# @princetonspia on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/B81ut4kBypS
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/20742503-princetonspia-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/749a519cc7.jpg
- **Posted:** 2020-02-21T18:47:52.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Princeton SPIA (@princetonspia) — https://gondola.cc/princetonspia

## Caption

#WooWho: “When I arrived for the MPA program, I was already thinking about the Ph.D. program. Now that I’ve experienced both, I can say the differences are really big, especially regarding the pace of work. As an MPA, you have to do memos and problem-sets every week; it’s very go-go-go. With the Ph.D., it’s more like you have long-term deadlines and big, looming questions to solve. Socially, it’s also super different. Your world comes in a bit. I went from having 70 fellow classmates to an average of three per year for the Ph.D. We’re all studying different subjects, but my classmates are really smart and doing some super cool work. Too often, work is either rigorous or relevant, but not both. I appreciate that our program is taking the tools of rigorous social science and applying it to relevant, real-world problems. I’m in the security studies cluster, investigating the intersection of U.S. and China and nuclear weapons. I’m attempting to answer the question: Does it matter if one country has more nuclear arms than another? Past work has looked at this, but I’m proposing a new way of doing this. You could say my work has a personal component, too. Before enrolling as an MPA, I was sent to China through the Princeton in Asia program. It’s cliché, but being there changed the trajectory of how I see myself, the world, and my place in it. I made good friends there. We come from two very different places, and we’ve found that the people in our lives can sometimes hold misperceptions about where we’re from. It’s something we navigate. If you think about it, the same may be true for the way that U.S. and China see each other when it comes to military controls and nuclear weapons. … For those thinking about coming to Princeton, remember that the level of resources here is insane. If you have a good idea, there’s a way to pursue it. I really don’t think you can get that at other places.” – David Logan MPA ’17, Ph.D. candidate. (Photo by eganjimenez) #Princetagram * #WooWho is a Wilson_School Instagram series featuring our community. Want to be featured? Comment/DM us.

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## Tags

princetagram, woowho

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