Prospective Students FAQ
- What is distinctive about engineering at Princeton?
- How many courses are required for the B.S.E. degree?
- Who will teach my courses?
- How large are classes?
- What is a typical first-year schedule?
- What about advanced placement credit?
- What is independent work?
- Will I have room for electives?
- What are Freshman Seminars?
- Will I be able to participate in extracurricular activities?
- What do B.S.E. students do after graduation?
- What kind of computers are used at Princeton?
- Must I buy my own computer?
- What is Princeton looking for in an applicant?
- What classes should I take in high school to prepare for studying engineering?
- What SAT II subject tests do you require?
What is distinctive about engineering at Princeton?
There are several outstanding characteristics of Princeton's engineering program:
* The faculty and students are among the best in the country. Not only would you be taught by faculty members who are among the most accomplished in their fields, but you would also learn through interaction with fellow students as talented as you.
* The scale of Engineering within Princeton University is very important. Our school comprises about one-sixth of the entire University, and Princeton's exceptional strengths in the liberal arts play a large role in the B.S.E. curriculum. The School of Engineering and Applied Science also embraces six departments to create a community of students and faculty with shared interests.
* Third, the program of study emphasizes engineering’s scientific principles. With a solid command of fundamental principles, practice and application become natural extensions of engineering thought, enabling graduates to adapt to a wide variety of professional situations.
Return to Questions List
How many courses are required for the B.S.E. degree?
Thirty-six courses are required for the B.S.E. degree. Among these are SEAS general requirements, departmental core and elective courses, departmental independent work, at least seven social science and humanities courses, the University writing requirement, and free electives. Independent work in the School of Engineering and Applied Science carries course numbers and is counted among the 36.
Return to Questions List
Who will teach my courses?
All Princeton courses are taught by professorial-rank faculty. Graduate students play a supporting role by assisting in labs and grading, and sometimes by leading precepts in the larger lecture courses.
Return to Questions List
How large are classes?
Princeton's classes are quite small when compared with classes at many other research universities. The departmental courses that you take in your junior and senior years will probably have about 10-20 students -- sometimes fewer, rarely more. Independent work is, of course, done individually or as part of a team of 2 to 4 students. In your sophomore year, the foundation courses in your engineering department will have about 30 to 60 students. The largest required courses that you will encounter will probably occur in your first year. The general chemistry lecture may have about 200 students meeting three times a week. Your weekly general physics lecture may have about 150, but this course is taught primarily in smaller classes of about 15 to 20 students three times a week.
Return to Questions List
What is a typical first-year schedule?
A typical first-year engineering schedule includes four courses in the fall and five in the spring. In the fall, engineering students usually take physics, math, chemistry, and either a writing seminar or elective. In the spring, they continue physics and math and add computer programming and two electives (or one elective and a writing seminar). Students take the University writing requirement during either the fall or spring of freshman year.
Return to Questions List
What about advanced placement credit?
Princeton students may receive advanced placement in a variety of subjects. Calculus, chemistry, computer science, and physics are directly relevant to the B.S.E. curriculum and advanced placement credit in these areas may be used to satisfy the SEAS general requirements.
Return to Questions List
What is independent work?
"Independent work" is our name for undergraduate research projects. In independent work, the student defines the question to be investigated and the data required to address the problem, devises the approach to solving the problem, and presents the results in a professional manner. Independent work is normally done in the junior or senior year. Civil and Environmental Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Operations Research and Financial Engineering require a full-year senior thesis project. In Electrical Engineering, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and Computer Science (B.S.E.), independent work is done in semester-long projects (senior thesis options also exist in these departments).
Return to Questions List
Will I have room for electives?
Engineering programs includes technical electives, humanities and social science electives, and free electives. Although there are a number of school-wide requirements and core departmental courses, there is also a lot of room for choice and breadth. Most engineering students have room for at least three and usually more free electives, not counting the required seven social science and humanities electives and whatever technical electives are part of the student's program.
Return to Questions List
What are Freshman Seminars?
Freshman Seminars are small classes in which a group of students and a professor work together on a topic of special interest to them. Each year, over 70 Freshman Seminars will be offered. Students apply to enroll in the seminars, which are regular University classes that count as one of the 36 required for the B.S.E. degree. Most also fulfill University distribution requirements. A number of engineering students take Freshman Seminars each year, and the engineering school encourages their participation in the program.
Return to Questions List
Will I be able to participate in extracurricular activities?
Most engineering students participate in a variety of extracurricular activities. They can be found on the rosters of Princeton's intercollegiate and intramural teams, playing in the University orchestra, on the mastheads of campus publications, and taking part in community service activities.
Return to Questions List
What do B.S.E. students do after graduation?
There is no single career path for a Princeton B.S.E. graduate. Many go to work in business or industry upon graduation, some intending to return to graduate study eventually. Others go directly on to graduate study with the goal of pursuing careers in research or education. Some become teachers, doctors, lawyers or astronauts. The B.S.E. degree from Princeton provides a solid technical education and the breadth of serious study in the liberal arts, so the wide variety of post-graduate plans among our students comes as no surprise.
Return to Questions List
What kind of computers are used at Princeton?
Students, faculty and staff use both Windows and Apple computers. A variety of computing environments can be found in student clusters throughout the campus. The University's campus-wide network permits access from many locations, including the dormitories, Frist Campus Center, Friend Center, and the E-Quad, to academic software, on-line information and the Internet. The E-Quad, Friend Center, Computer Science Building and Sherrerd Hall have full wireless access.
Return to Questions List
Must I buy my own computer?
Princeton undergraduates are not required to buy their own computers, and no courses require students to own computers. Many computer facilities within the School of Engineering and Applied Science are open to students to meet their computing needs. The Student Computer Initiative provides Princeton students the opportunity to purchase various attractively priced, highly configured computers.
Return to Questions List
What is Princeton looking for in an applicant?
There is no "ideal type" of Princeton engineering applicant. We are especially interested in students who have done well in the most challenging program of courses that was available at their high school, have particular strengths in math and science, and who have a sense of intellectual curiosity about technology and its role in the modern world.
Return to Questions List
What classes should I take in high school to prepare for studying engineering?
A solid academic program of study is the best preparation for studying engineering in college. Math is central in all engineering fields, so you should go as far as possible in your high school’s math program through senior year. Ideally you will begin the study of calculus before finishing high school, but do not rush through geometry and pre-calculus, for the math you learn in the sophomore and junior year will continue to be important. Completion of at least an algebra-based physics course in the 11th or 12th grade is essential to the study of physics in college. Do not neglect English, social studies, foreign language, and history, for all these subjects are important in engineering education as well. Read widely and write often.
Return to Questions List
What SAT II subject tests do you require?
Princeton strongly recommends that applicants submit the results of two SAT II subject tests. Applicants who intend to pursue a B.S.E. degree should include among these either the Level I or Level II mathematics test and either the physics or chemistry test.
Remember, you must apply in order to be admitted! If you have the interests, motivation, and talent to benefit from the program that we offer, you should certainly apply. An application and related information can be obtained from the Princeton University Admission Office.
