Princeton students gone mild

As college students nationwide flock to spots like Cancun and Miami for spring break, hundreds of Princeton undergraduates are getting ready to spend their breaks far from sunlight, deep in the bowels of Firestone Library or the labs of the E-Quad, working on their senior theses.

With most theses due in April, spring break is when seniors hope to concentrate on their writing. Though seniors take a reduced course load — typically two or three classes — in the spring term, finding time to research and write can be difficult.

Megan Jaye '06, a history major, estimated that she has spent 10 to 15 hours a week on her thesis for the last few weeks. But, she said, "I lose track of time when I'm working and definitely don't keep count of how much time I'm putting in."

Like many humanities and social science concentrators, Jaye is assigned to a carrel in Firestone that she registered for at the end of junior year. Art and archaeology majors have carrels in Marquand Library and students in other departments have assigned work spaces elsewhere. Natural science and engineering majors writing experimental theses have resources allocated to them in their labs.

Jaye works with another senior in a small, dark room in the middle of the subterranean C Floor, surrounded by stacks of rarely-read books. Most carrels in Firestone are for two people, with a few carrels on the B floor for four, five, six and seven people.

Typical two-person Firestone carrels are minimalist blue metal boxes with a tabletop attached to the wall and a few shelves for books.

At the beginning of the year, Jaye assumed she'd "be pretty far along" on her thesis by spring break because her topic branches out from one of her junior papers. But, like most seniors, she said, Jaye "didn't really start [writing] until Intersession."

She has written about 65 pages and hopes to write at least one chapter during spring break, though she is visiting law schools for a few days of the vacation. History theses are generally limited to 100 pages.

Many students are not as far along as Jaye but don't feel pressure quite yet. History theses are due April 11 at 3 p.m. and other large departments — including politics, English and the Wilson School — also have deadlines during the second week of April. Other departments, however, have deadlines in late April or early May. Theses in the molecular biology department are due April 27, while mechanical and aeronautical engineering (MAE) theses are due May 4.

Dominique Van De Somple '06, an MAE major, said he hasn't started to worry about his thesis because the due date is close to two months away. He's planning to go to Puerto Rico over spring break along with a few humanities majors and an electrical engineer who doesn't have a thesis.

"I hope they're far along in their work so they can have fun, but I really don't know," he said.

As an engineer, Van De Somple doesn't have a carrel or desk in the same sense as A.B. students. Because his thesis work involves expensive software, he has a computer in an E-Quad lab. He only works there when absolutely necessary, he said. "Otherwise, I go to Firestone or Marquand and just find a place to work."

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On a recent afternoon he sat with his laptop and a few books in a well-appointed wood carrel near a window on the A Floor of Marquand. Though the desk belonged to another student, Van De Somple was "squatting" there because the space was open.

Three flights up, on the third floor of Marquand, art history graduate student Maika Pollack was working on the early stages of her dissertation. Seniors assigned to carrels there have "been here a lot more in the last few weeks," she said. "It's great to have their scholarly company in the library, to have the camaraderie and the people around."

So even if some students would rather sunbathe on the beaches of Cancun, Firestone is not too bad an alternative.

"Up until last semester I thought I'd work on it all year long," Jaye added. "But I definitely haven't — most seniors don't — and it hasn't been nearly as bad as I thought it would be."