From evening runs along Carnegie Lake to getting ice cream out on Nassau Street, here is a glimpse into a day in my life as a student at Princeton University.

8:30 AM - Wake Up!

My first alarm goes off, and (spoiler alert) it won’t be my last.

My roommates and I call this 8:30 alarm our “aspirational alarm.”

A tour group outside of the famous Nassau Hall

Unlike high schools, colleges tend to give you a lot more flexibility when scheduling your classes.

Thus, virtually the entire student body has come to the conclusion that one should never sign up for a class before 10AM.

Nights are often buzzing with social activity on campus, with many of the extracurricular activities running late into the night -- it’s not uncommon for student dance groups to end practice around 1am.

So, hopefully you can understand when I press snooze for another 30 minutes.

9:00 AM - Breakfast at My Eating Club

I get up and start the day with a walk across campus to Prospect Street or, as it's known on campus, simply “The Street”.

Prospect Street is populated with numerous mini-mansions that serve as a unique facet of Princeton social life - eating clubs.

What is an eating club?

Eating clubs are social clubs where upperclassmen students take their meals, study and spend time with their friends, and are the site of weekend “nights out” aka parties.

I happen to be a member of the Tiger Inn or “TI,” for short.

The front of the Tiger Inn eating club

While each eating club is known for attracting students with a certain type of personality, I would say TI is composed largely of outgoing students, with a large proportion of student-athletes, who don’t take themselves too seriously and are always looking to meet new people. That translates to our dining room policy of taking the empty seat next to whatever group is already eating at one of our long tables, as opposed to sitting at a new table.

At TI, the company is superb and so is the breakfast. One of my favorite things about TI is that there is always an abundance of fresh berries and homemade french toast in addition to our omelette bar.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!

10:00 AM - 1st Class: Environmental Policy

After breakfast, I head to my first class of the day - a course covering environmental policy.

It is taught through the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, formerly known as the Woodrow Wilson School.

In the fountain directly outside of the building you can often find people taking a moment to relax or, during events known as “lawnparties,” actually taking a dip in the fountain.

A picture of SPIA fountain

11:00 AM - 2nd Class: Practical Ethics

Next, I head to my second class of the day: "Practical Ethics," taught by the world-famous moral philosopher Peter Singer.

Taking this class is almost a right of passage for undergraduates.

The material covers various approaches to a host of topics in ethics, ranging from animal rights to bioethics. The class is taught in McCosh Lecture Hall , a building that hosts many of the large introductory lectures familiar to Princeton students (such as Macroeconomics 101).

McCosh Lecture Hall, not to be confused with McCosh Health Center

11:50 AM - Coffee Break

After pondering a few ethical questions, I head back over to “The Street” for an uneventful lunch before going to get coffee at Small World (a local coffee shop frequented by Princeton students).

Many senior theses have been powered by the delicious smell and caffeine rush of Small World. I can assure you that the line is well worth the wait.

Line for coffee at Small World

12:50 PM - Back to Campus

I slowly make my way down Nassau Street (the main street in front of the university) back towards the main entrance to campus through the FitzRandolph gates.

FitzRandolph gates

As you can see, students try to avoid passing through the main entrance of the FitzRandolph gates. Student lore has it that if you pass through the center gate, you will not graduate.

A view of Nassau Street

1:00 PM - Studying in Firestone Library

I soak up a few sun rays before hunkering down to study for a few hours in Firestone Library.

By the time graduation rolls around, every student will have chosen a favorite location to study on one of this library’s many levels and extensive corridors of study rooms.

A glimpse inside Firestone Library

3:00 PM - Sports Practice

I row for Princeton's varsity women's crew team, and spend many hours outside of class each week practicing for races.

Twice a week we have a training lift that starts at 3:30pm, and it’s a bit of a hike down campus so I make sure to get an early start on walking over.

However, the hike is well worth it in order to have the privilege to row in such a beautiful location.

The boathouse also holds a special place in all Princeton rowers’ hearts for the community that it fosters with four rowing teams (Women’s Openweight, Women’s Lightweight, Men's Lightweight, and Men’s Heavyweight) all practicing in the same place.

Shea Rowing Center

7:00 PM - Dinner

After a nice, long row, stretch, and shower at the boathouse, I make the trek back up campus towards Tiger Inn for dinner.

There, I get a chance to catch up with friends whom I hadn't been able to see that day.

8:00 PM - Study Time, Part 2

No matter how much you study, there's always more studying to do. At least it sometimes feels that way.

