How long do you spend on academics, homework and studying? Do you get 8 hours of sleep every night? Do you have any free time to do hobbies?
I can answer based on my son’s experience. In high school he took a very rigorous schedule, with seven APs in both his junior and senior years. In HS he maintained a perfect 4.0 UW GPS.
He was a recruited athlete, so as a college student he continued to devote a lot of time to his sport.
Just as he had in HS, he pursued a rigorous course load at Princeton, completing the Integrated Science program and eventually concentrating in Physics and graduating with honors.
I don’t know exactly how many hours he spent studying, but I do know that he was surprised at how much more demanding his Princeton courses were than his HS AP classes. He told me that 4 Princeton courses required A LOT more effort than 7 AP courses.
Having recently attended a school of engineering presentation for parents of new students during Freshman Families Weekend, I can share that the school suggested approximately two hours of study for every hour of scheduled class time (he has about 20 hours including labs). He is also an athlete so his schedule is tight but he reports it as manageable and he seems to be finding some moments for social time, too.
Son studied about 3 hours a day in high school and got a 4.0 average.
Son studies about 7 hours a day at Princeton and is pulling a 3.8 average. He is in 3 clubs and works 10 hours/week. His first semester he got a 3.5 average and only studied about 4 hours a day. He says the keys are staying as far ahead of the workload as you can so that when test time comes you can have a chance to review all,
He did all the engineering requirements as a freshman but did not like this path and switched to mol bio to eventually go to med school.
Super happy that he is at Princeton, he loves it and understands the limitless possibilities for further study at top schools. It is hard he cmme
Any info on workload in non-science majors?
Princeton student here, prospective social science/humanities concentrator. No matter what your major is at Princeton, if you’re even remotely interested in doing well you will have to work. Hard. Luckily, since grade deflation is officially over, for non-science majors the curve generally isn’t quite as brutal as it was in past years, and professors give grades based on a set standard for quality rather than relative standards. This means that just as it’s theoretically possible for everyone in a class to get a high grade, it’s equally possible for extremely few or even no students to get a high grade. Some lower level humanities classes are harder than STEM: in Writing Seminar, for example (a required course for all freshmen), typically only 1 or 2 students will get an A, out of 12 students in the class (8-17%). Compare this to intro calculus (around 20%) or a typical intro science course (~25%). That said, the workload for engineers in particular is heavy no matter which classes they take, so in practice these grading standards mean that while science majors have to work much harder just to pass, non-science majors generally don’t have to bend over backwards to get a passing grade. It’s not so much that science courses are uniformly more difficult, but rather that the bottom end is pushed up, while there’s actually the same or more room at the top end.
However, passing and doing well are two very different things (let alone excelling). It doesn’t matter if you’re studying Art History or Electrical Engineering– getting a top grade will be very difficult. I generally schedule most of my work on the weekends when I don’t have extracurriculars meeting or classes to attend, but it’s still a large amount (and quite a bit more than my friends at other colleges). I couldn’t give you an exact number of hours, because it differs greatly between courses, the material being covered, and whether or not I choose to go over my work or readings multiple times for deeper understanding. Every course I’ve taken so far has been more demanding than any AP class I took in high school. As it should be– after all, what’s the point of a college education if it’s just four more years of high school?
The vast majority of students that I know of do not get 8 hours of sleep, unless they are incredibly industrious and judicious about how they spend their time. However, this isn’t just do to schoolwork– many choose to stay up in order to participate in extracurriculars, clubs, and student-run organizations. Most people I know are active in at least three or four groups, and officers of one or two. Plenty of students also make time to attend guest lectures by visiting professors, debates, panels…you name it, Princeton offers it (and many of these events are run by students, as well). While the decision to study, socialize, or sleep is present at every college, Princeton makes you dedicate most of your time to study. This is in addition to the three independent research projects (two extended papers junior year and a mandatory senior thesis).
In comparison to other private schools (especially the Ivy League), Princeton has a remarkably low average GPA. This is the reality for two reasons: firstly, there’s a lot of work, and none of it is particularly easy. Secondly, all departments consider a high grade to be a mark of outstanding work; it’s not like high school where if you’re smart you can just expect an A. Princeton professors have a much higher standard. A–'s are uncommon, A’s rare, and A+'s are exceptionally rare. As in, you will most likely never see one on your transcript, especially if you’re a humanities or social science major: while science courses typically give out A+'s to the few top students in any given course, humanities and social science professors only give them for performance that is truly top-notch (think, “publishable in an academic journal”). All departments consider the A+ as more of an award than just an everyday grade. Furthermore, honors are given by departments, and are reserved only for the truly outstanding students.
Compare Princeton to peer schools such as Harvard (home of the A+++), and you’ll notice three things: more assigned work; harder assigned work; and much higher grading standards. This isn’t to say that students at other schools don’t put in effort or that their work is easy, but just that Princeton is on a different level, especially when it comes to non-science disciplines.
