

this is not WWS related, and actually rather trivial: but what cell phone service works best? and i REALLY want to get the iphone so i hope that ATT works

mzhang23

Engineers have too many reqs of their own and can't do WWS.

Verizon is the best. With both ATT and T mobile you're not guaranteed reception in your dorm.

albert87

Is it possible to double major? Has anyone tried it before?

albert87

so it is not possible to do a BSE degree with a certificate in WWS?

quirkily

It's technically possible...one of the rising juniors I know is MechE with a WWS certificate. It just means you can't take any other non-major classes, pretty much.

mzhang23

You can also technically double major and write two theses, but I haven't heard of anything like this happening in the engineering department since you guys have long-term research projects.

albert87

isn't it true that if you decide to do a certificate at the same time you forfeit your opportunity to take courses outside your major/certifcate because you have to take courses that count toward your major/certificate?

mzhang23

That would totally depend on the certificate you're getting.

If you're doing WWS and EAS your courses would have a lot of overlap, leaving you plenty of time to take other classes.

Something like Physics and Finance would not, however.

albert87

when and where do engineers usually study abroad? can engineers sometimes satisfy departmental units by taking equivalent courses at another institution over the summer? is it common for engineers to do this?

phillyland

How much do you usually spend on books in the beginning of the term (reading-intensive HUM sequence included)?

mzhang23

I haven't heard of any engineers studying abroad. It's best to email the engineering school or check their website on this. You can travel abroad in the summer though, but during the school year you'll be taking courses.

Engineering classes do have trips. I know Engineers without Borders runs several trips during the year. They've gone to Chile and Ethiopia recently.

I try to spend under $200 a semester. If you're really diligent, you can just go to the library and borrow books there. Libraries are guaranteed to have books used in classes on reserve (you can borrow them for 3 hours or overnight).

Photocopy packets - called Pequods - are also really expensive, so you can go to the library to read them if you're cash strapped.

If you're taking something like the HUM sequence, you'll be screaming through books. Sometimes you might only need to read 100 pages or so from a book, so make sure you really need if before you buy it.