Graduate School admits 1,208 from competitive applicant pool

Graduate School admits 1,208 from competitive applicant pool

Princeton University's Graduate School admitted 1,208 of the 11,179 students who applied for the 2013-14 academic year, with the school's international reputation and generous financial aid program attracting students from across the globe. 

"This marks the third consecutive year that the number of applications from international students exceeded the number of applications from U.S. citizens and permanent residents," said Karen Jackson-Weaver, the Graduate School's associate dean of academic affairs and diversity. "We are pleased that the Graduate School is consistently attracting outstanding students from all over the world for study at the master's and doctoral levels."

The 5,999 international students who applied made up 54 percent of the applicant pool, while the 5,180 U.S. and citizens and permanent residents made up 46 percent of the pool.

The 10.8 percent overall admission rate for this year is similar to last year's figure of 10.2 percent. This year the number of students who accepted the school's offer of admission by the April 15 postmark deadline was 569, or 47 percent.

Among the total applicants, 1,264 were American minorities, including 650 Asian Americans, 396 Hispanics, 214 African Americans and four Native Americans. Of the total number of minority students, 187 received offers of admission. Of the admitted students 447, or 37 percent, are women and 761, or 63 percent, are men. International students were admitted from 59 countries, with the largest number of students expected from, in order, China, Canada, Korea and India.

The school's efforts to recruit and retain U.S. students from historically underrepresented backgrounds continue to be very successful, Jackson-Weaver said. The Princeton Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (PSURE), an eight-week program for prospective students who express serious interest in pursuing doctoral degrees, consistently generates high-quality applicants, she said. Some of the students who participated in PSURE in recent years are currently enrolled in the Graduate School.

The standard 12-month doctoral fellowship will increase to $28,600 from the current stipend of $27,640. This represents a 3.5 percent increase, up from a 3.2 percent increase last year. "The full funding for doctoral students at Princeton's Graduate School attracts exceptionally talented and outstanding candidates who also have excellent opportunities to teach and win outside fellowships," Jackson-Weaver said.

Academic fields admitting the highest proportion of applicants were the natural sciences and mathematics with 16 percent admitted, followed by the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs with 12 percent admitted. The percentage of admitted applicants for other fields was 10 percent for engineering, 9 percent for the humanities, and 8 percent for social sciences and the School of Architecture.

The average Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores for admitted students were 159 out of 170 on the verbal section, 160 out of 170 on the quantitative section and 4 out of 6 on the analytical writing section.

"We continue to see a diverse and talented group of applicants pursuing a variety of different fields," said Jackson-Weaver.