Undergraduate Curriculum

Designed to Inspire

This department balances technical rigor and curricular flexibility to provide a world-class engineering education. We want to inspire our students, and we want our students to inspire their peers.

What to Expect

The program begins in the sophomore year with a set of unifying foundation courses (information, circuits, devices and digital logic) that cover the breadth of the discipline and prepare students for advanced electives.

Students build on this foundation with the introduction of systems and their design, followed by a set of departmental electives in a concentration area. Within these concentrations, students see the interaction of theory and application and have a choice on which aspects to focus.

Students tailor their areas of concentration in consultation with a faculty adviser. Possible areas of concentration include Data and Information, Security and Privacy, Computer Systems, Energy and Environment, Quantum Computing and Applied Physics, to name only a few. For a complete list, download the undergraduate student handbook.

Many students also pursue an interdisciplinary certificate from one of the many programs offered at Princeton. This is the equivalent of a "minor", and is optional, not required.

Graduates from this department earn a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE).

Where to Start

To be adequately prepared for the first-year engineering program at Princeton, students should take high-school mathematics through calculus (if possible), as well as high-school physics and chemistry. Many students enter Princeton with advanced placement in one or more of these subjects, but this is not a requirement for admission or for success in the program.

Thirty-six courses are required for the four-year program. Students granted advanced standing participate in a three-year program and must complete 28 courses for the BSE (this is rare).

Questions may be directed to the Undergraduate Program Coordinator or the faculty Department Representative.

 

Undergraduate Contacts

Gerard Wysocki
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies
Director of MIRTHE+
Office Phone
Office
B324 Engineering Quadrangle
David Wentzlaff
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Office Phone
Office
B228 Engineering Quadrangle
Lori Bailey
Undergraduate Program Coordinator
Office Phone
Office
B304 Engineering Quadrangle


 

Concentration

Each ECE major chooses an area of concentration within the field, which gives coherent shape to your classes over time. We have 10 suggested areas with prescribed course lists.


 

Curriculum Outline

Year Core Courses Electives
1 2 x calculus 3 x general electives
2 x physics
chemistry
computer science
2 Multivariable Calculus and Linear Algebra Logic Design and/or Electronic and Photonic Devices
Electronic Circuits 3 x general electives
Information and Signals 1 x departmental elective
3 Building Cyberphysical Systems 4 x general elective
3 x departmental electives
1 x math elective
4 2 x Senior Thesis 5 x general electives
2 x departmental electives