The Frosh Guide

Welcome Wilsonites!

You are now part of the BEST residential college at Princeton! My name is Adjani Peralta and I’m the Chair of the Wilson College Council. The College Council is a group of Wilson students that come together to provide our fellow Wilsonites opportunities for social events, college trips, intramural sports and much much more. Basically, the College Council is here for you!
The Wilson College Office has revised their website to help prepare and introduce you to different aspects of not only Wilson College, but also Princeton as a whole. We know that you have a lot of questions, so please don’t hesitate to contact us. The Communications Co-Chairs, Diya Das and Briana Wilkins, have been hard at work all summer long getting the Council website up-to-date, so please visit http://www.princeton.edu/~wcouncil/ and check out all of the new features.

From now on you will get occasional emails from the College Council (usually from Kevin Zhu, our Publicity Chair) filled with a lot of goodies. Yes, the emails will contain the times for the all important study breaks, ticket information for college trips and much much more. So please read them, yes, READ YOUR EMAILS! I promise that at the very least a council email may one day save you from a night of hunger.

More importantly, don’t forget to contact us. Suggestions, comments and funny quotes are all welcome. Don’t forget that if you see us around campus say “hello”. We don’t bite!

Welcome new Wilsonites!

Adjani Peralta

A few tips and tricks (what we wished we'd known)

At some point, we had the idea that we'd put together a full-fledged guide to Princeton and Wilson College, but then we'd realized that many people have made similar attempts, and you're probably overwhelmed with email (just wait until classes start!).

With that in mind, we asked the Council, the RCAs, and the RGSs to pull together some essential advice for the coming year. Here's what we have. If you have any questions, please email us.

What We Wished We'd Known During Our First Semester

1. Jersey weather is fickle. Bring rain boots, umbrella, door mat (for the mud), and a vacuum cleaner.

2. Frist has Saturday early morning breakfasts, 7:30-9:45. It's up to $4 for a meal swipe (you can pay cash, credit, student charge, or Points as well). The chocolate-chip pancakes ($3) are legendary.

3. On the topic of food, Murray-Dodge Café (in the basement of Murray-Dodge) is open from 10 pm - 12:30 am. Princeton students (employed by the University) make free cookies and other fresh-baked goods every night.

4. There's this great site called Point. Free food, upcoming events, lost and found, and TigerTrade -- all here.

5. The McGraw Center (3rd floor of Frist) has study halls for some of the biggest courses on campus. If you're having trouble with a higher-level class, the tutors (who are often majors in the subject and have taken the class) are very friendly, and may have time to help you as well.

6. Don't wait too long to get academic help if you need it. You may be accustomed to doing well without it, but college (and Princeton, in particular) can be a completely different experience. It's much better to recognize that you may need someone else's support early on in the semester, rather than during midterms week.

7. From an RCA: Exercise caution before entering into a relationship early in the term (especially with a fellow OA/CAer), since people will settle down and change in the first semester as they adjust to college life.

8. Explore Princeton, the town. It's a great place full of cute cafés, interesting shops, and historical landmarks. Check out Einstein's house on 112 Mercer Street. There's a wonderful map called "The Best of Princeton" by ResortMaps.com; several local stores carry it.

9. Get involved in sports. Attend Princeton athletic events, and play or support intramurals. For intramurals, your level of skill is not an issue: it's so much fun to just go out and play with an awesome group of people.

10. From our Council Chair: "Please take advantage of your RCAs. Yes, I know that sometimes it might seem a bit embarrassing to ask them questions, but they are there to help you. In the very least, you can score some cookies and snacks for long nights. I remember my RCA freshman year summed it up pretty well gave me good advice, 'just go ask your RCAs; hey, it’s our job!'"