<p>We all know Princeton's hard and a lot of work, but I just wanted to get a concrete idea of what that means. So current students: around when do you go to sleep? How many hours of studies/reading? Just how brutal are those curves? What's the definition of a "good" GPA? Know anyone (or how many people) with 4.0s?</p>
<p>In other words, what exactly is the 2010 class looking at?</p>
<p>Grazie :).</p>
<p>I would say that princeton's not all that stressful...yea there are days when life just becomes hell, but i guess every school has those days.
Well usually, people sleep quite late, but its more of a habit than anything else. You have to study a lot, especially if you take more 'problem set' classes, which means you have reading + problem sets + quizzes + midterms. But i guess it depends on what you like to do.
I dont think that anyone can realize how tough it really is to get an A at princeton, yea 35% still get As but you have to be really good and organised to get that highly elusive A. And the curves can kill you sometimes. But the good thing about princeton is that there's not great pressure on you to get good grades, you try your best, and if you didn't get an A, its not that bad (trust me, people are very happy with Bs)
Well to give you a rough idea about the gpa, a 3.42 would have just placed in the 2nd quintile. so there are definitely many people with very good gpas.
^If this sounded crazy to you, dont fret too much about it, i am an engineer right now, so i think its just tougher for me.</p>
<p>Taking humanities classes will keep you up late into the night if you want to keep up with all of your work (which is nearly impossible, btw). One of my suitemates got a 4.0, but I rarely see him. He spends twelve hours on problem sets (in one day). That should tell you something. Personally, I find it perfectly acceptable to try to have a balanced social and academic life even if it means my GPA will suffer a little. But yeah, this semester I'm taking four humanities classes plus a writing seminar, and I'm routinely up until three or four in the morning doing work (starting usually around 11 or midnight every night, after all my ECs are done). The weekends involve more time dedication to work, particularly on Sundays. It's a lot of work, and people complain about it a lot. But really, that's what brings a lot of us together. We have study parties in people's rooms, in Cafe Viv, in Chancellor Green Cafe, in Wilcox, wherever...people are really helpful, and despite all the work, it's fun really pushing yourself.</p>