Each program requires its concentrators to take at least eight graded departmental courses.

A departmental course in the Woodrow Wilson School is any course that fulfills a program requirement. The Policy Task Forces are not courses for concentrators and cannot be designated as departmental courses by either concentrators or certificate students.

Students designate courses as departmentals on their course cards during registration or on an add/drop form during the add/drop period. Students must designate a minimum of eight courses as departmentals, but may designate up to twelve courses.

In December of the senior year, the Registrar sends the Program Office a departmental designation form for each senior in the Woodrow Wilson School. The form lists all of the courses the student has taken at Princeton and indicates those that have already been designated as departmentals. The student completes the form by indicating the final choice of departmental courses. Courses that were previously designated may be removed from the list of departmentals, and courses taken in the freshman or sophomore years may be added to the list.

From this final list of departmentals, the top eight grades are taken to be used in the calculation of honors for concentrators.