ADVISING QUICK REFERENCE SHEET  (2013-14 Edition)

GENERAL A.B. ADVISING INFORMATION

·         A.B. course load = 4 courses first semester for freshmen. Only one course per department (first semester).  Exceptions only with permission of residential college dean/director of studies.

·         Standard freshman course load is 4 classes each semester (4/4); normal sophomore load is 9 courses (4/5 or 5/4).

·         Students may not drop below 3 courses per term, and must have minimum 7 courses to begin sophomore year. 

·         31 courses required for graduation; normal progress is 17 courses before junior year.

·         Pass/D/Fail grading option: 1 P/D/F course per semester; 4 P/D/F courses in four years (exception to both rules: P/D/F only courses).  P/D/F grading may be elected between the beginning of the seventh and end of the ninth week of classes.

·         Courses requiring interview/application (e.g. HUM, ISC, CWR, etc.): student must have permission from the department.  If permission is pending, student should enroll in an alternate course.

·         Since some courses will fill during registration periods, please have your advisee think of an alternate (fifth) course to keep in reserve in case one of the courses he/she selects is already closed.  Information about closed courses can be found at: http://registrar.princeton.edu/course-offerings/.  

REQUIREMENT CHECKLIST FOR A.B. CANDIDATES

o  Writing requirement:

To fulfill this requirement, all students take a writing seminar freshman year, Fall or Spring.  Writing seminar enrollment takes place after regular Friend Center course registration; to request a term change or enroll in a writing seminar, visit the Writing Program website at http://www.princeton.edu/writing.  

o  Foreign language requirement: 

Complete ASAP; requirement must be satisfied by end of junior year. Generally, courses through 107/108 level fulfill the language requirement, for example: 

                French, Spanish: 101-102-107 or 103-107 (108 with permission of instructor) or 105-108

                Arabic, Chinese, German, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Modern Greek, Russian:101-102-105-107

                Latin, Classical Greek: 101-102-105-108 or 103-105-108

                For other numbering variants and language sequences, including Hindi, Italian, Persian, Portuguese, Turkish, and Swahili, see the online Undergraduate Announcement at: http://www.princeton.edu/ua.

Students may not self place.  If they have any high school experience in a language they wish to study at Princeton, they must take the placement test.

o  Distribution requirements:

                Epistemology and Cognition (EC) – one course

                Ethical Thought and Moral Values (EM) – one course

                Historical Analysis (HA) – one course

                Quantitative Reasoning (QR) – one course

                Science and Technology, with laboratory (STL) – one course

                Science and Technology, no lab (STN) – one course (students may opt for two STL courses instead of 1 STN & 1 STL)

                Literature and the Arts (LA) – two courses          

                Social Analysis (SA) – two courses

o  Major prerequisites: Typically 2 – 4 courses by end of sophomore year; we encourage exploring prerequisites for more than one major.  See list on back.

PRE-HEALTH PREPARATION

Please encourage students interested in health professions to meet the Health Professions Advising staff as soon as possible; there are many variants of pre-health programs.  The basic coursework required to prepare for admission to medical school is:

• General Chemistry: CHM 201-202 or 207-202 (or equivalent AP), typically taken freshman year. 

·         Math: one semester of calculus + one semester statistics recommended, e.g. MAT 103 (or AP) + stats; MAT 100 + 103 + stats;  or MAT 100 + 102 + stats  (see “a note about math” http://www.princeton.edu/hpa/premed/coursework/)

• Organic Chemistry: CHM 303-304 or 303-304b; typically taken sophomore year.
• Biology:  EEB 211 and MOL214/215, typically taken sophomore year.
• Biochemistry: MOL 345, taken after Organic Chemistry.
• Physics: PHY 101-102 (often taken junior year), or 103-104, or 105-106.
• English: 2 semesters of English (literature/writing, WRI counts as one).
• Social Sciences: topics from psychology and sociology will be covered on MCAT (see the online Advising Handbook https://aah.princeton.edu ).

·         For typical sequences, especially for students with Advanced Placement, see the online Advising Handbook and Health Professions Advising website: http://www.princeton.edu/hpa/.

PREREQUISITES FOR DEPARTMENTAL CONCENTRATION

(Classes of 2016 & 2017; consult Undergraduate Announcement for more details)

ANT       one course (any level), or permission of department.  Class of 2016 and following: two 200-level courses required for graduation (may include ANT 201), strongly recommended to complete no later than junior year.

ARC       normally, ARC 203 and ARC 204 in sophomore year; at least one course in architectural history, taken in either the School of Architecture or the Department of Art and Archaeology, is recommended but not required.

