Declaring Major
Early Concentration
Although there is no official way to declare yourself a physics major with the Registrar's Office before the spring of your sophomore year, you can declare your major with the department as early as you want by talking with the Departmental Representative or the Recruitment Officer. If you know that you want to be a physics major, it might be useful to talk to one of them about the best plan of studies to meet your needs and interests. As an early concentrator, you can take advanced courses as a sophomore, and write a Junior Paper during your sophomore year. You will be included in the department mailing list, and be informed of departmental events that might be of interest to you. You still will need to officially declare your major in the spring of your sophomore year, following the regular procedure for declaring a major.
Procedure to officially declare a major
During the spring of your sophomore year, during a designated time frame, you will schedule an appointment with the physics departmental representative, and present your Internal Transcript and two copies of the Course Enrollment Worksheet (to be printed off the web).
The departmental representative needs to sign one copy of the Course Enrollment Worksheet. You leave the signed copy with the undergraduate administrator in the department office (208 Jadwin Hall/temp Fine Hall Basement), and keep the other copy for use when selecting courses in SCORE. A.B. sophomores choose their concentration on the Registrar’s website via a link that only appears when it's time to choose your major!
Physics Departmental Representative:
Professor Christopher Tully
Jadwin 306, phone 8-1534
email: cgtully@princeton.edu
Recruitment Officers:
Professor Peter Meyers
Jadwin 367 (temp) phone 8-5581
email: meyers@princeton.edu
Professor Chiara Nappi
Jadwin 342, phone 8-4322
email:cnappi@princeton.edu
Why Physics?
Physics continues to be one of Princeton's greatest strengths. We have a faculty with diverse interests, ranging from high energy physics, mathematical physics and cosmology to condensed matter and biophysics. Our program is distinguished by our commitment to teaching at all levels as well as encouraging students to pursue independent research through summer internships, and junior and senior independent work.
Some of the benefits of majoring in Physics at Princeton are discussed on the page for prospective undergraduates.