Campus Life

Housing and Dining

The Residential Colleges

Freshmen and sophomores live in one of the University’s six residential colleges: Butler, Forbes, Mathey, Rockefeller, Whitman, or Wilson. Beginning in 2007–08, upperclass students have the option of living and/or dining in four-year residential colleges.

More than 98 percent of Princeton undergraduates live on campus. Approximately 75 percent of juniors and seniors take their meals at one of 10 private, coed eating clubs.

Some juniors and seniors cook their own meals in dormitory kitchens, dine in the residential colleges, join a cooperative, or make other arrangements. Students also may dine at the Frist Campus Center or Princeton’s Center for Jewish Life, which houses the University’s kosher dining facility. Beginning in 2007–08, students also will have halal and kosher options in the residential colleges.

Housing for Enrolled Graduate Students

Approximately 70 percent of graduate students live in University housing, taking advantage of dormitory and apartment options. Dormitories include historic and modern rooms in the Graduate College and rooms in converted homes, known as annexes. Another dormitory living option for graduate students is to apply to be a resident graduate student in one of the residential colleges. For students choosing apartment communities, there is a range of unit sizes in both high-rise and garden configurations. University residential life offers various academic, athletic, social, and cultural opportunities to graduate students and their families.

Graduate students gather for meals in Procter Hall at the Graduate College, in dining halls at the residential colleges, at Frist Campus Center, and at the Center for Jewish Life.

Campus Centers

• Frist Campus Center is a place where the entire campus community—students, faculty, staff, and alumni—as well as visitors meet and interact, engaging in a variety of programs, events, and services that enrich campus life and the Princeton experience.

• The Center for Jewish Life provides cultural, social, religious, and informal educational activities of interest to Jewish students and the overall University community.

• The Kathryn W. and Shelby Cullom Davis ’30 International Center provides a setting in which international students and visiting scholars are introduced to American life and where their diverse cultural perspectives are made available to the Princeton community.

• The Carl A. Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding focuses on exploring issues of diversity, equity, and cultural pluralism.

• Collaborating with others, the Women’s Center offers educational, cultural, and social programs for undergraduate and graduate students, staff, and faculty on campus.

• Princeton’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Center (LGBT) works to create a safe and supportive environment by providing educational opportunities and advocating for the needs and concerns of LGBT students.

Athletics

Princeton sponsors 38 varsity intercollegiate teams (20 for men, 18 for women), with slightly more than 1,000 participants—a little less than 25 percent of the undergraduate population. In addition, an estimated 1,000 students also participate in the University’s 40 club teams.

Varsity Sports. Princeton teams have won the Ivy League’s unofficial all-sports points championship each of the past 21 years, and Princeton has also had at least one team or individual national champion each of the past 21 years, including the women’s squash team’s 2007 national championship. Since 2000, 27 of the 33 Princeton teams that compete in official Ivy League sports have won at least one league championship.

The 2006–07 athletic year saw Princeton win nine Ivy titles, three more than the next highest total in the league. Princeton teams have combined to win 110 Ivy titles in the past 10 years, which is 40 more than the school with the next highest total in the league.

For more information, go to www.goprincetontigers.com.

Campus Recreation Program. Nearly 300 teams are active in the intramural sports program, which schedules competition among residential colleges, eating clubs, independent groups, and faculty and staff. Students can participate in a variety of club sports, most of which compete intercollegiately. Princeton’s physical education program offers athletic instruction in nine core areas.

Athletic Facilities

• Jadwin Gymnasium provides 250,000 square feet of indoor space for intercollegiate sports in addition to a practice area for outdoor field sports.

• Dillon Gymnasium has facilities for recreational sports. At the Stephens Fitness Center in Dillon, students can pursue personal health goals with trained supervision.

• DeNunzio Pool provides complete facilities for competitive swimming and diving.

• Princeton Stadium, which is home to Tiger football, has a seating capacity of 27,800. The field at Princeton Stadium officially will be named Powers Field at Princeton Stadium beginning with the 2007–08 season.

• Weaver Track and Field Stadium has an eight-lane Olympic track, and has hosted professional events.

