Hardly teetotalers, the majority of incoming first-years (54.4 percent) have experience consuming alcohol. Of those who imbibe, 10.2 percent did so for the first time in their freshman year of high school, 13.2 percent in their sophomore year, 11.5 percent in their junior year, and 13 percent in their senior year. Some 10 percent report drinking at least once a week. At 67.5 percent, students who are not receiving financial aid are far more likely to have reported consuming liquid courage than their aid-receiving counterparts.

The Class of 2026 isn’t too wild about weed — more first-years have tried cannabis than any other drug, but that number stands at 22.5 percent. Fewer than 3 percent have tried hard drugs (ex: cocaine, methamphetamine, opiates, etc.), psychedelics (ex: mushrooms, LSD or acid, etc.), or unprescribed drugs with the express purpose of increasing one’s focus or academic performance (ex: Adderall, Ritalin, etc.).

Though the ‘Prince’ Senior Survey indicated that nearly 75 percent of the Class of 2022 joined eating clubs, just 57.9 percent of first-years intend to do so at this point in their Princeton careers. This number breaks down heavily along financial lines — 68 percent of non-aid students intend to join one of the Prospect Eleven, compared to 57.2 percent of those who receive partial aid and 37.2 percent of Tigers on full aid. Greek life, on the contrary, is exceptionally unpopular across the board: only 4.3 percent of first-years intend to join a sorority or fraternity.

Capturing the favor of 76 percent of respondents, pop music is the most popular genre among members of the Class of 2026, while “I don’t listen to music” clocked the lowest following at just 2.1 percent. Other items and experiences with large followings include MacBooks (62 percent of respondents own them), iPhones (87 percent own them), international travel (90.6 percent have done so at least once), and coffee (60.8 percent drink it at least once a semester).

This year’s frosh are the least sexually active of the class years for which the ‘Prince’ has incoming student data — just 27.4 percent of first-years reported having had sex, compared to 28 percent in the class of 2025’s Frosh Survey and 30.9 percent in the 2024’s Frosh Survey. Of those who have had sex, the majority did so during the latter half of their high school years.