The Class of 2026 generally felt the academic rigor at Princeton is sufficient, with 55.4 percent of respondents disagreeing with the idea that Princeton needs to increase academic rigor and 61.1 percent disagreeing with the statement that grade inflation at Princeton is a significant issue. Among the respondents, 34.3 percent of A.B. students self-reported a GPA of 3.9 or higher; for B.S.E. students, that figure sat at 26.6 percent. To see what the lives of this year’s graduating seniors looked like in the classroom, we asked the Class of 2026 about their studies, grades, and the Honor Code. Read below to find out more.
Like the Class of 2025, this year a higher proportion of B.S.E. students reported earning a 4.0 GPA than A.B. students, at 5.5 percent and 3.9 percent of respondents, respectively. Students in the Class of 2026 who never played for a varsity sports team generally reported higher GPAs than those who have. Members of the Class of 2026 without legacy status also reported higher GPAs than students with some form of legacy.
18.5 percent of respondents did not pursue any certificates or minors, but among those who did, the most popular minor was Computer Science. 21.2 percent of the Class of 2026 found the Science and Engineering with Laboratory (SEL) distribution requirement their least favorite to complete, with the second-least favorite being Ethical Thought and Moral Values (EM) at 12.6 percent. Around a third of the Class of 2026 — 31.2 percent — studied Spanish during their time at Princeton, while 27.3 percent said they did not study a language at Princeton at all. ASL fell in popularity compared with the Class of 2025, from fifth-most popular to 14th. The majority of the eating clubs had more A.B. students than B.S.E students, except for the now-shuttered Cloister Inn, which sat at 50 percent B.S.E, as well as Quadrangle Club and Colonial Club, which both had 60.5 percent B.S.E students.
Despite the University’s strong emphasis on academic integrity through the Honor Code, 24.8 percent of the Class of 2026 respondents reported having cheated on an assignment or exam in violation of the Honor Code. Only 1.6 percent of B.S.E. respondents and 7.6 percent of A.B. respondents have never used ChatGPT or any other large language models (LLMs). When allowed, over 80 percent of A.B. students and 90 percent of B.S.E. students used ChatGPT or another LLM. When banned, the number of B.S.E. students that use ChatGPT or another LLM roughly halves to 46 percent, while the number of A.B. students drops significantly, to 27 percent. Less than 1 percent of respondents reported a peer for violating the Honor Code, although 46.8 percent of respondents had knowledge of a peer violating the Honor Code and chose not to report it.
While Princeton remains test-optional, the Class of 2026 seniors didn’t take significant advantage of the test-optional policy. Back when they were applying, only a small percentage of seniors chose not to submit their SAT/ACT scores. A majority of respondents report only 1–2 Princetonian peers from their same high school.