Bring on the Class of 2016!

PHOTO: HENRY VON KOHORN ’66

By Julia Bumke ’13

Published Jan. 21, 2016

3 min read

900+ Number of members on the Class of 2016’s Facebook page, about two-thirds of the classmates
825 Went on Outdoor Action
145 Went on Community Action
!!!!!!!!! Raised their hand in McCarter Theatre when asked, “Who had contact with an alum during the admission process?”

The 1,360 members of the Class of 2016 — the largest freshman class in Princeton’s history — were welcomed to campus with a whirlwind of information sessions, barbecues, scavenger hunts, locomotive cheers, and the annual Pre-rade.

At Opening Exercises Sept. 9, President Tilghman told the class:

At this moment in your Princeton education everything is possible — every door stands open, every dream has the potential to come true. You are about to Occupy Princeton.

Now, don’t panic — I don’t mean to suggest that you are going to live in a soggy pup tent on Cannon Green for the next four years. Instead, I am co-opting that phrase from last year’s political season to preview what I hope will be the many ways in which you will seize the moment, take this University by storm, make it uniquely your own, and leave it better than you found it. ...

You have now become part of the 1 percent, not in terms of wealth, but certainly in terms of future opportunity. Admission to Princeton is a privilege that is bestowed on very few individuals, and with it comes a responsibility to use your education to make the world a better place. ...

PHOTO: SAMEER A. KHAN

Her comments drew good reviews: “The Occupy theme made it really personalized to our class, really genuine,” said Evan Chow ’16.

Computer science professor Edward Felten drew gasps and bursts of laughter from a class gathering at McCarter Theatre during an evening talk about how seemingly innocuous online data — an online purchase or a phrase entered into a search engine — can be used to infer private information. Said Daniel Tzou ’16: “Some very cool thinking about privacy issues.”

What they packed for Princeton:
iPads, Kindles, sofa beds, posters, and Amazon gift cards (“for school books!”)

The song many have as their ringtone:

“Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen

“Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy.
But here’s my number, so call me maybe.”

The strangest Princeton tradition:
The locomotive cheer

What they forgot to bring:
Clothes hangers (nearly 6,000 sold at the U-Store by the start of classes)

Applicants: 26,664
Students admitted: 2,094 (7.9% of applicants, a record low)
Students enrolled: 1,360 (a record high, and 52 over the target)
Yield: 64.9%
Students receiving financial aid: 60%
Male-to-female ratio: 51/49
State sending most students: New Jersey, 246 (no students from North Dakota or Utah)
Foreign countries represented: 57 (top three: Canada, China, and South Korea)
Sons/daughters of alumni: 11.3%
U.S. minority students: 42.1% (a record high)
First-generation college: 11.5%
Varsity athletic prospects: 16%
International students: 11.3%
From public schools: 57.3%
From private schools: 42.2% (includes religious and military schools)
Home-schooled: 0.5%
Number of U.S. military veterans: none
B.S.E. students: 27.5% (a record high)

Source: Office of Admission; School of Engineering and Applied Science

Graduate-student orientation included talks on “success in graduate school” and “understanding your financial landscape.” But it wasn’t all serious: Grad students also went on a dessert crawl to sample the fare at some of Princeton’s ice cream and cupcake shops. Said Rafi Stern GS, above at right, of his new home: “‘Princeton’ is on everything, even the water bottles.”

PHOTO: BEVERLY SCHAEFER