After dinner, I find a cozy place to study by the fire in one of the Tiger Inn common rooms known as “the green room.”

9:00 PM - Club Meeting

Once I finish submitting the homework due that night, I head to a meeting for the campus organization Athletes in Action , or “AIA” as it’s commonly referred to.

AIA is a community oriented Christian group composed of varsity student-athletes and meets once a week, where we take time out of the day to reflect on the role of faith and service in our lives.

An AIA meeting

Regardless of your individual interests, with over 300 active student groups and clubs on campus there is bound to be one that can help you find your sense of community at Princeton.

9:55 PM - Ice Cream!

After the AIA meeting ends, a couple of friends and I dash over to a nearby ice cream shop to satisfy our sweet tooth.

I say “dash” because nearly everything in the town of Princeton closes at around 10pm, so either good planning or speed-walking are highly necessary skills.

10:30 PM - Bedtime

Ice cream in hand, I finally head home for the day to catch up with my roommates about the day’s events and get a bit of sleep before doing it all over again tomorrow.

If you're interested in potentially joining me at Princeton or learning more about how to get into a university like Princeton, feel check out our 1-on-1 college admissions mentoring services here !

One of the best ways to learn more about colleges you’re interested in applying to is by talking with current students and learning from their experiences.

However, it can be difficult to find current students to talk to and get honest accounts of what life looks like on campus.

This article will go over how high school students who are planning on applying to college can reach out to current college students and hear about their experiences.

Before we go over the strategies to find high school students to learn from, consider doing some reflecting about what you want to get out of the experience of reaching out to current college students.

Questions to Ask Current College Students

Some questions to consider asking include:

1. What factors are most important to you when you look for a university?

For example, how important is it to you to be near a city? Do you want to go to school where everyone lives on campus or is that not as important to you?

1. What are some questions you want to ask current students?

It’s oftentimes helpful to enter conversations with a set list of questions to get the conversation flowing!

1. What do you plan to get involved in on campus?

The activities you get involved in on campus will likely influence who you spend your time with. Consider what clubs you might want to get involved in on campus and try to connect with students involved in similar activities.

Method #1: LinkedIn

Reach out to current students on LinkedIn by first searching the name of the club you might be interested in joining on campus.

Next, scroll through the LinkedIn members who are part of the club.

To reach out to students and have a brief conversation, consider thinking through a few factors first to optimize the likelihood that someone will get back to you.

First, try to find students who are from your hometown or close to where you grew up. A college student might be more likely to share their experience on campus if you have something in common, and hometown is an easy similarity.

Second, look for students who are studying a discipline you are also in. If you end up connecting and having a conversation, it might be easier to have a conversation about shared interests.

This relates back to my earlier point about reflecting on what you want out of the experience. If you’ve spent the time reflecting on the question you want to ask and what you want to get out of the experience, it’ll be easier to have a more genuine and honest conversation.

A view of Harvard Yard in the fall

Method #2: Instagram

Another option to connect with current students is through Instagram. There are a few different ways to find and reach out to people on Instagram: extracurricular Instagram profiles, conference locations, and geotags.

First, many extracurriculars have their own Instagram profiles where they post updates about their membership events and pictures.

Usually clubs have social media managers who regulate the account and would likely help connect you to students in the club.

Second, if you’re interested in an extracurricular on a campus that holds conferences or events, try to find a hashtag for the event and reach out to the organization’s Instagram or people who were at the event.

For example, the Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business (HUWIB) organization holds the annual Intercollegiate Business Convention (IBC). If you were interested in joining HUWIB, you could go to the location of the convention and reach out to people who attended the event.

Finally, you can also go to the college geotag location on Instagram and reach out to people who are students.

It’s best to keep outreach messages short, clear, and upbeat to increase the chance that the student will get back to you.

Method #3: Campus Visit + Meet Real Students

The third method of reaching out to college students is contingent on if you can visit the college in-person.

Sunset from Harvard Yard

If you can’t visit the college in-person, there are lots of great resources that you still have access to.

Many colleges have virtual campus tours and information sessions with current students. Many current students also make YouTube videos talking about their experience at different colleges.

