Planning Your Program for the Fall
Academic Advising and the Residential College
When Woodrow Wilson was president of Princeton, he presented a plan for the division of the University into colleges or “quadrangles” in which faculty and students would share their lives and ideas in small communities. Wilson believed that “a college is not only a body of studies, but a mode of association; that its courses are only its formal side, its contacts and contagions, its realities. It must become a community of scholars.” (Phi Beta Kappa speech, Cambridge, Mass., July 1, 1909.) Although Wilson’s plan was not accepted at the time, the present residential college system was founded in the same spirit and reflects the same goals.
Because the colleges encompass both living and learning experiences, they contribute in many ways to your education at Princeton. Most administrative tasks that you need to accomplish can be handled through your college office. Your residential college dean, director of studies, and directors of student life are the representatives of the Offices of the Dean of the College and the Dean of Undergraduate Students within the residential college. They provide guidance and handle administrative tasks such as changes of degree candidacy, course changes, and extensions for the completion of course work. Your dean and director of studies also consider exceptions to academic requirements, arrange for tutoring, and resolve minor disciplinary matters that arise in the college. Together with the director of student life, who is the representative of the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students in the residential college, the dean and director of studies also offer counsel to students experiencing personal difficulties.
Occasionally your dean or director of studies will send you to see an academic dean in the Office of the Dean of the College (located in West College, along with the Offices of the Registrar, Financial Aid, and the Dean of Undergraduate Students). Some special programs, including foreign study, field study, independent concentration, and the University Scholar Program are administered centrally and require the attention of an academic dean. You will certainly want to consult with the deans to explore special academic opportunities. When you first arrive at Princeton, however, your principal concern will be selecting your courses for the fall term.
Selecting Courses
Choosing your courses for the first time can be an intimidating experience. As you peruse the listings in a publication called Course Offerings, you will no doubt come across 10 or 15 courses that pique your interest. Narrowing that list to four or five courses is not an easy task, but you do not need to do it alone. You can count on the assistance of several sources to make the decision-making process less frustrating and more rational.
If you use your sources wisely, you will learn things about the Princeton faculty and curriculum that will help you make decisions in later semesters as well.
Your academic adviser is an important resource. He or she is a faculty member who understands the curriculum at Princeton. If you are a B.S.E. candidate, the associate dean for undergraduate affairs in the engineering school selects a member of the engineering school’s faculty to be your academic adviser. Your particular interests within the engineering school will be considered in assigning an adviser, but all the engineering advisers are fully familiar with University and B.S.E. requirements. If you are an A.B. candidate, your dean and director of studies select your academic adviser, attempting to match your academic interests with the scholarly interests of one of the academic advisers in your residential college. In some cases, your adviser may represent a field that is not especially close to the field in which you are most interested, but you can be assured that he or she is aware of both University requirements and significant educational issues. Moreover, if your adviser does not know the answer to one of your questions, he or she will know where to find it. During orientation in September, you will have an appointment with your academic adviser to discuss your plans for the fall before you register online for classes.
In addition, a peer adviser, normally a senior, is paired with your faculty adviser during orientation and can provide important supplemental information from the student perspective. You will have an opportunity to meet your academic adviser and peer adviser over dinner with the other first-year students in your advising group. Afterwards, the peer advisers in the college will be available collectively to answer any questions you may have in preparation for your individual meeting with your academic adviser.
Before you meet with your academic adviser to discuss course selections, you should do some research on your own. Otherwise, nothing very meaningful can be accomplished within a half hour or 45 minutes. Come prepared for your meeting with a list of courses, including alternatives; do not expect your adviser to pick your courses for you.
When you meet with your academic adviser, you may discover that he or she suggests a particular level or “placement” within a field in which you have expressed an interest. These placement decisions, which are especially common in foreign languages, mathematics, and the sciences, are made on the basis of test scores and your high school preparation. Faculty members from the relevant departments review your records and make a best estimate at the level at which you are best prepared and will feel challenged.
If you are an A.B. candidate, you will be given a chance at the end of your first year to remain with your faculty adviser or to choose another from the pool of faculty advisers associated with your residential college.
At the end of sophomore year, when you select a major, the departmental representative in your field of concentration becomes your primary source of academic advice. B.S.E. candidates change advisers in the spring of their freshman year, when they select a field of study within engineering.
