Academic Regulations
Course Load for Underclass Students
Students in the A.B. degree program are expected to complete 17 courses in the first four semesters. The normal route will be to take four courses in three of the first four semesters and five courses in the other semester. All freshmen and sophomores must still enroll in a minimum of three courses per semester. Freshmen must have seven courses to return as sophomores, and sophomores must have a minimum of 16 courses to begin junior year. Students in the B.S.E. program are expected to complete nine courses by the end of the freshman year, and 18 courses by the beginning of junior year. The academic unit at Princeton is a semester and not a single course, and students must successfully complete eight semesters (unless they have advanced standing) before graduation.
In any given semester, you may take one or more optional courses in addition to the standard course load. You should seek the advice of your adviser, dean, or director of studies when considering adding optional courses.
Course Deficiencies
You are expected to finish all your courses during a term. However, in consultation with your academic adviser and dean or director of studies, you may be allowed to fall one course short of the usual number of courses in a term and thus incur a course deficiency. Course deficiencies are granted under the following guidelines:
1. If you are in the A.B. program, you must be enrolled in a minimum of three courses each term and must successfully complete a minimum of six courses for the year. To begin sophomore year, you must have successfully completed a minimum of seven courses. To begin junior year, you must have successfully completed a minimum of 16 courses.
2. If you are in the B.S.E. program, you may, with special permission, complete a minimum of seven courses for the freshman year and a minimum of eight courses by the beginning of sophomore year. Sophomores must successfully complete at least four courses each term, with a minimum of 17 courses by the beginning of junior year.
3. You must request a course deficiency no later than the end of the ninth week of classes. The registrar will publish the final date for dropping courses each year. You will not be allowed to drop courses (including optional courses) after that date.
4. If you incur a course deficiency, you must make it up either by an extra Princeton course or by a preapproved course at another school.
Dropping Optional Courses
With the approval of your academic adviser you may drop an optional course before the end of the ninth week of classes. Remember that after the 10th week of classes begins, you must complete all your courses, regardless of whether or not they are required by your program. Failures in optional courses are treated in exactly the same way as failures in required courses.
Pass/D/Fail Option
You may elect pass/D/fail grading in four of the total number of courses required for graduation (31 for the A.B., 36 for the B.S.E.); however, you can elect only one pass/D/fail course per term. “Pass/D/fail only” courses do not count against your total budget of four pass/D/fail courses or against the one-per-term allocation.
Grades in courses elected on a pass/D/fail basis will be recorded as P (A+ to C-), D, or F. Note that the grade of D is still a passing grade, but it is not subsumed under the designation of “P.”
In general, you may elect to take on a pass/D/fail basis any nondepartmental courses, including those that fulfill distribution requirements, except for courses with a “no pass/D/fail” notation in the Course Offerings booklet. It is a good idea, however, to discuss your pass/D/fail choices with your adviser or with your dean or director of studies and, when appropriate, with a preprofessional adviser. Most departments require that courses serving as prerequisites for entrance into the department be graded.
You should designate your pass/D/fail option at the time you register for your courses. If you wish to change a course either from or to pass/D/fail, you must fill out a change form and have it approved by your adviser, dean, or director of studies by the end of the fifth week of classes. Remember that the Friday of the fifth week of classes is the deadline for changing the grading option to pass/D/fail in any of your courses, including optional courses. After that point, you may rescind a pass/D/fail election and opt for a regular letter grade until the end of the ninth week of the term, but the course will be counted as one of the four courses in your total pass/D/fail budget.
When you are electing the pass/D/fail option for a course, keep in mind that the primary purpose of the option is to allow for experimentation and curricular adventure in a world where grades seem to count more and more heavily, especially when you apply to graduate or professional schools. Do your work in pass/D/fail courses diligently and with integrity. For your own intellectual development, it is as important to succeed in a pass/D/fail course as in a graded one. Should you receive an A in a course you have elected to take pass/D/fail, do not despair. Ask your instructor to place a note in your academic file for future reference when people write letters of recommendation for you.
Above all, do not neglect a pass/D/fail course. Every year a significant number of students fail courses they take on a pass/D/fail basis, either because they underestimated the amount of sustained work required to complete them successfully, or because they rarely attended lectures and precepts. Professors do not know who is taking the course pass/D/fail, and the work of all students is evaluated by the same standards. In some courses lack of attendance and class participation, regardless of performance on written exercises, is sufficient grounds for a failing grade.
