Despite Princeton having a great emphasis on the liberal arts and humanities, Mathematics seems to play a significant role in the Class of 2028's high school academic profiles.
Among the AP tests taken by the class, Calculus BC was taken by 63.5 percent of the class, making it the second most taken test after English Language & Composition. Furthermore, Calculus AB has quite a high proportion of students having taken it as well, with 43.5 percent, a rate comparable to the AP science tests.
Mathematics: Analysis and Approaches is the most common IB exam taken by incoming students, with 81.8 percent having taken it. Coming in second, third, and fourth please are variants of IB language courses. Once again, mathematics has a strikingly large emphasis in the academics of incoming students.
With regard to overall mathematical achievement, a majority of the freshman student body have taken Calculus BC or higher, with 36.6 percent having taken BC Calculus, 10.8 percent having taken Multivariable Calculus, and 20.3 percent having taken Beyond Multivariable Calculus. Meanwhile, only an aggregate of 4.5 percent of students took Pre-Calculus or lower. This illustrates the emphasis on mathematics in high-school across the entire pool of admits.
When narrowed down to specific areas of study, this trend seems to persist. In the Natural Sciences, 30.9 percent of students had taken Beyond Multivariable Calculus, 11.1 percent of students had taken Multivariable Calculus, and 35.8 percent had taken BC Calculus. In Engineering, a similar distribution persists, with 24.1 percent, 14.0 percent, and 40.1 percent having taken each course respectively. However, even in the social sciences, we see that approximately 93 percent of students have taken some Calculus, with nearly 16 percent having taken Multivariable Calculus or higher, and in the humanities, a similar distribution persists as well. In both of these areas of study, only about 7.5 percent of students had taken Pre-Calculus as their highest level of mathematics.
Despite the high aptitude for mathematics displayed among the freshman student body, Princeton recommends “Four years of study in mathematics (including calculus for students interested in engineering). ” Meanwhile, the requirement for language is equivalent, recommending “Four years of one language, ” despite many students starting at the beginner level and taking the 3-4 semester language requirement sequence. Yet, although about 95% of freshman students have taken Calculus in high school, Princeton only reserves the recommendation of Calculus for prospective engineering students.
Data and graphs were used from The Daily Princetonian's Frosh Survey 2028. Thank you for your consideration of me for the Prince.