Stories

Natalya Rahman '19

The Princeton Perspective Project was one of the reasons that I applied to Princeton. As a high school student who had never seen a bad grade, I was worried about coming to an Ivy League school where I assumed students would be competitive, intelligent, and above all, effortlessly so.

When I was looking at Princeton’s admissions materials, I came across PPP’s website. Although I couldn’t access the video stories, the written stories and description of what PPP stood for was enough. I too wanted to be a part of a college culture that reassures students that failure and struggle are normal parts of life. This became one of the deciding factors in my college application process, and I chose to apply here in the early action cycle.

I got into Princeton and I am proud to say that I am now a part of PPP’s Student Advisory Board. I hope to help propagate PPP’s mission, so this initiative can benefit other students like it has benefitted me!

Reactions

On attending the Behind this Smile event in which students spoke about the impacts of eating options on Princeton's campus: "It was refreshing to engage in an open conversation about eating options on campus, a touchy subject that I rarely discuss in-depth with anyone but my closest friends. PPP provided a platform for people to ask questions about eating options, such as co-ops, that they hadn’t had a chance to before—or didn’t even think to be curious about because they had no idea such options even existed." - Jiyoon Kim '17

On attending the Behind this Smile event in which students spoke about the impacts of eating options on Princeton's campus: "It was so comforting to realize that I wasn’t the only one dealing with rejection by an eating club. The PPP conversation really helped normalize my experience." - Anonymous

"The idea of effortless perfection is something that I think a lot of Princeton students feel/experience. By establishing a dialogue around this important topic, the Princeton Perspective Project is helping create a new, and improved “norm” around campus!" - Anonymous