Some great college YouTubers to check out:

1. The Kath Path from Stanford
2. Paris Boswell from the University of Wisconsin Madison
3. Katherout from USC
4. LifeWithLaur from Dartmouth
5. Nicolas Chae from Princeton
6. Elliot Choy from Vanderbilt

If you are able to visit the college in person, it can be helpful to sit on a bench in the center of campus and observe the students walking around. It can be helpful to respectfully approach students and ask them about their experience, but be sure to keep in mind that college students are often extremely busy and might not have a lot of time to answer your questions.

A few locations that are good options for places to sit and observe current students include:

1. The student center
2. A few of the dorms
3. Classroom buildings
4. The library
5. The dining hall

It can be helpful to have a few questions in mind if you decide to approach students so as to avoid wasting time. Remember to respect student’s times and take rejections graciously.

A picture of University Hall at Harvard

Method #4: Reach out to Admissions Officers

Another option is to reach out to the admissions office directly. There are a few benefits and a few drawbacks to this approach.

Benefits of reaching out to the admissions office

• Admissions officers will be able to share a wide range of resources, from presentations to flyers and student testimonials
• Since admissions officers connect with students every day, they will likely respond to your inquiries quickly and share high-quality information
• It might take longer for students to get back to you because they have a lot going on with extracurriculars and classes
• Speaking with admissions officers might count as demonstrated interest for some schools who look at student interest as part of the admissions process

Drawbacks of reaching out to the admissions office

• The admissions office will connect you with the students that they want you to talk to
• The students who choose to work with the admissions office likely have a high opinion of the school
• In this way, it might be challenging to get a fully accurate picture of the student experience
• Most of what students share and what admissions officers talk about is likely the positive elements of the college experience and it might be harder to get an accurate picture of some of the less-rosy elements of going to a certain school

Method #5: Hometown Resources

One final option for reaching out to current students is to connect with alumni organizations in your hometown.

This is probably easiest for state schools where many alumni likely live nearby after graduation and schools that have clubs in large cities.

In terms of state schools, ask your friends and family if they know anyone who went to a certain school and ask about their experience.

Remember that colleges can change over time, and an experience twenty years ago will not necessarily be consistent with an experience today.

Many Ivy League colleges have clubs in large cities and states. If you’re interested in applying to Ivy League colleges, you can find contact information for each club on their websites.

And if you can't find anyone, we have plenty of Ivy League students on our team who'd be happy to chat. Feel free to grab a free consultation slot here to learn how we can help you on your application journey!

These five methods of reaching out to current students are by no means mutually exclusive.

Consider combining two or more of these approaches to reach out to current students and learn from their experiences.

And keep in mind that one student’s experience will not necessarily be your experience!

Take everything you hear with an open mind and be sure to ask multiple people similar questions to get different points of view!

When I was applying to college, I found visiting campus in-person and reaching out to alumni in my hometown to be the two easiest methods since I live near Boston, which is where Harvard is located.

I suggest figuring out which methods feel most natural and comfortable to you and starting there. Depending on what works and who gets back to you, you can always adjust your approach accordingly.

Remember to stay persistent, but respectful, and get the questions you have about the college experience answered! Best of luck!

What follows is an hour-by-hour account at what a typical day in my life as a Harvard undergrad looks like!

8:00 – 8:45 am: “Veritaffle” in the Kirkland House Dining Hall

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day for a reason, but you wouldn't know that observing Harvard students -- only about 40% of us attend breakfast, according to Harvard's Undergraduate Dining Services!

The house that I live in, Kirkland , has a dining hall with lots of to-go options including all of the cereal you could ever want (like Marshmallows & Stars, a Lucky Charms knock-off), bagels (aka rolls with holes), and fruits (the apples are my go-to).

Virtually all upperclassmen live on campus in one of 12 houses. You're randomly sorted into a house during your freshman spring semester, and you then live in that house for the remaining three years of your Harvard career.

My house, Kirkland, is known as the smallest house (but most spirited!)

The Kirkland dining hall is usually pretty empty in the morning, which makes it easy to find a seat next to whomever I go to breakfast with!

As a nice little touch of Harvard, each upperclass dining hall has a machine that makes waffles with the Harvard “Veritas” logo. Waiting to see if the clumpy mess of waffle batter turns into a beautiful Harvard-themed waffle is truly the highlight of my week.

I like adding strawberries, blueberries, cinnamon sugar, and a little bit of syrup to my waffles. Getting one of these "Veritaffles" is a Sunday morning tradition for many Harvard students.

9:00 – 10:30 am: First class of the day -- Hist 1155: Early Modern Europe

After breakfast, I walk to my first class of the day: Hist 1155: Early Modern Europe , which is located in historic Emerson Hall. I usually try to get to class at least 15 minutes early so I can sit wherever I want.

