Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution.[8][9][a] The institution moved to Newark in 1747 and then to its current Mercer County campus in Princeton nine years later. It officially became a university in 1896 and was subsequently renamed Princeton University.
The university is governed by the Trustees of Princeton University and has an endowment of $37.7 billion, the largest endowment per student in the United States. Princeton provides undergraduate and graduate instruction in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering to approximately 8,500 students on its main campus spanning 600 acres (2.4 km2) within the borough of Princeton. It offers postgraduate degrees through the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the School of Architecture and the Bendheim Center for Finance. The university also manages the Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and is home to the NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and has one of the largest university libraries in the world.[14]
Princeton uses a residential college system and is known for its upperclassmen eating clubs. The university has over 500 student organizations. Princeton students embrace a wide variety of traditions from both the past and present. The university is a NCAA Division I school and competes in the Ivy League. The school's athletic team, the Princeton Tigers, has won the most titles in its conference and has sent many students and alumni to the Olympics.
As of October 2021, 75 Nobel laureates, 16 Fields Medalists and 16 Turing Award laureates have been affiliated with Princeton University as alumni, faculty members, or researchers. In addition, Princeton has been associated with 21 National Medal of Science awardees, 5 Abel Prize awardees, 11 National Humanities Medal recipients, 217 Rhodes Scholars, 137 Marshall Scholars, and 62 Gates Cambridge Scholars. Two U.S. presidents, twelve U.S. Supreme Court Justices (three of whom currently serve on the court) and numerous living industry and media tycoons and foreign heads of state are all counted among Princeton's alumni body. Princeton has graduated many members of the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Cabinet, including eight Secretaries of State, three Secretaries of Defense and two Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Princeton University, founded as the College of New Jersey, was shaped much in its formative years by the "Log College", a seminary founded by the Reverend William Tennent at Neshaminy, Pennsylvania, in about 1726. While no legal connection ever existed, many of the pupils and adherents from the Log College would go on to financially support and become substantially involved in the early years of the university.[12] While early writers considered it as the predecessor of the university,[15] the idea has been rebuked by Princeton historians.[16][12]
The founding of the university itself originated from a split in the Presbyterian church following the Great Awakening.[17] In 1741, New Light Presbyterians were expelled from the Synod of Philadelphia in defense of how the Log College ordained ministers.[18] The four founders of the College of New Jersey, who were New Lights, were either expelled or withdrew from the Synod and devised a plan to establish a new college, for they were disappointed with Harvard and Yale's opposition to the Great Awakening and dissatisfied with the limited instruction at the Log College.[18][17] They convinced three other Presbyterians to join them and decided on New Jersey as the location for the college, as at the time, there was no institution between Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut, and the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia; it was also where some of the founders preached.[19] Although their initial request was rejected by the Anglican governor Lewis Morrison, the acting governor after Morrison's death, John Hamilton, granted a charter for the College of New Jersey on October 22, 1746.[20][19] In 1747, approximately five months after acquiring the charter, the trustees elected Jonathan Dickinson as president and opened in Elizabeth, New Jersey,[20] where classes were held in Dickinson's parsonage.[21] With its founding, it became the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of nine colonial colleges charted before the American Revolution.[8][9] The founders aimed for the college to have an expansive curriculum to teach people of various professions, not solely ministerial work.[22][20] Though the school was open to those of any religious denomination,[23] with many of the founders being of Presbyterian faith, the college became the educational and religious capital of Scotch-Irish Presbyterian America.[24]