Having realistic expectations about your faculty adviser will help you get the most from your relationship with him or her. You cannot expect a faculty member to be able (or willing) to rate every course in the curriculum on the qualities of the lecturer, the appeal of the assigned readings, or the difficulty of the exams. However, you should expect your adviser to question you about your short-term and long-term academic goals and to help you plan not only this semester’s courses, but also a strategy for taking the greatest possible advantage of your undergraduate education. In addition, because your adviser has information about your high school record and test scores, he or she is best qualified to help you select courses at the right level—courses that will challenge but not overwhelm you.
As mentioned earlier, your dean and director of studies are also good sources of advice and can provide some additional insight. Especially later in the year, when your adviser may have gone out of town for a conference, or on a stormy afternoon when you would just as soon not leave the environs of your college to trudge through the rain to your adviser’s office, you may wish to turn to your dean or director of studies.
Inevitably, new students seek the advice of upperclass students, and, in many cases, they will get sound advice—especially from the peer advisers, who have had some training in advising and who are sensitive to the subtle nuances involved in good advising. You should remember, however, that every student you consult will have a unique point of view and will advise you from a particular (sometimes peculiar) frame of reference. For example, an upperclass student may discourage you from taking a certain math class because it is too difficult, but you may find this assessment inaccurate if your own high school background in math is very strong. Conversely, an upperclass student who successfully took a notoriously rigorous course as a freshman might urge you too to give the course a try, not realizing that your background in that area is not as strong as it could be. While your residential college adviser (RCA) is often a good person with whom to discuss course selections in an informal way, even he or she may not be familiar with all the factors necessary for making the best decision.
Each semester the USG (Undergraduate Student Government) Committee on Academics publishes on its Web page the Student Course Guide, in which many courses are evaluated based on questionnaires distributed to students who took those courses during the previous year. These assessments can be helpful, especially as they describe the work load and the specific expectations of a given professor; they are best used as one additional source of information to assist you in planning your schedule, and not as the last word on the subject.
Each fall, the USG and the Office of the Dean of the College jointly sponsor “Majors Fair,” an event at which student and faculty representatives from virtually all of the academic departments assemble. Many first- and second-year students take advantage of this opportunity to learn about the curricula in various departments during the junior and senior years, as well as the specific prerequisites for entering departments as majors.
You may be unfamiliar with some disciplines, like anthropology or philosophy, and they may seem strange and perhaps daunting; you will already have encountered others, like mathematics or history, and you may wish to continue studying them during your first term at Princeton. In general, when contemplating your schedule, it is advisable to balance the new with the old, required courses with elective courses, and preprofessional concerns with the ideals of a liberal education. Similarly, electing four extremely challenging courses is as inadvisable as electing four extremely easy ones. Explore the curriculum with this sense of balance, and you will be able to take full advantage of the opportunities available to you at Princeton.
If you wish to have more explicit information about a particular course, don’t hesitate to contact the professor teaching the course. Professors enjoy discussing their fields of interest, and they like talking with intellectually curious students. For a written description of the reading list, requirements, and grading policy for particular courses, you should consult the Course Offerings booklet, which you received with your matriculation materials.
As you plan a semester’s program, be sure to look at the kinds of assignments and amount of work demanded by a particular set of courses. Balance and variety should be the goal. Although University requirements (described below) compel you, to a certain extent, to vary your schedule and to explore a number of areas, you should also consider your attitude toward repetitive or similar intellectual exercises. For example, if all your courses required difficult textbook reading, weekly problem sets and quizzes, and a fair amount of memorization, after a month or two you might find yourself mentally fatigued and desperate for new and different ways to expend your cerebral energy. You might then wish that you had signed up for that literature course you had considered earlier. The thought of reading some novels and writing expository essays might seem appealing.
It’s not unusual for students to have second thoughts about one or two of the courses they have elected. If it happens to you, don’t panic. You can always go back to your academic adviser, dean, or director of studies to see about changing your program.
During the first two weeks of classes you can drop and add courses without incurring an administrative fee. After the second week, you may drop a course but will be charged $45 for each change. You should note that a course may be added after the second week of classes only in exceptional circumstances, with the permission of your dean or director of studies, and with written confirmation from the instructor of the course you wish to add noting that you have been attending the course and doing the required work since the beginning of the term.