ART       Program 1 (History of Art): any two courses in art and archaeology.  Program 2 (History of Art and Visual Arts), by application: two courses in the Program in Visual Arts and one course in the Department of Art and Archaeology. Program 3 (Archaeology): any two Department of Art and Archaeology courses in the Ancient area or other courses related to archaeology as approved by the program advisers.

AST        MAT 201/203/218 and MAT 202/204/217; Physics 205 or 207; AST 204 strongly recommended.

CHM      General Chemistry (CHM 201/207 and 202, AP and 215, or AP); PHY 101-102 or 103-104 or AP; Math 103-104 or AP; CHM 303-304 in sophomore year.

CLA       normally CLG 108 or LAT 108.  Classical Studies track: one course from UA list on classical civilization, second course strongly recommended; GRK 108 or LAT 108 required for graduation.

COM      one 200- or 300-level course in a foreign literature or an advanced language course; COM 205-206 or HUM 216-219 recommended.

COS        MAT 103-104 and MAT 202; COS 126; COS 217 and 226 normally before junior year.

EAS        at least one year of language training (the 102 level); 107 or the equivalent recommended before junior year.  Additional prerequisites depend on disciplinary focus. History or Literature: HIS/EAS 207 or 208, or HUM/EAS/COM 233 or 234; Language Studies: language proficiency through the second-year level; Contemporary Cultures, Societies and Politics: EAS 229, or HIS/EAS 208, or HUM/EAS/COM 234.

EEB        EEB 211 and MOL 214/215;  MAT 102 or 103, or AP; CHM 201/207 and 202, or AP; PHY 101, 103, or 105, or AP; statistics (EEB 355 preferred, other options include ECO 202, ORF 245, POL 345, PSY 251, SOC 301); normally CHM 303; see UA for details.

ECO      ECO 100 and ECO 101 with C or better, or AP; statistics (ECO 202 or ORF 245) with C or better, or AP;  MAT 175 or MAT 201 (or equivalent) with C- or better.  MAT 201-202 encouraged.  (See departmental website and AP table.)

ENG       ENG 200 and one of the following genre-based courses: ENG 205, ENG 206, ENG 207, ENG 208.

FIT         one or preferably two 200-level courses, including one of the following: FRE 221, 222, or 224; ITA 208, 209, or 220.                                                                                            

GEO       GEO 202 or GEO 203 or geosciences FRS with departmental permission.  MAT 104 (or above) required for graduation; no AP accepted. See UA for core sciences required.

GER       GER 107 or SAT subject score of 760 or AP 5.

HIS         two departmental courses, including one of the following: 201, 207, 208, 210, 211, 212, 277, 280, 281, 282, 290, 291, 292 or 293.  HUM 216-217 or 2l8-219 may be used as a prerequisite but not as a departmental requirement.

MAT      generally, MAT 215 or 214, MAT 217 or 204, and MAT 218 or 203. Prospective majors should consult the department as early as possible and try to include most of the 215-217-218 sequence.

MOL      MOL 214/215.  Normally also the following courses before beginning of junior year: EEB 211, or AP and 300-level EEB; CHM 201-202, or AP; CHM 303-304; MAT 100 and 102, or AP, or MAT 103 plus a second pre-approved mathematically oriented course; PHY 101-102 or 103-104, or AP. 

MUS       MUS 105-106 or 205-206.  Students who are considering majoring in music are advised to take 105, 106 in their freshman year.

NES        any course in the department (incl. language).  Note that departmental language requirement is four terms (i.e., through 107 level) of Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, or Turkish.

PHI         any course in the department.

PHY       PHY 203 (or 205 or 207) and 208; MAT 201-202 or MAT 203-204.

POL        normally, two courses in Politics taken on a graded basis; one or both should be at the 200-level.

PSY        PSY 101 and PSY 251 (appropriate substitutes possible for PSY 251, e.g., ORF 245, ECO 202, EEB/MOL 355).

REL        any course in the department.

SLA        normally, RUS 107.

SOC        normally, one or more courses in SOC; recommended SOC 101 and a second course in sociology.

SPO        normally, two 200-level courses in Spanish or one 200-level course in Portuguese.

WWS      microeconomics (ECO 100, ECO 300, ECO 310, or WWS 300); one HIS course at any level; one POL, SOC, or PSY course at any level (cross-listed courses included); statistics (WWS 200, ECO 202, ECO 302, ORF 245, or POL 345).  A course taken to meet the statistics prerequisite cannot fulfill any other prerequisite (e.g. POL 345 cannot also fill POL prerequisite).

(updated 8/25/13)