If this sounds daunting, don’t worry. If you’re admitted, you can handle the work, and it’s a matter of putting in the effort (which is admittedly harder than it sounds). And Princeton provides plenty of resources for students who need help– faculty and administrators have high expectations, but they aren’t heartless. But if you’re looking for an unchallenging college experience where your time can be spent mostly socializing or relaxing, don’t come here. Seriously. I cannot stress enough that the difficulty of Princeton is not exaggerated.
So given all the above, I suppose I should now address the question, “why the hell would anyone want to go to Princeton?” There are many reasons that have been expounded in a million other threads, but in the context of this thread I’d like to say that my education here has been enjoyable (though extremely demanding) and incredibly rewarding. Looking back, if I had gone to another school, I may have been just as happy and certainly less stressed, but on the whole much less satisfied. Princeton doesn’t just educate you, it makes you stronger; it challenges you in ways you couldn’t imagine, but in the ways you need if you want to excel in whatever career you pursue, be it academia or business, medicine or art, film or law. Despite (frequent) moments of frustration and anxiety, upon reflection you’re gratified and genuinely glad you went through it. There’s a reason why we have one of the highest alumni giving rates in the country: people love Princeton, and they love having gone to Princeton. So if you choose to call Princeton your alma mater, be prepared for a real challenge, but one that’s honestly, truly worth it.
princeton is very easy. i have a 4.0 right now and am in 5 clubs/activities that involve nontrivial commitment (and a bunch of others) and study about 1 hour a day outside of class.
schedule is typically:
9-12: class
12-1: lunch
1-4: dota
4-5: sports
5-6: osu
6-7: dinner
7-8: anime
8-10: clubs/activities
10-11: hw/study
11-3: dota
This is an fab thread, thanks to all.
@MedBound17 Yes, thank you for sharing your world with us. Good luck with your studies!
- cheers - psy
My son is a senior BSE concentrator and varsity athlete at Princeton. He is also president of a club on campus and in his sports off season does some intramural activities. Second semester of his first year he had 27 hours a week of class including labs and he probably did around 40-45 hours a week of homework plus his sport. That semester he got no where near 8 hours of sleep a night and it was by far his hardest semester…he probably slept around 6 hours a night. But even by Princeton standards that was extreme for an extended period of time. He has had other heavy semesters but that one was the toughest.
Now he is finding the load much more reasonable…he’s still very busy but he has learned much better study habits - how to be more productive, using small pockets of time to knock off a few readings or assignments, how to better prepare for exams etc. And there are far less class hours. Truly for him first year was the toughest but he persevered. He’s also getting more sleep now but has learned to manage just fine during those periods where sleep is lacking - as it is periodically in all schools.
I know from many conversations with him that being at Princeton has been both the most challenging and most rewarding thing he has ever done. Now he is wishing his final year would slow down! As @MedBound17 said above,
“There’s a reason why we have one of the highest alumni giving rates in the country: people love Princeton, and they love having gone to Princeton. So if you choose to call Princeton your alma mater, be prepared for a real challenge, but one that’s honestly, truly worth it”
I absolutely agree!
well since I got a warning I should probably make a few substantive posts before I can go back to trolIing…
a lot of students here at princeton find it to be very difficult, or at least the initial shock of going from easy As to struggling to get a C. most people here experienced something along the lines of easily being the best at their high school, even in subjects that weren’t their strongest, but at princeton, they find it difficult to just keep up in classes in their major.
there is a lot of mental health and study aids on campus - princeton makes a big point of telling everyone that the difficulty they’re facing isn’t just restricted to them, but is felt by everyone. for instance, mathey dining hall was (and possibly still is - fall break right now so I’m not sure) covered in quotes by students about the challenges they were facing (it was quite depressing to read, but oddly comforting). nevertheless, despite the support, some students do get depressed, and there even was an attempted hanging incident a week ago.
not to say that princeton is a depressing place - there’s a lot of really awesome things going on and if you find your balance it’s amazing. so much accessible alcohol. and condoms. literally condoms everywhere. they hand them out to you along with various other things of that nature. but for most people it will be a significant step up from high school.
as for sleep, most people seem to get, on normal days, roughly 8 hours of sleep. however, when a pset is due the next day or an essay deadline is coming up, things get a bit rough. 2-4 hours on these days is not uncommon. but, if you manage your time well and don’t procrastinate or overload yourself, you should be able to average at least 7 hours of sleep.
as for workloads, it really depends on the class, but some estimates:
pset: 4-8 hours (well hopefully the problems are nice)
programming assignment: 4-10 hours (depends on how buggy it gets)
labs: 0-6 hours (some of them are in-class only)
essay (first draft): 3-6 hours (and later on, lots of peer review comments and final drafts and such)
reading: 50-250 pages/week per class (that involves reading)
textbook reading: 30-90 pages/week per class (though you can be asked to read 12 chapters in a week)
studying: 0-10 hours per class (so pay attention in class to keep this low)
but note that collaboration is usually allowed (with reservations and proper citations) so use that to your advantage!
and some midterm averages:
mat 104: 43 :D:D:D
mat 345: 90+ D:D:D: