Students cite own experiences at Preview weekend as reasons to host

For two weekends in April, the University attempts to achieve a viewbook-like perfection on campus to convince admitted students to join the incoming class. Princeton Preview weekends, which will take place April 15–17 and April 22–24 this year, offer prospective students, or prefrosh, the opportunity to experience life on campus and interact closely with current students — especially their hosts.

Many students said their decisions to become Princeton Preview hosts stemmed from their own experiences as prefrosh.

“I had a really amazing time at prefrosh weekend last year,” Carlyn Cook ’13 said. “I really want people to have a really good time at prefrosh weekend so they come here, because it’s awesome.”

Cook, who signed up to host two prefrosh this weekend and another two next weekend, added that she was “really glad” that she attended preview weekend as a prefrosh, even though she only managed to sleep for three hours over the three days.

Julia Yue ’13, who also signed up to host two prefrosh each weekend, is hosting for the same reason.

“I had a great time at preview last year,” Yue said. “It’s a great opportunity to show incoming students great benefits of coming to Princeton [and] to relay my experiences.”

But, Yue added, she has not planned any specific activities for her prefrosh.

“There’s so much going on. I want to let them experience what they want to do,” she explained, adding that she would be happy to attend “This Side of Princeton” — a show that features a number of student performance groups — with her prefrosh or show them around campus.

Mark Ha ’13 also said he has no plans for his prefrosh, but will invite them to join him for his activities. “Whether or not they go is up to them,” he said.

Cook also noted that she would not press her prefrosh to spend a great deal of time with her.

“It kind of depends on how much the prefrosh want to hang out with me,” she said, though she added that she would like to take them to performances such as “The MAN Show,” which features male a cappella groups.

“I think [what is] most important about prefrosh weekend is that they get out and see what Princeton has to offer,” Cook added.

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Tiantian Zha ’13 plans to bring her prefrosh to the Asian Night Market to show them that “there’s a lot of diversity at Princeton, and a lot of good food.”

Shirley Gao ’13, who helped recruit hosts as a Princeton Preview captain, joked that she is “excited for when prefrosh come, not because I care about their futures, but because the food in the dining hall is going to be a lot better for the three days that they’re here.”

One issue of concern for hosts is that the last day of the second preview weekend coincides with Newman’s Day, which some students celebrate by consuming 24 beers within 24 hours.

Cook said that she was “a little concerned” about the overlap. “I don’t want the preview kids to think that [Newman’s Day] is all that Princeton has — because it’s not. Not at all.”

But Yue was less worried. “Hopefully, Newman’s Day isn’t going to be too crazy,” she said, adding that “it’s not a bad thing to get exposure to what college is actually like.”

—Staff writers Sara Connolly and John Perry contributed reporting.