Princeton In Brief

Admission to Princeton is quite competitive. In recent years, the University has offered admission to about 10 percent of those who apply. Successful applicants must demonstrate exceptionally high academic ability and performance. Personal strengths and nonacademic talents and commitment are also highly valued.

Application materials for admission and financial aid are updated annually and are available in the summer before a student’s senior year. See Questions and Answers in this brochure for more information about Princeton’s admission process. Also visit the Admission Office website (www.princeton.edu/admission).

Princeton offers one admission program. Students may submit the Common Application and Princeton’s Supplement to the Common Application or the Princeton Application. The final postmark or electronic submission application deadline is January 1. We encourage applicants to submit their portion of the application by December 15, if possible. Applicants are sent notification of Princeton’s decision in early April.

All admitted students who have applied for financial aid will receive notification with the decision letter of all aid for which they are eligible.

Applicants for undergraduate admission normally are expected to take the following standardized tests: the College Board SAT Reasoning Test or the ACT (with Writing, where offered). In addition, all applicants must submit the results of three different SAT Subject Tests. (Please note that the College Board English Language Proficiency Test does not count as a subject area test or as a substitute for the SAT Reasoning Test.) Applicants who intend to pursue a B.S.E. degree should take one SAT Subject Test in either physics or chemistry and one SAT Subject Test in mathematics (Level I or II) in addition to a third Subject Test of their choice.

To ensure that the results of these tests reach the Admission Office in time, applicants should make every effort to take them by January of the year of desired enrollment, as results of tests taken after January would not reach Princeton in time for consideration.

Students must make their own arrangements to take the tests, registering at least eight weeks before the actual test date and instructing the testing agency to send the results directly to Princeton University. (Princeton’s College Board number is 2672. Princeton’s code for the ACT is 2588.) For further information about the testing agencies, visit www.collegeboard.com and www.actstudent.org.

• Number of applicants: 21,370
• Applicants admitted: 9.9 percent
• Expected class size: 1,240
• Diversity in the class:
  • African American: 8 percent
  • Asian American: 17 percent
  • Hispanic: 8 percent
  • Native American: <1 percent
  • Multiracial: 6 percent
• Students receiving financial aid: 55 percent
• International students: 11 percent

Students who are approaching the end of their junior year or the beginning of their senior year in high school are invited to request application materials by visiting the Admission Office website (www.princeton.edu/admission) or by writing to:

Admission Office
Princeton University
Box 430
Princeton, NJ 08542-0430
Tel 609-258-3060
Fax 609-258-6743