Auditing Courses
In any given semester you will probably find more courses of interest to you than you can possibly take. You may choose, therefore, to register for a course on an audit basis (mark it AUD) and do as much work in it as you wish. If you successfully pass the final exam, or complete some major component of the course, your transcript will indicate that you have audited the course; if, on the other hand, you only wish to attend the lectures, you may do so and your transcript will show nothing. You cannot fail an audited course.
Audited courses do not give course credit (that is, they cannot be included among the courses required for graduation or among the required departmental courses), nor can they be used to fulfill the foreign language, distribution, or writing requirements. A course in which you earned an audit/pass cannot ordinarily be retaken on a graded or pass/D/fail basis.
Courses Taken for Credit Outside Princeton
Unless you are a student participating in a special program, you may take up to a total of three courses (as an A.B. student) or four courses (as a B.S.E. student) at other institutions that will count toward the 31- or 36-course total needed to graduate from Princeton. You may use these courses to make up deficiencies incurred by dropping or failing courses, or you may “bank” them in order to reduce your course load in future terms. These courses may be taken during summer school sessions or while you are away from Princeton on a leave of absence or other type of withdrawal.
Courses taken for credit at other schools must be preapproved by your residential college dean or director of studies or an academic dean and by the departmental representative of the Princeton department offering courses in the discipline. They must be taken at a four-year institution, and you must receive the grade of C or better to receive credit. An official transcript must be sent to the dean of your residential college before you can count a course toward your Princeton degree. All transcripts should be received two weeks prior to the start of your next term at Princeton.
The content of an elective course should fit generally within the range of course offerings in a Princeton department. In the case of a course proposed to substitute for a required prerequisite or course in a Princeton department, the content should be substantially similar.
If you attend a summer session, you may take no more than two courses in any one summer. A summer school course should meet for a minimum of four weeks (five weeks or more is far preferable); it should meet for 30 hours or more. Courses proposed for meeting the laboratory science and technology requirement should include at least 30 hours of laboratory time in addition to class hours. Introductory language courses and visual arts courses require a minimum of 60 class hours.
You may use courses taken away from Princeton in partial fulfillment of certain distribution areas, with a limit of one course in each of two of the following areas: literature and the arts, social analysis, or science and technology with laboratory (see pages 13–17). In addition, departments may allow you to use one course as a departmental. The writing requirement may not be satisfied by a course taken at another school; but you may count one lower-level foreign language course taken elsewhere toward your graduation requirement if, in addition to passing the course with a C or better, you pass the exemption examination in that language when you return to Princeton. It is not possible under any circumstances to use courses taken away from Princeton to substitute for a term of study at Princeton.
If you are on financial aid and are unable to meet your expected summer earnings contribution because of summer study, you should see a financial aid counselor, 220 West College, to have your savings shortfall replaced. Student loans are available to meet tuition costs of approved courses.
Deadlines and Extensions
Meeting deadlines for all written work and taking exams when scheduled are serious and important parts of your academic obligations at Princeton. You will not receive an extension if you apply for it after the date on which a paper is due, nor will you always be allowed to reschedule a final exam because you did not take it at the announced time. Princeton has a strict policy on deadlines, and you would be ill served if you were not told, at the very beginning of your academic career, that deadlines will seldom be moved and should never be ignored.
Midterm Examinations
All students are expected to take the midterm exams at the time and date specified by the instructor or by the registrar. If, however, for a good and sufficient reason you are unable to take a midterm exam as scheduled, please discuss the problem in advance with your residential college dean or director of studies, who may be able to work with the course instructor to reschedule the examination.
Final Examinations
All final examinations are scheduled by the Office of the Registrar. Individual exam schedules can be picked up in the Office of the Registrar at the end of the fifth full week of the term.
Final examinations can be postponed only for serious reasons beyond a student’s control. If your circumstances warrant a 24-hour postponement, you should request authorization from the Office of the Registrar prior to the examination day. All other postponements must be approved by your residential college dean or director of studies in consultation with an academic dean. If, through inadvertence, you miss a scheduled final exam, report immediately, and in no case later than 24 hours after the scheduled exam, to your dean or director of studies, the registrar’s office, or an academic dean. Under these circumstances, you may be allowed to make up the examination.
Fall-term final exams postponed for more than 24 hours will be rescheduled during the third week of spring term, and the spring-term final exams during the week preceding the beginning of the next fall term. These dates are firm and cannot be changed.