University Requirements
Princeton’s curricular requirements are the result of the faculty’s intention to expose undergraduates to a liberal education that balances specialized knowledge in a field of concentration with broad areas of knowledge and important kinds of critical thinking. The various approaches and fields included in the requirements will acquaint you with significant intellectual issues and will show you how to view problems and formulate solutions in new ways.
While the requirements for the A.B. and B.S.E. degrees are different, both are easily fulfilled within the overall degree program.
Writing Requirement
Undergraduates at Princeton are expected to develop the ability to write clearly and persuasively. Toward this end, all students, without exception, must fulfill the University writing requirement by taking a one-term writing seminar of 12 students in the freshman year as assigned, i.e., in the fall or spring term. Writing seminars have a common goal—for students, through practice and guidance, to master essential strategies and techniques of college-level inquiry and argument. In addition to writing frequently and completing four major assignments of increasing complexity, students receive intensive instruction in academic writing, submit drafts for review, and attend one-on-one conferences with the instructor. While all writing seminars focus on the skills necessary for effective critical reading and writing, they differ in the topics and texts assigned. Students select their seminar based on their interests.
Foreign Language Requirement
When you become proficient in a foreign language, you acquire more than a communication skill; you become literate in another culture and gain another perspective on the world. All candidates for the A.B. degree at Princeton must demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language before graduation.
Many of our undergraduates satisfy the foreign language requirement by demonstrating proficiency when they enter the University. On the basis of your SAT Subject Test score (for example, 740 or better for tests in German, French, Italian, Latin, or Spanish), your advanced placement score (normally 4, except for German, which requires a 5), or the result of a placement test given by an academic department at Princeton, you may be judged to have attained the degree of proficiency in a foreign language required by individual departments and thus to have satisfied the foreign language requirement.
In order to fulfill the language requirement through course work, we expect successful completion of courses normally numbered through 107/108. When a student begins a language at Princeton, three or four terms of study will usually be necessary. If you would like to study a new language at Princeton, you may simply register for the first course in the language sequence (normally 101). If you wish to continue studying a language that you have previously studied in high school, we will need information to place you appropriately. The most accurate way for us to determine your appropriate placement in a language sequence is through a departmental placement test. The placement test does not become part of your record here—it is simply a diagnostic tool to help the department place you in the appropriate course. Placement tests in most languages will be available online during the summer before you matriculate; others will be administered during orientation. You academic adviser will have the results of your placement test by the time you meet to discuss course selection.
Unless you can demonstrate proficiency before matriculation, you should plan on including language study in your first semester schedule because students are ordinarily expected to have fulfilled the requirement by the end of junior year. Language courses at Princeton move quickly and require dedicated and sustained study. You must stay on top of the material from the outset, especially if you are beginning a new language. Ordinarily, you cannot receive course credit for the first term of a beginning language course unless you successfully complete the second term.
Distribution Requirements
If you are an A.B. candidate, you must successfully complete distribution requirements in each of the following areas: epistemology and cognition (one course), ethical thought and moral values (one course), historical analysis (one course), literature and the arts (two courses), quantitative reasoning (one course), science and technology with laboratory (two courses), and social analysis (two courses). Approach your selection with a sense of openness and adventure. In making your choices, you have the opportunity to experiment with subjects totally new to you. If you are undecided about your field of concentration, you may well find a new and lasting interest in one of the subjects you select.
The Course Offerings booklet and the Undergraduate Announcement indicate with letter abbreviations the distribution area fulfilled by each course. No designation means that the course does not fulfill a distribution requirement.
Students entering Princeton with two units of advanced placement in the area of science and technology may satisfy the requirement either by taking two designated courses with laboratories, or by taking one designated course with a laboratory and one upper-level course without a laboratory from an approved list of STX courses. If you choose this option, the lab course may not be a course for which your advanced placement was granted.
You should note that advanced placement units cannot be used to fulfill distribution requirements. Students are expected to fulfill all distribution requirements at Princeton. A.B. students may, however, with the prior approval of your dean or director of studies and the appropriate departmental representative, complete one course at another college or university in each of two of the following distribution areas: literature and the arts, social analysis, or science and technology with laboratory.
If you are a B.S.E. candidate, you must choose seven courses from the humanities and social sciences. These courses must include one course in four of the following six areas: epistemology and cognition, ethical thought and moral values, foreign language (at the 107/108 level or above), historical analysis, literature and the arts, and social analysis.
