East Pyne

East Pyne Hall is the hub for foreign languages, literatures and culture on Princeton's campus. A Princeton education has a strong emphasis on cultural immersion, with a foreign language requirement for A.B. students, a Princeton-sponsored Bridge Year program, and many study abroad and international internship opportunities.

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Academics with Morgan '23

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International Experiences

Liberal Arts Curriculum

Academics

⭐ International Experiences

International experiences are a core part of the Princeton undergraduate experience. Approximately 61% of graduating seniors in 2018 participated in at least one structured, Princeton-sponsored international activity lasting a month or longer. These activities include study abroad, international internships, or Princeton’s Novogratz Bridge Year program.

Study Abroad

Princeton's Study Abroad Program provides guidance for Princeton undergraduates who wish to study for academic credit at a foreign institution during the semester, academic year, or summer. The Office of International Programs helps students find a program that best fits their academic interests and goals, while providing support from the time they leave campus until they return. Study abroad is open to all concentrations, and destinations include more than 100 programs in over 40 countries.

In addition to traditional, semester-long study abroad programs, Princeton also offers shorter summer opportunities included 6-week long language immersion experiences and global seminars.

Examples of Study Abroad

Some semester-long study abroad opportunities unique to Princeton include the Oxford-Princeton Engineering Exchange, the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) Programs in Kenya and Panama, and the Royal College of Music Partnership.

Summer study abroad programs include the Humanities Council’s Journalism Summer Seminar in Greece, Princeton in Ishikawa, and the French and Italian Department’s Aix-en-Provence Program for French Studies.

Novogratz Bridge Year Program

The Novogratz Bridge Year Program allows incoming students to begin their Princeton experience engaged in nine months of tuition-free, University-sponsored service at one of five international locations. Bridge Year participants study the local language, live with carefully selected homestay families, and take part in a variety of cultural enrichment activities, while learning from host communities through their volunteer work.

The International Internship Program (IIP)

Princeton's International Internship Program (IIP) offers guidance and financial support to undergraduates who wish to undertake a summer internship abroad. With placements in more than 50 countries, IIP offers students the opportunity to fulfill academic and personal goals while living and working abroad. Interns have held positions in government, media, education, public health and nongovernmental organizations, as well as financial and research institutions.

⭐ Liberal Arts Curriculum

The Liberal Arts Curriculum is a hallmark of a Princeton education. A liberal arts education offers an expansive intellectual grounding in all kinds of humanistic inquiry.

Distribution Requirements

To ensure that all Princeton students receive a well-rounded, liberal arts-based education, all students, regardless of their intended degree program, are required to take courses within eight different distribution areas. These areas are: Culture and Difference, Epistemology and Cognition, Ethical Thought and Moral Values, Historical Analysis, Literature and the Arts, Social Analysis, Quantitative and Computational Reasoning and Science and Engineering.

Exposure to a variety of academic disciplines not only helps students identify the right intellectual tools for the task at hand, but also deepens their respect for the variety of ways human beings seek to understand our world. These general education requirements offer students the chance to develop both intellectual rigor and humility by considering the possibilities and limitations of all forms of academic inquiry.

Writing Requirement

All Princeton undergraduates (A.B. and B.S.E.) are expected to develop the ability to write clearly and precisely as it helps them prepare for their future independent work. As the faculty believes that students at all levels can benefit from guided practice in writing, even students who receive advanced placement in English are not exempt from the writing requirement. All students satisfy the writing requirement by taking a writing seminar with about 10 other students in their first-year. Writing seminars focus on a specific topic in a wide variety of disciplines; students select their seminar based on their interests. Past seminar offerings include topics like The Art of Adventure, A Nation of Immigrants, and Satire and Censorship.

⭐ Academics

Princeton offers two degree programs: Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) and Bachelors of Science in Engineering (B.S.E.), with options for 37 concentrations and over 50 certificate programs. Our curriculum encourages students to explore many disciplines and to develop a deep understanding in one area of concentration.

Certificates

Similar to minors offered at other universities, Certificates are used to supplement ones’ concentration to pursue other areas of interest in depth. Princeton offers over 50 certificate programs.

For some students, certificate programs provide an opportunity to pursue a special area of interest that closely complements their departmental concentration. For other students, certificate programs provide an opportunity to pursue intellectual passions unrelated to the departmental concentration. For example, a student concentrating in physics pursues a certificate in Russian language and culture or a student concentrating in electrical engineering pursues a certificate in musical performance.

Concentrations

Students choose a concentration, or major, with the help of their individual academic advisers. Students pursing the A.B. degree will have until the second semester of their sophomore year to choose a concentration; While B.S.E candidates will choose a concentration in the second semester of their first year. Roughly 25% of the student body are B.S.E candidates. There are 37 different concentrations at Princeton, including six concentration under the B.S.E. degree. Students at Princeton can only choose one concentration, but can also pursue certificates to supplement their studies in other areas.

Explore our different concentration offerings on our website.