princeton follows a liberal arts curriculum,[221] and offers two bachelor's degrees to students: a Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (B.S.E.).[218] Typically, A.B. students choose a major (called a concentration) at the end of sophomore year, while B.S.E. students declare at the end of their freshman year.[233] Students must complete distribution requirements, departmental requirements, and independent work to graduate with either degree.[221][218] A.B. students must complete distribution requirements in literature and the arts, science and engineering, social analysis, cultural difference, epistemology and cognition, ethical thought and moral values, historical analysis, and quantitative and computational reasoning; they must also have satisfactory ability in a foreign language.[218] Additionally, they must complete two papers of independent work during their junior year—known as the junior papers—and craft a senior thesis to graduate;[234][235] both revolve around the concentration they are pursuing.[236] B.S.E. majors complete fewer courses in the humanities and social sciences and instead fulfill requirements in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and computer programming.[218] They likewise must complete independent work, which typically involves a design project or senior thesis, but not the junior papers.[234][236] A.B. majors must complete 31 courses, whereas B.S.E. majors must complete 36 courses.[237]
Students can choose from either 36 concentrations or create their own. They can also participate in 55 interdisciplinary certificate programs;[218] since Princeton does not offer an academic minor, the certificates effectively serve as one.[238] Course structure is determined by the instructor and department. Classes vary in their format, ranging from small seminars to medium-sized lecture courses to large lecture courses.[239] The latter two typically have precepts, which are extra weekly discussion sessions that are led by either the professor or a graduate student.[239][240] The average class meeting time is 3–4 hours a week, although this can vary depending on the course.[239] The student to faculty ratio is 5 to 1,[240] and a majority of classes have fewer than 20 students.[235] In the Fiske Guide to Colleges, academic culture is considered as "tight-knit, extremely hardworking, highly cooperative, and supportive."[69]
Undergraduates agree to adhere to an academic integrity policy called the Honor Code. Under the Honor Code, faculty do not proctor examinations; instead, the students proctor one another and must report any suspected violation to an Honor Committee made up of undergraduates.[241] The Committee investigates reported violations and holds a hearing if it is warranted. An acquittal at such a hearing results in the destruction of all records of the hearing; a conviction results in the student's suspension or expulsion.[242] Violations pertaining to all other academic work fall under the jurisdiction of the Faculty-Student Committee on Discipline.[243] Undergraduates are expected to sign a pledge on their written work affirming that they have not plagiarized the work.[244]
Grade deflation policy
The first focus on issues of grade inflation by the Princeton administration began in 1998 when a university report was released showcasing a steady rise in undergraduate grades from 1973 to 1997.[245][246] Subsequent reports and discussion from the report culminated to when in 2004,[245] Nancy Weiss Malkiel, the dean of the college, implemented a grade deflation policy to address the findings.[247] Malkiel's reason for the policy was that an A was becoming devalued as a larger percentage of the student body received one.[247] Following its introduction, the number of A's and average GPA on campus dropped, although A's and B's were still the most frequent grades awarded.[246][248] The policy received mixed approval from both faculty and students when first instituted.[245][249] Criticism for grade deflation continued through the years, with students alleging negative effects like increased competition and lack of willingness to choose challenging classes.[247][250] Other criticism included job market and graduate school prospects, although Malkiel responded by saying that she sent 3,000 letters to numerous institutions and employers informing them.[246][247] In 2009, transcripts began including a statement about the policy.[251]
In October 2013, Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber created a faculty committee to review the deflation policy.[251] In August 2014, the committee released a report recommending the removal of the policy and instead develop consistent standards for grading across individual departments.[252] In October 2014, following a faculty vote, the numerical targets were removed in response to the report.[253] In a 2020 analysis of undergraduate grades following the removal of a policy, there were no long-lasting effects, with the percent of students receiving A's higher than in 1998.[254]
Princeton ranked first in the 2021 U.S. News rankings for the tenth consecutive year.[267][268] Princeton ranked fourth for undergrad teaching for 2021, falling from first place in the 2020 rankings.[268] In the 2022 Times Higher Education assessment of the world's best universities, Princeton was ranked 7th.[269] In the 2022 QS World University Rankings, it was ranked 20th overall in the world.[270]
In the 2021 U.S. News & World Report "Graduate School Rankings", 13 of Princeton's 14 graduate programs were ranked in their respective top 10 (with Engineering 22nd), 7 of them in the top 5, and two in the top spot (Economics and Mathematics).[271]
The Wall Street Journal and College Pulse selected Princeton as its top university in its "2024 Best Colleges in the U.S." ranking.[272]