Since matriculating at the University, survey respondents have run the academic gamut — violating the Honor Code, switching degrees, and chasing after a 4.0. They’ve spent their years studying Slavic Languages and Literatures and Aerospace Engineering, all in pursuit of the final cap and gown.
36 percent of respondents reported violating the Honor Code at some point in their time at the University, either through personal academic dishonesty or failing to report a peer. According to a document released by the Honor Committee, the student body received 118 reports of misconduct between 2014 and 2019, an average of 23.6 per year. The Faculty-Student Committee on Discipline does not report disciplinary statistics.
The Honor Code, present at the University since 1893, is highly unpopular: only 23.4 percent of seniors view the moral pledge favorably. Students reported academic dishonesty in roughly even proportions across degree options (20 percent for A.B., 23.6 percent for B.S.E.), while a paltry 0.6 percent of respondents stated that they have reported a peer for violating the Honor Code.
3.9 percent of respondents noted that they have been called before the Honor Committee or the Committee on Discipline on accusations of academic dishonesty, while 6.2 percent have sat with the groups to discuss the alleged dishonesty of a peer.
Community service was the single most popular extracurricular among respondents, with over 40 percent reporting participation. Non-varsity athletics, activism, and affinity groups similarly topped the list, with each garnering participation from over 20 percent of seniors.
83.1 percent of respondents indicated that they were employed at some point during their undergraduate years, with 77.5 percent working for the University, 22.7 percent working externally, and 17.1 percent doing both. Residential college mentors — RCAs, PAAs, and PHAs — made up just 12.2 percent of respondents.
74 percent of respondents will graduate with an A.B. degree, while 26 percent will be B.S.E. This was not always the case — 24.1 percent of seniors switched from B.S.E. to A.B. at their time at Princeton, whereas 5.6 percent switched from A.B. to B.S.E. Students on financial aid are significantly less likely to pursue engineering (20.7 percent) than those who do not receive aid (33.3 percent).
Computer Science is the most popular major, and Applications of Computing is the most popular certificate (followed by Statistics and Machine Learning, Global Health and Health Policy, and Finance). Nearly one-third of respondents studied Spanish in their time at the University, while nearly one-fourth didn’t study any language. Just over 20 percent of students (and 64.3 of Math concentrators) reported having owned cryptocurrency.
The average reported GPA sat at 3.64, with a median of 3.70. Only 1.7 percent of respondents reported receiving a perfect GPA, over five times fewer than the percentage of Harvard seniors who did the same. GPA further remained fairly constant across studies — the field with the highest GPA (humanities, 3.68) is only 0.06 points higher than the field with the lowest (natural sciences, 3.62). When it comes to top marks, engineers were more likely than their A.B. peers to have received a grade of an A+ at least once during their time in Princeton.
Students who were not recruited athletes were three times more likely to receive a GPA of 3.7 or higher (60.9 percent) than recruits (21.4 percent). Legacies and students who are not on financial aid (two groups with considerable overlap) also experienced disproportionate success with respect to GPA. 4.2 percent of respondents have failed at least one course during their time at the University.