PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, a privately-endowed non sectarian institution of higher learning for men, at Princeton, N.J., until 1896 called officially the College of New Jersey. Its buildings, about 8o in number, are grouped in the central por tion of a campus of Boo acres which is one of the most beautiful in the country.
Nassau hall, the oldest and historically the most interesting building on the campus, was at the time of its completion in 1756 the largest academic building in the American colonies. It was designed by Robert Smith, architect of Independence Hall in Philadelphia and named in honour of William of Nassau, William III. of England. Here in 1783 General Washington received the formal thanks of the American Congress for his conduct of the Revolutionary War.
Characteristic of life at Princeton, in addition to the univer sity's rural location and consequently its active outdoor interests, are the residential dormitory system (in 1936 there were 25 campus dormitories housing the majority of the students), the system of elective upper-class eating clubs, and the form of stu dent self government illustrated particularly by the student coun cil, by the "honor system" and by undergraduate participation in the administration of university discipline.
The university offers (1936) undergraduate courses in the lib eral arts and sciences leading to the degree of A.B., many graduate courses in the same fields leading to the degrees of A.M., M.F.A. and Ph.D., and technical courses in engineering leading to the degree of B.S. in engineering and ordinarily after one year of graduate study to the degrees of C.E., E.E., M.E. and Ch.E. A field artillery unit, maintained and staffed by the War Department, offers a course extending through four years and two summers, at the satisfactory completion of which, provided he also gains his university degree, the candidate receives from the President of the United States a commission in the Officers Reserve Corps.
In all admissions, regard is given to character, personality and promise as well as to scholarly attainment. Enrolment is limited
in the undergraduate department to approximately 2,300 and in the graduate school to 2 50. Under the Princeton plan an upper classman concentrates upon a definite subject within one of the 15 departments of the university, and prepares himself for what are known as "comprehensive examinations" at the end of each year, the final examination covering the work of the two previous years. In order to receive his degree he must attain a standing of better than average grade.
A feature of instruction is the preceptorial method, introduced in 1905, by which large classes are broken into small groups or informal conferences with "preceptors" on prescribed reading, especially in the departments of philosophy, history, politics, art, English and the languages. Princeton has no professional schools for utilitarian ends, except the school of engineering and possibly the school of architecture, although both of these are so strongly humanistic in their curricula and methods that they are in marked contrast in this respect with the usual American engineering and architectural schools. The school of architecture is developed directly out of the department of art and archaeology, and on successful conclusion of the course the degree of Master of Fine Arts is conferred.
In assuming the university title in 1896, it was definitely con cluded that Princeton's future did not lie in developing profes sional schools but in upholding pure learning and in devoting her self "to the liberal aspects of those studies which underlie and broaden professional and technical education." The university therefore is not a congeries of professional schools overshadowing an undergraduate department, but consists of a large, homogeneous and well organized body of undergraduate students, with a small and carefully selected graduate school, devoted to the liberal arts and sciences.