| 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 reason effectively in writing. 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 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 A.B. candidates must demonstrate proficiency in a foreign
language before graduation. If you have studied a foreign
language in high school, you may wish to continue it at Princeton.
Your academic adviser will have language placement recommendations
based on a departmental review of the results of your achievement
or advanced placement tests. If you did not take an SAT II
or advanced placement test but wish to continue a language,
you will have the opportunity to take a language placement
test on Monday, September 7, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. (See
the Orientation
Calendar for the location of the exam.) Your adviser will
have the results of the test by the time you meet to discuss
your course selections.
The results of these placement exams do not become part of
your official Princeton transcript, so if you are worried
that you might do poorly, be assured that it will in no way
be held against you. Rather, the results help the particular
department place you at a level where you will be comfortable
but challenged.
On the basis of your SAT II subject test score (for example,
740 or better for tests in German, French, Italian, or Spanish),
your advanced placement score (normally 4 or 5), or the result
of your language placement test, 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. Normally, the foreign language requirement
must be fulfilled before the beginning of the senior 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.
If, despite your best efforts confirmed by your instructor
you find that you are experiencing inordinate difficulties
in learning a foreign language, please discuss your lack of
progress with your dean or director of studies. Each year
approximately 10 students apply for an exemption from the
foreign language requirement. An application is approved only
if there is considerable evidence of hard work and a genuine
inability to master a foreign language.
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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.
(Your dean or director of studies can provide you with a complete
list of these courses during orientation.)
You should note that advanced placement units usually
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.
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