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Different paths to Princeton . . . leave some feeling a step behind

When the members of the Class of 2004 first set foot inside a Nassau classroom next September, in many ways they will all be on the same academic footing — the same graduation requirements, the same standards of excellence, the same number of hours in each day.

In another sense, however, these students will face staggered starting lines for their University education, based in part on the educational paths they took to get here.

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Alberto Puentes '00 said he felt completely under-prepared by his urban public high school for the rigors of the University. "I was definitely not prepared at all," he said. "It was pretty ridiculous."

Puentes said he was one of only three students — out of several hundred total — in his graduating class who went on to top-tier colleges and universities.

Though his San Antonio school did have some honors programs, Puentes said the classes "just stagnated along."

"Once [the teachers] have funding, they have to fill the classes," he explained. "So to fill them they include kids that aren't prepared."

During one math class in which the teacher would spend most of the class time with those students who were struggling to understand, Puentes said, "I'd go get burgers for everyone for lunch while the teacher was explaining."

Charlie Wells '02, a Macon, Ga., native, said he was often bored in school. Discontented, Wells shifted from private school to public school and back. In his junior year, he rejected formal education and spent a year guiding his own schooling at home. "I was doing well and not working hard," Wells said. "I thought I couldn't do much worse on my own."

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Wells agreed with Puentes that students' time is often wasted by schools that are not up to par. "Kids who went to bad schools understand — and those who went to good don't — just how little you can do in a class," Wells said.

"Even in ninth grade, a lot of my projects were cut and paste," he added.

Gustavo Rivera '02, who attended what he characterized as a "typical inner-city school" in Houston, also felt that his school was lacking in many ways. "Our science department was just pitiful," Rivera said.

Despite one good teacher — without whom Rivera said he "wouldn't have had a clue" about many major literary works — he said he was still "unprepared for all the reading [here]." In LIT 141w: Modern European Writers, for instance, Rivera was surprised to find that other students had already read so many of the texts.

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"I was in the library reading and reading," Rivera added, "and everyone else was like, 'Oh, we already read that two times.' "

Preparation gap?

The difference between the experiences of these students and some of their counterparts who went to private or higher-caliber public schools is striking.

Jen Shingleton '03, who graduated from the Phillips-Andover Academy, called her transition to the University "extremely easy" and even said she does "significantly less work here" than she had in high school.

Overall, Shingleton raved about her high school experience. "There were so many opportunities I would not have had in the public school system I had been in previously," she said, though she said the schools she had attended through eighth grade were well-respected.

Craig Officer '03 also felt ready for University-level work after his education at St. Albans, an all-male prep school in Washington, D.C.

"St. Albans definitely prepared me for life here," he said. Officer said he did not find the work at the University particularly difficult compared to high school, though he added, "The amount was definitely challenging."

Public schools can also offer a high-caliber education. Lisly Chery '03 attended Stuyvesant High School, a selective public school in New York. He called his school "challenging and competitive" and said he was "very well prepared" for Princeton.

Public schools

Netty Richter '00 felt that her public school — Walt Whitman in Bethesda, Md. — offered her an excellent education. "With the course load and work intensity, I was really well prepared [for the University]," she said.

Richter said she deliberately chose not to go to a private high school and felt that the bigger environment of a public school offered certain unique benefits. She admitted, however, that her choice was based on the quality of the school.

"I don't think my parents would have been supportive [of my attending public school] otherwise," Richter said.

Perhaps the biggest difference between students who went to strong schools and those who were less challenged is in their respective perspectives on the University, particularly when they first arrive.

While Shingleton said she was always "relaxed and psyched to come" to the University, Mary Kathrine White '01 said she remembers being simultaneously excited and "petrified to come" when she got her acceptance letter from Dean of Admissions Fred Hargadon.

Her fears persisted after she arrived on campus. "I was terrified during orientation," she said. "I felt this was going to be the test of me not knowing anything."

White went to a rural public school in LeGrange, Texas, population 4,000. Other than her brother, a Princeton graduate, she said she knew of no other students from her school who had ever gone to Ivy League universities. Only one other student from her 100-member graduating class went to a college outside of Texas.

Given this environment, White said she feared she would be unprepared for the University. To her surprise, however, she found that her educational background had adequately prepared her for Princeton.

"When I went to my first chemistry class, I was amazed at how much I'd been taught," White said. In the years since, White said she has realized that LeGrange gave her more than quality academic training, but also an education in values.

"I think I live more in the real world than someone who went to a prep school," White said. "I know how hard people work. I know what hard work is."

Home schooling

For those students for whom formal schooling does not fit, sometimes it makes sense to skip the traditional route and opt for an individualized education at home.

Home schooling is on the rise right now, both in terms of the number of students and in the academic achievement of those students. A handful of undergraduates at the University were home schooled, according to Wells, who spent one year learning at home.

Lillian Pierce '02 had an entirely at-home education. "It all started in kindergarten when I needed more time to practice violin," she said. Her mother, an accredited teacher, took over Pierce's schooling at that point, and later that of her younger brother.

Though she said there was always "something scary about disregarding what everyone else was doing" and noted that she gave public school another try every few years, Pierce said she was satisfied with her education.

Through the intensely individual experience of learning by herself and even — after the sixth-grade level — teaching herself math and science, she said she learned a great deal about herself. "I learned a lot of school subjects on the way, but most importantly, I learned how my brain works," she said. "I figured out how to learn things."

Pierce's self-proclaimed self-discipline and her home-schooled education have certainly served her well at the University. Last fall, she won the Freshman First Honors Award, given at opening exercises each year to the student with the highest academic achievement during her freshman year.

Success at the University is a tricky thing, however. Some students considered themselves well-educated by their high schools and yet found academic success at Princeton elusive. Others have had the opposite experience.

For at least some students whose high schools were lacking, it is impossible to ever completely shake the feeling of being a step behind, no matter how well they do along the way. "Even now in my courses I think, 'I haven't had this and other kids have,' " White said.

"I can work as hard as I can, but if I'm two years behind, [it might not matter]," she added. "I still have a lot of doubts."