The most distinctive aspect of the undergraduate experience in the School is the policy seminar for juniors. The School offers twenty to twenty-four seminars each year; sixteen to eighteen are offered in Princeton and four to six at overseas locations where the School has established programs. 

WWS juniors enroll in one policy seminar in the fall term and another one in the spring term. In each of these seminars, the students work together with a faculty director toward proposing solutions to current problems in public and international affairs. Each junior conducts a piece of research on a topic carefully chosen to shed light upon the larger problem that is central to the group. 

Our policy seminars, called task forces or policy research seminars, are the most distinctive aspect of the undergraduate experience. Woodrow Wilson School juniors enroll in a task force in one semester and a research seminar in the other. Task forces meet both in Princeton and overseas as part of WWS programs abroad; policy research seminars only meet in Princeton.

In each task force, a small group of juniors works together with a faculty director, one or two seniors, and often a graduate student toward proposing solutions to current problems in public and international affairs. Each junior conducts research on a topic chosen to shed light on the larger problem that is central to the group exercise. The final product is a report with policy recommendations based on deliberations by the entire group.

In each research seminar, a faculty member supervises a small group of students similarly engaged in research on a specific topic in public and international affairs. An important aim of the seminar is to prepare students for senior thesis research.

Junior Policy Seminar Descriptions