<ol>
<li> For non-engineers, 31 courses plus two junior papers plus a senior thesis.</li>
<li> The minimum would be:
a. 5 courses per semester, once
b. 4 courses per semester, five times
c. 3 courses per semester, senior year, two times
Many students will take five courses more than one semester so that they can meet the requirements for certificate program(s) in addition to their concentration or just to study things in which they are interested.</li>
<li> Is your question, how many days a week do classes meet? Introductory language courses meet five times a week, seminars may meet only once a week, most classes have one lecture and one precept and meet twice a week, but some have either two lectures and one precept or two precepts and one lecture and therefore meet three times per week. Classes with labs may meet two or three times a week.</li>
<li> The earliest scheduled classes I believe start at 8:00 a.m. Most classes are scheduled between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Some classes having evening sessions that may end as late at 9:30 p.m.</li>
<li> Classes vary: the most common are 50 and 80 minutes. Seminars and labs and classes in the performing arts often run 2.5 hours.</li>
<li> I’m a parent, not a student, but based on observations of my child and my child’s friends the amount varies considerably based on the individual. It wouldn’t be unusual for a serious student to spend 30 or so hours a week in total doing the readings and problems sets, writing papers, and studying for exams. Sleep deprivation is common around mid-terms, finals, and dean’s date, when final papers are due. There are many students who get by devoting far fewer hours to their studies, particularly if they don’t bother with the recommended (or even required) readings, and I’m sure that there are some who study even more this, particularly seniors working on their thesis.</li>
<li> Princeton’s goal is that no more than 1/3 of grades in courses and 55 percent of grades for advanced independent work be A’s or A-‘s. In the humanities and social science this target has not yet been met, but in natural sciences only about 1/3 of grades are of the A variety. I think the median GPA is around 3.4 or perhaps 3.5, which would mean for a typical student the majority of grades would be B+ or A-, with some B’s and A’s as well. </li>
<li> Princeton asserts it will not. Since no class has yet graduated that has spent four years under the new policy, it is too soon to tell, but I think it is reasonable to believe that medical schools are aware of the policy and will factor it into their decisions. In fact, even before grade deflation, students at Princeton in the natural sciences were only getting A’s about 1/3 of the time, so the only real effect upon them is when they take courses to fulfill their distibution requirements, as it is now more difficult to get A’s in the social sciences and the humanities.</li>
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