• The Shea Rowing Center is home to the crew program.

• Baker Rink, built in 1923, houses hockey and ice skating.

• Outdoor athletic facilities include more than two dozen tennis courts, an 18-hole golf course, and more than 50 acres of fields for baseball, softball, soccer, lacrosse, and rugby, as well as many intramural sports.

• The Class of 1952 Stadium is a lighted, artificial-surface facility that accommodates approximately 4,000 spectators for lacrosse and field hockey.

• Construction is currently under way on a new soccer stadium, which will have a natural grass field, a field turf practice field, permanent stands, a press box, concession stands, restrooms, and other upgraded features.

Healthier Princeton

As an educational institution, a residential community, and an employer eager to attract, retain, and motivate the best possible faculty and staff, Princeton University seeks to provide a campus environment and a range of programs that sustain and enhance the physical, psychological, and emotional health of undergraduates, graduate students, post-docs, faculty, and staff, and that assist them in achieving an appropriate balance between work and personal/family life. Recent efforts were launched in 2003 with a Health and Well-Being Task Force and continue today, including through the Healthier Princeton campaign coordinated by an advisory board and University Health Services.

Student Activities

Student Organizations

Student organizations are created and run by students with support from the University through the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students. More than 230 such groups make it easy for students to engage their interests outside the classroom.

ROTC

Two Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) programs are open to men and women at Princeton. In both (Army and Air Force), participants may compete for scholarships described in the Undergraduate Financial Aid Information and Application Instructions booklet. Participants in either program engage in noncredit courses and activities that, if successfully completed, lead to a commission as an officer.

Student Performing Arts Spaces

• 185 Nassau Street houses the programs in creative writing, theater and dance, and visual arts, which host art shows, theatrical productions, dance concerts, and poetry and fiction readings.

• The McCarter Theatre Center offers drama, music, dance, film, and events ranging from acrobatics to mime. The theater also hosts the annual show presented by student members of the Triangle Club. McCarter’s Berlind Theatre houses major productions of the Program in Theater and Dance.

• Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall hosts musical, dramatic, and other performances, most open to the public, and most for a fee.

• Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall hosts campus musical groups throughout the year, which are sponsored by the Friends of Princeton Music.

• Theatre Intime, a student-run facility, schedules dramatic productions, dance concerts, and comedy shows throughout the year at Murray-Dodge Hall.

• The Frist Campus Center Film/Performance Theater is a multipurpose performance space that hosts theatrical productions, musical and film events, and other performances throughout the year.

• The Department of Music sponsors free student concerts, Music-at-Noon, in the Woolworth Center.

Seniors’ Post-Graduation Plans

There were 1,120 graduates in the Class of 2007. Approximately 98 percent of the class (1,099 students) completed the annual Career Plans Survey in May, conducted by the Office of Career Services.

Sixty-nine percent of the respondents plan to enter the workforce in the coming year. Approximately 17 percent of those planning employment accepted positions in extended internships that involve teaching, legal research, health and clinical research, scientific research, and/or service in domestic and international settings for a period of one to two years.

Of the 19.2 percent who plan to pursue further education, 23.3 percent accepted admission into doctoral programs, and 24.7 percent enrolled in master’s programs; 21 percent accepted admission into medical school and 17.7 percent into law school. An additional 20 students were accepted into graduate and professional programs but chose to defer enrollment for at least one year to pursue internships, fellowships, and employment.

The remaining 10.3 percent of the class followed other pursuits, including military service, professional sports, and travel.

Alumni

Princeton alumni contribute extensively to the life of the campus, with approximately 18,000 to 20,000 alumni and their families returning annually for Reunions.

There are approximately 81,600 living Princeton alumni, including 20,876 women and 22,591 Graduate School alumni. Princeton graduates live in all 50 states and 117 countries.

In a typical year, some 10,000 to 12,000 volunteers work for Princeton in class and regional association activities, fundraising, programs in the local schools, a career network and internship program, and community service. Many serve in University advisory and leadership roles. Currently, there are 165 Princeton regional associations throughout the world.

top | August 2007