They've arrived!

   

The first members of the Class of 2004 arrived on campus Sept. 2 with their belongings and family members in tow. Students moving in on Labor Day weekend came a week early to participate in the Outdoor Action and Urban Action preorientation programs.


Their interests and talents are as diverse as the places from which they hail. But what they now have in common will forever change their lives.

They are the members of the Princeton University Class of 2004.

They come from towns like Sitka, Alaska; Yamhill, Ore.; Selma, Calif.; Pinedale, Wyo.; Stromsberg, Neb.; Sebeka, Minn.; Bettendorf, Iowa; Midway, Utah; Laredo, Texas; Tuscaloosa, Ala.; Burgaw, N.C.; Holland, Ohio; Mars, Pa.; and Winslow, Maine.

They also come from Tel Aviv, Israel; Curitiba, Brazil; San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago; Accra, Ghana; Tombeau Bay, Mauritius; Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Nelson, New Zealand; Changsha, China; Targu Mures, Romania; Gaienhofen, Germany; Vesenaz, Switzerland; Saskatchewan, Canada; and hundreds of other places, across the United States and around the world.

The 1,160 members of the class come from 840 secondary schools in 47 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and 37 other countries. They come from schools where the senior class numbered as many as 1,000 or as few as 35.

They have milked cows and raced sprint cars. They have performed professionally in the opera and made films. They have achieved national recognition in chess, snow boarding, debate and 4-H. They have led student governments, service organizations, religious organizations and other groups at the school, state and national levels. They have been concertmasters and concertmistresses. They have won international math and science Olympiads and been named Presidential Scholars and All Americans.

"Like the rest of us, they probably have their faults, but 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 just under 51 percent men and a little over 49 percent women. Of the U.S. students, close to 30 percent are from minority backgrounds. International students comprise almost 10 percent of the class, and nearly 13 percent are sons or daughters of Princeton graduates. Give or take a year, most members of the Class of 2004 were born in the year 1982.


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