Advanced Placement and Advanced Standing
The advanced placement policy at Princeton is designed to recognize college-level work completed prior to matriculation and to encourage you to pursue your studies at a level appropriate to your preparation.
Advanced placement is awarded by individual departments on the basis of your performance on certain standardized tests or departmentally administered placement examinations. You should be certain to have official scores of standardized tests reported directly to Princeton. If you have a question about whether a score has been received or about your eligibility for advanced placement, you should go over your records with your director of studies.
You do not have to continue in a subject in which you have earned advanced placement. If, however, you elect a course that is below the level at which advanced placement was granted, you lose the use (for advanced standing, see below) of your advanced placement units in that subject.
For example, if you are placed into French 207 (the next level after fulfillment of the language requirement) but elect French 108 (the last term of the language requirement), you will forfeit your advanced placement in French language. On the other hand, if you are placed into Chemistry 301/303 (two units of advanced placement) but elect Chemistry 215 (one unit of advanced placement), you still retain the use of one unit of advanced placement.
The rules governing advanced placement are quite complex. If you have concerns about maintaining your advanced placement in a subject, be sure to consult your dean or director of studies before changing courses. You should also refer to the informational brochure on advanced placement and advanced standing that was given to you in the fall.
Please note that advanced placement in a subject does not reduce the total number of courses required for graduation (see advanced standing below). Instead it permits you to elect a more advanced course in that subject. Similarly, advanced placement cannot be used to reduce a course load in a given term or to make up course deficiencies (see page 43).
You may well be asking what advantage there is to maintaining your advanced placement status in a given subject area. First, you don’t want to repeat material that you covered in high school and thereby squander opportunities at Princeton. If forfeiting advanced placement in a subject means that you would be taking a class that, for the most part, reviews what you already know, you would be going backward rather than forward. However, if, as occasionally happens, you find that the material in an advanced course is so difficult as to be unmanageable, you should consider reverting to a course that will be more meaningful to you, especially if you plan to do further course work in that area. Remember that our placement system is very good but not perfect. We are often basing placement decisions for the Princeton curriculum on the basis of a single test result.
There is another reason why you should think seriously about maintaining your advanced placement in a given subject area. It has to do with eligibility for advanced standing, which allows a student to graduate in three years or with three and a half years of study.
A.B. candidates can apply for a full year of advanced standing if they have eight advanced placement units distributed in at least three of the following subject areas: foreign languages, historical analysis, literature and the arts, quantitative reasoning, science and technology, and social analysis. B.S.E. candidates can also apply for a full year of advanced standing if they have eight advanced placement units—but they must include two units in physics, two in mathematics, and one in either chemistry or computer science.
A.B. candidates with four advanced placement units in at least two subject areas and B.S.E. candidates with four advanced placement units, including two in physics, one in mathematics, and one in either chemistry or computer science, can apply for one term of advanced standing.
In November you will be notified of your eligibility to apply for advanced standing. You may submit an application for either one term or one full year of advanced standing, depending upon your qualifications. With a full year of advanced standing, you may apply to become a second-semester sophomore in the spring of your first year, or a first-semester junior in the fall of your second year. With one term of advanced standing, you will take a leave of absence from Princeton either in the fall or spring of your sophomore year. You will thus spend three terms at Princeton prior to your junior year.
The final decision on your application for advanced standing will be made by the Committee on Examinations and Standing. The committee will review your academic record to determine whether advanced standing is appropriate given the quality of your academic program and performance. The committee reserves the right to rescind advanced standing if, in its judgment, you have not made satisfactory progress toward the degree.
The decision to take advanced standing is an important one, especially if you elect to take the full year. If you enter the junior year after only one year of study at Princeton, you will have to choose a major and complete, at the very least, the prerequisites to concentrate in that field within a short period of time. In some cases, a student’s academic goals make advanced standing inadvisable or impossible, particularly in areas where there are many sequential courses. Moreover, students who take advanced standing are expected to fulfill all University and departmental requirements for graduation. A.B. candidates graduating in three years have to complete 23 courses; those graduating with three and a half years of study, 27 courses. B.S.E. candidates must complete 28 and 32 courses, respectively.
Finally, if you elect to graduate in three years and then change your mind, you can revert to your original entering class until the beginning of your senior (third) year.
