Sophomores swarmed Cannon Green to celebrate the declaration of their majors last Friday. Following tradition, they donned black and orange sweaters with their class year, “2026,” embroidered on the front, creating a sea of Princeton colors behind the historic Nassau Hall. Additionally, pro-Palestine demonstrators walked through the celebration.
Though the original date for the celebration was scheduled for April 12, forecasted thunderstorms pushed the festivities back a week. The skies stayed clear on April 19, and students enjoyed glimmers of sunshine as they took pictures, dug into empanadas and Rita’s Italian Ice, and relished the company of their classmates.
“The weather was so nice, and the vibes were great,” Abby Schuster ’26, an operations research and financial engineering (ORFE) major, told The Daily Princetonian in an interview. “It was nice to see everyone in their matching sweaters. We really felt like a unified class.”
Petra Knupp ’26, a politics major, echoed Schuster’s statement, noting how this event promoted further grade cohesion. “The event made me realize I don’t really know so many people in my grade. I’ve met some really cool people today, which has been great,” she said.
The day did not go smoothly for all, however. There was no banner present for Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) — an oversight, which disrupted photo opportunities for new declares of the major.
“MAE does not have a banner, so that was a little sad,” Haley Panchal ’26 told the ‘Prince.’ “We were told it was either stolen three years ago, or that it’s just missing.”
Still, MAE majors made the best of their situation. “We wanted to have a group picture with all the MAE declarants still, and so we stole the blank [banner], and took pictures in front of Nassau hall,” Panchal explained. “It ended up being fun.”
Members of the Class of 2026 took different paths in getting to their final decision. Many wavered between different majors, while others knew their top pick from the start, all made their choice in the end, marking a significant milestone in the Princeton experience.
“I knew I wanted to do engineering coming into Princeton, because my sister is in engineering and had an amazing experience,” Schuster told the ‘Prince.’ “In terms of narrowing it down, when I realized I wanted to work in finance, I decided to do financial engineering, as it really combines my interests.”
Sully Atkin ’26 chose to major in Economics with similar ease. “I took an Economics class in high school and really enjoyed it, and then I took the [prerequisite classes] here and really loved them,” he said.
For other students, choosing majors can be a trial and error process. “I started out in Chemistry. I knew I wanted to be pre-med and I was just trying to figure out what I wanted to major in,” Jenna Book ’26 stated. “I didn’t love chem, so I switched to Molecular Biology, and I like it a lot.”
Olivia Chen ’26, an electrical and computer engineering major, also switched her major after aligning more with a different one. “I came in as a [Chemical and Biological Engineering] major, but I didn’t know what exactly I wanted to do,” Chen told the ‘Prince.’
Chen is a former head Newsletter editor for the ‘Prince.’
While many sophomores noted that they weren’t too surprised with the numbers of each major, some stated that they observed unexpected trends.
“I was surprised there were so many people outside of [Computer Science],” said Liv Bobby ’26, an economics major. “There was a huge line to take pictures for COS, but there wasn’t as big of a line for [the School of Public and International Affairs] or econ, which I was surprised with.”
Similarly, Atkin noted surprising observations with the numbers for each major. “Econ was huge this year; I think it increased by 60 people. One of my friends is majoring in Slavic Languages [and Literatures], and they only have two people majoring in it, which surprised me.”
Declaration Day marked the beginning of a new chapter for the Class of 2026. As Knupp put it, Declaration Day “was great. I have a Rita’s cherry ice in my hand, the sun is shining, and I get to celebrate a milestone achievement with all of my classmates.”
Caitlyn Tablada is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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