When George Reis '01 returned to the University last fall as a first-year doctoral student in the electrical engineering department, he noticed a few changes. During his undergraduate years, the University had a different president, and the engineering school was headed by a different dean. And when he returned, both Frist Campus Center and the Friend Center were new.
But that's not all that changed. After working in Seattle for two years after graduation, Reis was surprised to see how his perception of graduate students at the University had also developed.
Reis said he was worried about the generalization of a typical grad student he had harbored during his undergraduate years.
As an undergrad he and most of his peers felt that the grad students in the engineering school were introverted, but he now believes differently and tries to debunk the myth.
"When I came to interview, I spoke with some people about that, and all the people I met on the interview date were completely not like that at all. There definitely are people like that, but those people tend to group together," he said.
Undergraduate focus
When prospective undergraduate students step on to the University's campus, admissions officers and Orange Key tour guides never fail to sing the joys of the "undergraduate focus" of a Princeton education.
This purported focus is also reflected in the University's greater than two-to-one ratio of undergrad to graduate students.
And even within the University's graduate school, Princeton has a unique focus because it does not have a law, business or medical school.
Despite the undergraduate focus and lack of preprofessional schools at the graduate level, some undergrads choose to continue their education at the University.
Why return?
Genia Kozorovitskiy '01, currently pursuing her doctorate in the psychology department, said she considers herself lucky because she has had the chance to meet both graduate and undergraduate students while at the University, and continues to maintain both sets of friends. Though most University graduate students are Ph.D. candidates, Brett Antonides '03 is a student in the one-year master of engineering program.
He said the move to the Graduate College — where most of the firstand second-year graduate students are housed — after his undergraduate accommodations at Forbes College and Charter Club, was a major transition.
But he considers himself more of a fifth-year undergraduate rather than first-year graduate student.
"I still think of myself as an undergrad. I go out to the [eating] clubs and party like I always did," he said. "The surprising thing is that the graduate students think that the undergrads don't like them. It is a big misconception."
Misperceptions
Stereotypes about graduate students persist because each group lacks exposure to the other outside the classroom setting, several University undergrads-turned-graduate students said.
"What the grad students see of the undergrads is limited. They don't see that [they too] are taking academics seriously," said Jane Garrison '03, a graduate student in the economics department.
Antonides was also surprised that the 'Prince' was not widely read among grad students.
"Graduate students aren't even offered a subscription of the 'Prince.' I've never seen anyone read a copy or drop one off around the grad college," he added.
Comfort factor
Though Antonides enjoys his Princeton experience, he said he wouldn't want to return to the University if he were doing a degree that took longer than his master's, because nine years in one institution would be too much for him.
He said he returned to University because he knew the routine, location, the professors and the electrical engineering department, in which he majored as an undergraduate.
Garrison also said she feels more comfortable than many of her graduate school peers because she is more aware of whom to approach for practical concerns.
Like Antonides, Kozorovitskiy returned to the University for primarily academic reasons.
She said the University has resources which cannot be exhausted in four years. In fact, her junior and senior independent work motivated her to study the topics in greater depth.
But for some of these undergrads turned graduate students, the hardest part of returning to the University was trying not to compare the lifestyles and memories.
"I compared all the best times I had as an undergraduate during my first [freshman] semester, with my coming back as a graduate student," Reis said.
However, he admits that it's like comparing apples to oranges — he is now at a different stage in his life.
Like other graduate students, he too has more responsibilities and his life is not structured around a residential college.
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