Princeton University has one of the best sociology departments in the country, supporting about 70 majors.

Our 3:1 student-to-faculty ratio enables our majors to work closely with faculty mentors working on some of the most pressing social issues of the day: inequality, poverty, immigration, race and ethnic relations, discrimination, health and well-being, and religion in public life. Our faculty also excel in teaching innovative techniques for examining economic, political, technological, and social change. Our graduates launch start-ups, engage in social entrepreneurship and charitable work, do big data at places like Google and Facebook, head to PhD, policy, law, or medical schools, and they cut deals on Wall Street, in DC, or across sites abroad. 

Sociology students have a great deal of flexibility in crafting their academic lives. Aside from the seminar to help them write their junior papers, everyone is required to take introduction to sociology, sociological theory, and statistics. Of course, students can deepen their methodological training in computational social science, ethnography, statistics, and a variety of qualitative methods. (A total of 9 courses completes the major requirements.)

If you are thinking about the major, we recommend that you take a sociology course or a freshman seminar taught by one of our faculty. And if you have come to the decision late without a background in our department, fear not, but talk with the acting undergraduate administrator (Donna DeFrancisco, defran@princeton.edu) or the departmental representative (Professor Nelson, socrep@princeton.edu) before making your final decision.

Welcome.

— Professor Nelson, Director of Undergraduate Studies