In any event, you should discuss these issues with your teachers, faculty adviser, residential college dean or director of studies, and parents. If you or your parents have any questions about advanced standing, consult your dean or director of studies.
The Structure of a Princeton Course
While each course is unique in terms of its manner of presentation, work load, assignments, and class meetings, there are several types of courses that you will encounter repeatedly during your years at Princeton.
The lecture/precept format is especially common among introductory courses in many departments. The professor in charge of this kind of course lectures twice a week to all the students enrolled in the course.
Each student signs up for a section meeting, called a precept (from the Latin praecipere, “to teach”), where normally 12 to 15 students meet with a section leader, called a preceptor, to discuss the material in greater depth. The precept uses the Socratic method and promotes stimulating discussion. In most cases, the preceptor does the grading for his or her section, and the professor of the course usually teaches at least one precept. Precept attendance and participation are required components of the course.
Still other kinds of courses are taught according to the “class format.” This kind of course has no lecture where all the students meet. Rather, the course is already broken down into several classes, at which you meet with the same group of students and the same professor for an hour three times a week or for an hour and a half twice a week. The format might best be described as a combination of lecture and discussion. The same instructor lectures, leads discussion, and does the grading for those students in his or her class. Normally, the exams are uniform throughout all classes (as they are in lecture/precept courses). Mathematics courses are often taught according to the class method.
Laboratory science and technology courses have lectures, sometimes a discussion section, and a required laboratory exercise one afternoon a week. These courses do have more than the average number of class hours, and you should plan accordingly when organizing your schedule.
Finally, a small number of courses at the introductory level, and more at the advanced level, meet only once a week for a period of three hours. These courses, called seminars, bring together a professor and no more than 15 students; the intellectual dialogue is intense, and everyone is expected to be an active participant. Seminars often require students to produce a substantial paper and to deliver to the class the results of their research.
Each year many students in their first year have an opportunity to take a seminar through the Program of Freshman Seminars in the Residential Colleges. The program is designed to bring together first-year students and members of the faculty to explore the world of ideas and intellectual possibilities. More than 70 seminars will be offered this year. The director of the program is Dean Peter Quimby.
Each seminar is limited to 12 to 15 students. Seminar participants are selected at random from among those students who express an interest in the course. You may apply to take a seminar in each semester of your freshman year. Freshman seminars count as regular courses and most fulfill distribution requirements in the area appropriate to their topics.
In almost every course that you take at Princeton, instructors will hand out a syllabus of the course on the first day of class. The syllabus provides a detailed outline of reading assignments, written assignments to be handed in, examination dates, and, generally, the method for calculating the final grade in the course. The combined syllabi of all your courses may seem a bit overwhelming at first glance. If, however, you regard them with the proper respect and work at a steady pace, you will find that they are helpful reminders to keep up with the reading before exam dates or dates on which papers, homework assignments, or laboratory reports are due.
Fortunately, the semester contains periodic breaks that allow you to catch your breath. Midterm exams are normally scheduled during the sixth week of the term, followed by a weeklong break. After another six weeks of classes, Princeton schedules a nine-day reading period to allow you to complete papers in your courses and to begin preparing for your final exams. All papers are due at the end of reading period; this date is referred to as the “dean’s date.” If, as occasionally happens, you need a short extension into the exam period to complete a paper, see your residential college dean or director of studies. Extensions require the permission of both your course instructor and your dean or director of studies and are to be regarded as a privilege rather than an entitlement.
Below are important deadlines pertaining to academic matters.
Fall-term Deadlines, 2008–09
September 24, Wednesday. Last day to drop fall-term courses without a fee.
September 24, Wednesday. Last day to add a course.
October 17, Friday. Last day to change grading option (either from graded to pass/D/fail, or from pass/D/fail to graded).
November 20, Thursday. Last day to drop courses or rescind P/D/F option.
January 13, Tuesday. Dean’s date: last day for submission of all written work (except final exams and take-home exams).
January 19, Monday. University deadline for submission of take-home exams.
Spring-term Deadlines, 2008–09
February 13, Friday. Last day to drop spring-term courses without a fee.
February 13, Friday. Last day to add a course.
March 6, Friday. Last day to change grading option (either from graded to pass/D/fail, or from pass/D/fail to graded).
April 10, Friday. Last day to drop courses or rescind P/D/F option.
