LindseyRose Aguero-Sinclair knew when she applied to college that she would be juggling an acting career with her student life, so it was important for her to be within driving distance of New York City. She also wanted a school that would challenge her intellectually. Princeton fit both bills.
 

At age 8, Aguero-Sinclair began dancing with the Alvin Ailey dance company, and at age 12 her training became more intensive after she was promoted to the company’s pre-professional track. By her senior year in high school, she was dancing 16 hours a week.
 

While in private school in Manhattan, she also worked on her acting and now finds herself leaning more toward acting than dancing. She commutes regularly to New York City, usually once a week, for television, film and play auditions. 
   

She has starred in television commercials for Guitar Hero and Planned Parenthood among others, and two weeks before midterms during her freshman year, she was cast as a ballerina with attitude who was murdered in television’s “Law and Order.”
 

When it was over, she hopped the train back to Princeton and was able to make it to her math class. “I washed my face, but there was still some fake blood on me,” she recalls. “Someone in my math class noticed, and I had to explain.”
 

At Princeton, she has performed in department and student shows, including “Vagina Monologues” and “This Is Our Youth.” Nearly every semester, she takes theatre and dance classes.
 

Aguero-Sinclair expects to declare psychology as her major with a focus in neuroscience, and to earn a certificate in theater and dance. The two different directions, with the accompanying travel, is very demanding, and she acknowledges that at times she has to pull back and try to make life easier on herself.
 

Nevertheless, she is not prepared to sacrifice either goal. “Both the arts here and the neuroscience departments are growing departments,” she says. “They’re constantly pouring money into both. It’s easy these days to cut money from the arts, and the fact that they’re willing to enhance the program is telling.”
 

She counts among her favorites Mark Nelson, a visiting lecturer with impressive acting and directing credentials, and Sabine Kastner, a professor of psychology. In her class with Kastner, a 400-level clinical neurophysiology class, the students looked at case studies of disorders. “We read the case studies and discussed them, including her own research. In our final project, she showed us a 20-minute video of a research participant she had and basically we diagnosed the subject.”

Although Aguero-Sinclair could have gone to any number of conservatories, she says Princeton offered her more than just the opportunity to build her performance resume. “I felt with a strong education I could bring more to my roles.”
 

She added, “I’d say that at least for me, Princeton has been both a challenge and a rewarding experience because of what I’ve learned about myself. It requires you to self reflect – assess what’s important to you and decide what are your priorities.”