Exploring Princeton’s Scheduling Conundrum

Abstract

Every semester, students complain that all the courses they want to take are at the same time. But how much of this is actually problematic, and how much of this is just perception – toast always falling butter-side down, so to speak? Moreover, even if there is a problem, could the University feasibly fix it? My thesis aims to answer both of these questions by algorithmically scheduling university courses based on student preferences. It explores how poorly the current schedule performs, and also how efficient various scheduling attempts are given the size of the University and the number of students. I find that Princeton’s schedules, as they stand now, do not necessarily satisfy student preferences, and offer a number of solutions to improve them. These algorithms lead to more efficient scheduling, and more satisfied students, which would improve the Princeton academic environment.