May 12, Tuesday. Dean’s date: deadline for submission of all written work (except final exams and take-home exams).
May 18, Monday. University deadline for submission of take-home exams.
Learning Outside the Classroom
Intellectual inquiry is an integral part of Princeton life; you cannot abandon it as you step beyond the threshold of the classroom. Indeed, you may discover that some of the important learning that takes place at Princeton goes on outside of courses.
The residential colleges are particularly intended to facilitate informal discussion between faculty and students. Your faculty adviser is one of approximately 50 faculty members who are affiliated with your residential college as “faculty fellows.” Most of the interaction with faculty fellows occurs over meals; you are encouraged to invite professors to join you over lunch or dinner to discuss course work, your academic plans and aspirations, their academic discipline and research, or simply interests and concerns that you share. In addition, you will find a program of dinnertime talks and discussions in the residential colleges many evenings of the week. Led sometimes by Princeton faculty, sometimes by someone from outside the University, sometimes by a fellow student, these are excellent opportunities for an informal exchange of ideas on topics ranging from campus controversies and world affairs to jazz, photography, literature, and dance.
In addition to the classroom and the residential colleges, there are other “centers” where learning is brought to bear on the experiences of individuals. The Pace Center promotes learning, teaching, and acting in the public interest. As the campus advocate for civic engagement, it supports Princeton’s commitment to be “in the nation’s service and in the service of all nations” by helping individuals and groups connect with opportunities to thoughtfully address civic problems and have an impact through activities including course work, research, volunteer service, extracurricular projects, public service internships and fellowships, and professional opportunities. The Pace Center includes Community House and the Student Volunteers Council (SVC).
The Carl A. Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding is both a multicultural resource center for University members interested in topics and issues pertaining to ethnic minorities and a place to relax, study, and make new friends. The center sponsors minority student organizations, ethnic heritage celebrations, lectures, seminars, dinners, and parties for all students who wish to be enriched by the range of cultures represented on campus. The Women’s Center stimulates discussion and awareness of women’s issues on campus through a range of political, cultural, and social activities. In the past, these have included academic conferences, various support groups on social and health topics, speakers, and a film festival.The Kathryn W. and Shelby Cullom Davis ’30 International Center provides services and support to the more than 900 international students and visiting scholars who represent 80 countries on campus. It assists members of the international community in meeting fellow students, negotiating an unfamiliar environment, and capitalizing on the resources of the University. The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Center works to create a safe and supportive environment by providing educational opportunities and advocating for the needs and concerns of LGBT students. Together these centers help students celebrate the cultural experiences of others, explore common predicaments, and ponder the problems of life in a pluralistic society. Each welcomes and encourages the participation of all members of the Princeton University community.
The academic departments also provide many opportunities to learn beyond the structured setting of the classroom. On almost any afternoon you will find three or four department-sponsored lectures on topics ranging from black holes to black humor. These are usually talks by Princeton faculty or their colleagues from other universities on research in progress. Often you can hear the leading experts in a field debate their discipline’s most pressing issues. Sometimes the subject matter is arcane, but many lectures are intended for nonspecialists. Undergraduates are especially encouraged to attend these lectures. Watch for advertisements in the Daily Princetonian, notices on bulletin boards, the calendar in the Princeton Weekly Bulletin (available online), and your e-mail.
Student organizations are another important means of expanding your education beyond the walls of the classroom. There are more than 250 such organizations including campus publications, cultural and educational organizations, performance groups, and political organizations. Through these activities you can hone your writing skills, develop your leadership and organizational abilities, satisfy your musical or theatrical interests, or test your powers of verbal debate and persuasion. In addition to the array of activities offered by student organizations, you can enrich your Princeton experience through participation in community volunteer work, athletics, or Outdoor Action trips. All this is part of the Princeton education.
Ideas are the currency of a vibrant campus. They carry intrinsic value in an intellectual community, and you should get in the habit of exchanging them freely. This does not mean that every conversation you have at Princeton will be (or should be) a serious one! Even faculty and administrators are known to engage in occasional moments of levity and humor. But you should certainly feel free to talk about intellectual matters—at breakfast, over dinner, during a study break. When education is working well, the ideas you encounter in class will have a bearing on circumstances you encounter in everyday life, and it is not empty pedantry to apply those ideas. Avoid thinking of education narrowly; it will be going on all around you at Princeton, often when you are least expecting it.