On the way to class, I passed by Widener Library (view from the steps pictured above) and accidentally walked through a few tourists' pictures. Walking through tourist pictures is both a rite of passage and a given when walking through Harvard Yard. There are a lot of tourists and it can be hard to dodge them all.

Today in Hist 1155, we had a lecture on the Urban Revolution and looked at a number of primary sources detailing personal experiences during the plague. Most lecture classes I’m in consist of the professor presenting a PowerPoint presentation and students participating by asking or answering questions.

10:30 – 11:45 pm: On to Spanish 20

After Hist 1155, I headed to my Spanish class right next door in Sever Hall at 10:30 am.

I decided to take a quick stroll around the yard before heading off to class.

Spanish class is definitely one of my favorite classes this semester.

In high school, I got to know my classmates because we took many of the same courses together.

However, it can be harder to get to know classmates in college because everyone takes such different courseloads. Since Harvard has a language requirement, I’m in a class with people from a number of other "concentrations" (Harvard's word for a "major") that I might have otherwise not have been able to meet.

Today, we read “La Familia” by Rigoberta Menchú and learned about her activism work.

12:00 pm – 1:15 pm: Next up, SUP 206: The Causes and Consequences of Inequality

I decided to cross register at the Harvard Kennedy School with a friend to fulfill my last economics elective.

The Kennedy School, or "HKS", is Harvard's graduate school for government and public policy, and is pictured below.

Undergrads are welcome to cross-enroll in most classes taught at other Harvard graduate schools, including HKS.

At first, it was intimidating to sit in a classroom filled with graduate students. But attending office hours with the professor and getting to know the other students better after class helped assuage my doubts.

The Kennedy School is also a place where I can spend my Board Plus, which is essentially free money that Harvard gives us to spend at designated locations on campus. It's a total of $65 per semester, and is a great excuse to buy granola bars and other snacks.

I tried a chia seed blueberry cobbler -- A solid 7/10.

1:30 pm – 1:15 pm: Lunch at Eliot House

After class, I swung by Eliot House for lunch. Eliot is Kirkland's sister house (it's located literally right next door), and is one of the 12 houses where upperclassmen (sophomores through seniors) live.

I love eating lunch at Eliot because the porch is beautiful and the house is conveniently located close to the Yard and the Charles River , but also removed from the chaos and bustle of Harvard Square .

Many of the Harvard houses used to have specific characteristics and reputations before they instituted a randomized sorting policy. If you’re interested, you can read more about some of the house reputations here .

2:30 - 5:30 pm: Studying in the Smith Center

After lunch, I decided to head to the Smith Student Center in Harvard Square to do some studying and get my readings done for later in the week.

Smith is an interesting cross section of Harvard because anyone from any of the Harvard schools -- undergrads, graduate students, postdocs, faculty, staff, etc. -- can go to Smith to work, and the main section is open to the public.

I especially enjoy studying on the 10th floor because there are beautiful views of the Harvard campus and surrounding Cambridge area.

Only people with a valid HUID can access the 10th floor, but I snapped a picture of the view to give you a sneak peak below!

5:45 - 6:30 pm: Dinner in Kirkland

After studying for a bit, I decide to head home to Kirkland House for dinner.

The Kirkland Junior Common Room is one of the spaces on campus that makes me extremely grateful to be a student at Harvard. Wood paneling, velvet curtains, oil paintings, ornate chandeliers -- this room really has it all.:

I met a friend for dinner and we decided to eat in the junior common room because there had been some COVID-related reshuffling of the regular dining room.

6:45 - 7:30 pm: After dinner walk

After dinner, my friend and I walked around campus a bit and watched the sunset from Weeks Bridge , pictured above.

It was a beautiful end to the day!

Weeks Bridge can be found full of Harvard students and Cambridge residents watching the sunset most evenings.

The sunset last night was especially beautiful with the pink and orange clouds. I find that taking a walk before I start my homework helps me recenter my focus and recharge.

7:45pm - Midnight: Homework and studying

I spent the rest of the night studying and working on homework.

I usually try to go to bed by midnight, but that doesn’t always happen.

Anyway, thanks for spending the day with me! From Harvard Yard to upperclassmen houses like Eliot and Kirkland, to the Smith Center and Weeks Bridge, I hope you got a better sense of what a “day in the life” might look like for you as a Harvard college student!