Princeton University is a private coeducational research university located in Princeton, New Jersey. It is one of the eight universities that comprise the Ivy League.

Originally founded in 1746 at Elizabeth, New Jersey, as the College of New Jersey, it moved to Princeton in 1756 and was renamed “Princeton University” in 1896. Princeton was the fourth institution of higher education in the U.S. to conduct classes.Princeton appears to be the fourth institution to conduct classes, based on dates that do not seem to be in dispute. Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania both claim the fourth oldest founding date; the University of Pennsylvania once used 1749 as its founding date, making it fifth, but in 1899, its trustees adopted a resolution that asserted 1740 as the founding date. For the details of Penn's claim, see University of Pennsylvania; and “Building Penn's Brand” for background, and “Princeton vs. Penn: Which is the Older Institution?” for Princeton's view. A Log College was operated by William and Gilbert Tennent, the Presbyterian ministers, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, from 1726 until 1746; it was once common to assert a connection between it and the College of New Jersey, which would justify Princeton pushing its founding date back to 1726. Princeton, however, has never done so and a Princeton historian says that the facts “do not warrant” such an interpretation. 1. Columbia University and Rutgers began classes in 1754 and 1766; their continuity was severely shaken during the American Revolution. The university, unlike most American universities that were founded at the same time, did not have an official religious affiliation. At one time, it had close ties to the Presbyterian Church, but today it is nonsectarian and makes no religious demands of its students. The university has ties with the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton Theological Seminary, and the Westminster Choir College of Rider University.

Though Princeton University has traditionally focused on undergraduate education, almost two thousand five hundred graduate students are enrolled and the university is renowned as a world-class research institution. Although lacking medical, law, or business schools, it offers professional master's degrees (mostly through the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs) and doctoral programs in the sciences, humanities, and social sciences. In addition to the research conducted on the main campus, the Forrestal Campus has special facilities for the study of plasma physics and meteorology.

History

main: History of Princeton University