Graduate Program
Graduate Student Matters
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Financial Aid
Students are supported from three sources, in roughly equal numbers:
fellowships (either from outside sources or departmental funds),
Assistantships in Research (AR) in both theory and experiment, and
Assistantships in Instruction (AI).
All students remain supported by
these sources for as long as they continue to make progress toward their degree
.
An AR requires 20 hours per week in an active research group; an AI up to
18 hours of work per week. Both ARs and AIs provide a stipend to the student
and all tuition.
All first-year students are awarded a university fellowship,
unless they bring their own extrnal fellowship. Students are
encouraged to join a research group as soon as they arrive, in
order to participate actively in the activities of the
department. This is an opportunity to explore a possible thesis area, to
begin actual thesis research, to develop useful technical skills,
or to do the generals experimental project.
The Department expects to find summer support in a research group
for the summer following the first year for all interested students in
experimental fields. We will attempt to match the summer position with the
interests of the student based
on the student's application. The student is
not obligated to accept this position and can seek another if desired.
Most second year students are involved in teaching as AIs. Almost all of
the AI positions involve contact with students. As well as being a valued
service to the Department, the AI is a valuable experience for graduate
students, as teaching of some kind is a part of many scientific careers.
For this reason, students with outside fellowships are encouraged to
volunteer for part-time teaching, for which a supplementary stipend is
usually awarded.
Once they are fully involved in thesis research, most students are supported
as ARs in the research groups of their thesis advisors. The work
done for the AR is the student's thesis work itself. There
is no summer academic session at Princeton, but the research program
continues vigorously year-round. For most students, summer support is
available. Some students use the summer months to study at an advanced
summer school in the U.S. or abroad. When judged to be valuable for the
student by his or her advisor, a Departmental matching fund is available for
such summer schools or for students to attend professional meetings or
conferences.
Please see our Graduate Student Opportunities page.
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