Submission of Papers and Other Written Work
Some of you have written many papers in high school, and some of you may have little experience in writing. Since for most of you writing many papers of varying length and depth will be an integral part of your Princeton education, you should be aware of the University rules governing submission of papers. These rules are taken seriously.
During the term all papers and other written work are due at the time set by the professor. If, however, because of circumstances beyond your control you are unable to meet the deadline, be sure to discuss the delay with your instructor and arrange for a new due date. At the end of each term, there is also a University deadline for the submission of all written work, usually the last day of the reading period (this year, Tuesday, January 13, 2009, for the fall term; Tuesday, May 12, 2009, for the spring term).
Any postponement of written work beyond the University deadline must be approved by your dean or director of studies and the professor in charge of the course. Be sure that you receive written authorization prior to the deadline. Do not assume that you will receive permission to submit written work—papers, problem sets, or homework—beyond the University deadline. You should consult your dean or director of studies as soon as it is apparent to you that your work cannot be completed on time. Remember that postponements normally will be granted only for reasons beyond your control.
Honor Code and Other Academic Integrity Regulations
The honor system was established at Princeton in 1893 and is an integral part of the code by which the community lives. All written examinations and tests are conducted under the honor system, and students assume full responsibility for academic honesty during examinations. You will have ample opportunity to learn about the honor code, but it is the responsibility of each student to know it and to abide by it.
Infractions of the honor code are the concern of the Honor Committee. There is a separate faculty/student Committee on Discipline that is concerned with violations of rules pertaining to all academic work other than in-class examinations, (that is, papers, laboratory reports, problem sets, and so on). Since many students, especially those new to college, are uncertain about what constitutes an academic infraction—for instance, plagiarism or excessive collaboration—you should carefully read the appropriate sections of Rights, Rules, Responsibilities and the booklet Academic Integrity at Princeton. You can also consult your preceptor in the course for which you are preparing an essay or research paper. While conventions may differ from one discipline to another, it is your responsibility to become familiar with the University’s expectations (see “Writing Papers,” elsewhere in this guide).
Academic Standing
The final grades of all students are sent to their parents approximately two weeks after the end of the term. Midterm grades are not sent home, nor do they appear on the student’s official transcript. When, however, midterm grades indicate serious academic difficulties, the student receives a letter from the residential college dean, and a copy of the letter is normally mailed to the parents.
We expect that you will have a good and successful year. Although each year only a very small number of students encounter serious academic difficulties, you should know the circumstances under which a student in his or her first two years at Princeton is put on academic warning, academic probation, or required to withdraw.
Academic Probation and Academic Warning
At the end of each academic term the Committee on Examinations and Standing reviews the academic records of all students. Students with poor overall standing, as reflected by several D’s, F’s, or deficiencies, are placed on academic probation. The records of students on academic probation will be reviewed by the committee at the end of the following term. A student on academic probation is expected to improve his or her record so that there will be no further questions about the student’s ability to complete the program of study.
A student whose record does not improve substantially while on academic
probation may be required to withdraw by the Committee on Examinations and
Standing. A single failing grade or a record with two
or more D’s while on academic probation will normally result in a
required withdrawal.
Letters of academic warning are issued to students whose records for the preceding term, while not warranting academic probation, indicate weak academic performance. Academic warning is intended to alert students to the need for improvement and to suggest ways in which performance might be enhanced.
Required Withdrawal
A student may be required to withdraw from the University at the end of a term or year, subject to the decision of the Committee on Examinations and Standing, on the basis of the following provisions:
1. A student who in the freshman year receives two F’s and a deficiency in one term, a grade of F in three or more courses, or who incurs a total of four deficiencies during the year, and a sophomore who receives two F’s in one term will virtually always be required to withdraw.
2. A student who receives an F or two D’s while on academic probation will ordinarily be required to withdraw.
3. A student who, prior to the start of any given academic year, has not successfully completed the minimum number of courses needed for advancement will be required to withdraw.
A student who has been required to withdraw may, at the discretion
of the Committee on Examinations and Standing, be required either to
apply for readmission to repeat the unsuccessful term at Princeton or to
complete courses at another school to remove deficiencies incurred by
failed courses.
A student who has been found guilty of a serious violation of University regulations or whose behavior could pose a threat to himself or herself or to the community may be required to withdraw by the dean of undergraduate students or by the Committee on Discipline.