Campus Life

Housing and Dining

The Residential Colleges

Freshmen and sophomores live in one of the University’s five residential colleges: Butler, Forbes, Mathey, Rockefeller, or Wilson. Beginning in 2007–08, when Whitman College opens, upperclass students also will have the option of living and/or dining in four-year residential colleges.

More than 97 percent of Princeton undergraduates live on campus. Approximately 75 percent of juniors and seniors take their meals at one of 10 private, coed eating clubs.

Other juniors and seniors cook their own meals in dormitory kitchens, dine in the residential colleges, join a cooperative, or make other arrangements. Students may also dine at the Frist Campus Center. Princeton’s Center for Jewish Life (CJL) houses the University’s kosher dining facility.

Graduate Housing

Approximately 78 percent of graduate students live in the historic dormitory-style rooms of the Graduate College and the Annexes (single and double rooms in converted homes), and other University-sponsored residential communities (for example, Butler, Lawrence, Hibben-Magie, and Millstone) that extend various academic, athletic, social, and cultural opportunities to students and their families. The house committees, community associates, and the Graduate School work collaboratively with student organizations and University centers to enhance the quality of student life.

Graduate students gather for meals in Procter Hall at the Graduate College, in cafeterias at the residential colleges, at Frist Campus Center, and at the Center for Jewish Life (CJL).

Campus Centers

• Frist Campus Center is a place where the entire campus community—students, faculty, staff, and alumni—as well as visitors meet and interact, engaging in a variety of programs, events, and services that enrich campus life and the Princeton experience.

• The Center for Jewish Life (CJL) provides cultural, social, religious, and informal educational activities of interest to Jewish students and the overall University community.

• The International Center provides a setting in which international students and visiting scholars are introduced to American life and where their diverse cultural perspectives are made available to the Princeton community.

• The Carl A. Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding focuses on exploring issues of diversity, equity, and cultural pluralism.

• Collaborating with others, the Women’s Center offers educational, cultural, and social programs for undergraduate and graduate students, staff, and faculty on campus.

• Princeton’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Center works to create a safe and supportive environment by providing educational opportunities and advocating for the needs and concerns of LGBT students.

Athletics

More than half of all undergraduates, about 2,300, participate in intercollegiate athletic competition at Princeton. The University offers 38 varsity sports and nearly 40 club teams.

Varsity Sports. Each year more than 1,000 students participate in intercollegiate varsity and junior varsity sports. Princeton teams have won the Ivy League’s unofficial all-sports points championship each of the last 20 years. Since 2000, a total of 26 teams have won at least one league championship.

The 2005–06 athletic year was one of the best in Princeton history. The Tigers won 13 Ivy League titles, the fourth-highest total in league history, and one team (women’s open rowing) and one individual (men’s squash player Yasser El-Halaby) won national championships. Princeton teams have combined to win 51 Ivy titles in the last five years, 13 more than the next highest school in the league.

Campus Recreation Program. Nearly 600 teams are active in the intramural sports program, which schedules competition among residential colleges, eating clubs, independent groups, and faculty and staff. Students can participate in a variety of club sports, most of which compete intercollegiately. Princeton’s physical education program offers athletic instruction in nine core areas.

Athletic Facilities

• Jadwin Gymnasium provides 250,000 square feet of indoor space for intercollegiate sports in addition to a practice area for outdoor field sports.

• Dillon Gymnasium has facilities for recreational sports. At the Stephens Fitness Center in Dillon, students can pursue personal health goals with trained supervision.

• DeNunzio Pool provides complete facilities for competitive swimming and diving.

• Princeton Stadium, which is home to Tiger football, has a seating capacity of 27,800.

• Weaver Track and Field Stadium has an eight-lane Olympic track, and has hosted professional events.

• The recently renovated Shea Rowing Center is home to the crew program.

• Baker Rink, built in 1923, houses hockey and ice skating.

• Outdoor athletic facilities include more than two dozen tennis courts, an 18-hole golf course, and more than 50 acres of fields for baseball, softball, soccer, lacrosse, and rugby as well as many intramural sports.

• The Class of 1952 Stadium is a lighted, artificial-surface facility that accommodates approximately 4,000 spectators for lacrosse and field hockey.

Student Activities

Student Organizations

Student organizations are created and run by students with support from the University through the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students. More than 200 such groups make it easy for students to engage their interests outside the classroom.

ROTC

Two Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) programs are open to men and women at Princeton. In both (Army and Air Force), participants may compete for scholarships described in the Undergraduate Financial Aid Information and Application Instructions booklet. Participants in either program engage in noncredit courses and activities that, if successfully completed, lead to a commission as an officer.

Performing Arts

• 185 Nassau Street houses the programs in creative writing, theater and dance, and visual arts, which host art shows, theatrical productions, and poetry and fiction readings.

• McCarter Theatre offers drama, music, dance, film, and events ranging from acrobatics to mime. The theater also hosts the annual show presented by student members of the Triangle Club.

• Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall hosts musical, dramatic, and other performances, most open to the public, and most for a fee.

• Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall hosts campus musical groups throughout the year, which are sponsored by the Friends of Princeton Music.

• Theatre Intime, a student-run facility, schedules dramatic productions throughout the year at Murray-Dodge Hall.

• The Department of Music sponsors free student concerts, Music-at-Noon, in the Woolworth Center.

Seniors’ Post-Graduation Plans

There were 1,107 graduates in the Class of 2006. Approximately 97 percent of the class (1,076 students) completed the annual Career Plans Survey in May, conducted by the Office of Career Services.

Sixty-eight percent of the respondents plan to enter the workforce in the coming year. Approximately 18.4 percent of those planning employment accepted positions in extended internships that involve teaching, legal research, health and clinical research, scientific research, and/or service in domestic and international settings for a period of one to two years.

Of the 21 percent who plan to pursue further education, 27.7 percent accepted admission into doctoral programs, and 19 percent enrolled in master’s programs; 14.7 percent accepted admission into medical school and 14.7 percent into law school. An additional 20 students were accepted into graduate and professional programs but chose to defer enrollment for at least one year to pursue internships, fellowships, and employment.

The remaining 8.3 percent of the class followed other pursuits, including military service, professional sports, and travel.

Alumni

Princeton alumni contribute extensively to the life of the campus, with approximately 18,000 to 20,000 alumni and their families returning annually for Reunions.

There are approximately 80,600 living Princeton alumni, including 20,150 women and 22,225 Graduate School alumni. Princeton graduates live in all 50 states and 117 countries.

In a typical year, some 6,000 to 8,000 volunteers work for Princeton in class and regional association activities, fund-raising, programs in the local schools, a career network and internship program, and community service. Many serve in University advisory and leadership roles. Currently, there are 165 Princeton regional associations throughout the world.