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September 5, 2000
Princeton University welcomes about 1,160 in Class of 2004
Academic year begins this weekend
Princeton, N.J. -- Princeton University will welcome about 1,160 members of the Class of 2004 this weekend, when the 2000-2001 academic year officially begins. Opening Exercises will be held Sunday, Sept. 10 and classes begin Sept. 14.
Members of the freshman class join the Princeton community from 840 secondary schools in 47 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and 37 other countries.
"They are a cohort of very able, high-energy young men and women, each of whom is the sort of person the others came to college to meet, and each of whom we are happy applied to Princeton in the first place and, once admitted, chose to enroll," said Fred Hargadon, dean of admission.
The incoming class is almost 51 percent men and just over 49 percent women. International students comprise almost 10 percent of the class, and nearly 13 percent are sons or daughters of Princeton graduates. Of the U.S. students, close to 30 percent are from minority backgrounds.
Princeton's Graduate School is expected to begin its centennial year with 571 students, the largest number of incoming students in the School's history and a 12 percent increase over last year. Final figures will be available after the semester starts.
The growth is primarily the result of a surge in enrollment in master's degree programs and planned growth of doctoral programs in select areas, school officials said. "The competition for top-notch graduate students has been fiercer than ever," said David Redman, associate dean for academic affairs in the Graduate School. "Princeton's ability to attract high quality graduate students is a sign of the University's excellence both in traditional areas of study as well as in important, emerging fields in computer science, engineering and public policy."
The incoming group is composed of 556 degree candidates and 15 visiting, non-degree students. One hundred fifty-four new students are seeking master's degrees while 402 are working toward their doctorates.
University officials have expected gains in some of the newer master's degree programs as they become more established. For example, the master of engineering program has nearly doubled in size to 30 students since it started in 1998. Similar growth has been observed in the three-year-old master of public policy program.
"Those programs represent a new kind of endeavor to capture experienced, mid-career professionals," Redman said.
Men account for 65 percent of the new graduate students and women account for 35 percent. Of the entering graduate students, 59 percent are U.S. citizens or permanent residents and 41 percent are international students. About 18.5 percent of the domestic graduate students are members of minority groups.
Orientation
Five days of orientation events beginning Sept. 9 will introduce the new students to Princeton's academic and extra-curricular activities.
President Harold T. Shapiro will address the University community during Opening Exercises, an interfaith service scheduled for 2 p.m. Sept. 10 in the University Chapel.
Over the next few days, students will get a taste of Princeton life by meeting with advisers, visiting the open houses offered by academic and service departments, and sampling presentations on a wide range of topics. Events range from a faculty talk on "What Makes the Middle East Complex," to a program on "Thriving at Princeton" geared primarily to minority students, to an address on "Robotics as Depth: Designing Autonomous Deep-Sea Explorers."
Professor Patricia Fernandez-Kelly, a co-leader of an undergraduate trip to Cuba last year, will be the keynote speaker at a class meeting on "Reflections on Diversity," to be followed by student discussions on that topic.
Except for Opening Exercises, orientation events are closed to the press and public.