How to get into Princeton

Bonus Material: PrepMaven’s 50+ Real Supplemental Essays for Ivy+ Schools

According to the 2022-2023 Common Data set, Princeton admitted just 5.6% of applicants, meaning that if you’re serious about gunning for a Princeton acceptance letter, you’ll need all the possible information about their acceptance process and what they’re looking for.

This guide will break down exactly what you’ll need for a shot at a Princeton admission. Plus, we’ve got real profiles of students admitted to Princeton, an analysis of the Princeton admissions process, and Princeton interview tips from one of their interviewers!

At PrepMaven, the vast majority of our tutors come from Ivy League schools like Princeton and Harvard—they know what it takes to get in because they’ve done it. For over two decades, our academic, test-prep, and college essay coaches have helped students get into their own dream schools. If you’re serious about an Ivy admission, we recommend reading our guide carefully, then working with one of our tutors to maximize your chances.

Keep reading to increase your chances of admission, and download our collection of real supplemental essays–including essays that worked to get students into Princeton!

Jump to section:
The three pillars of a Princeton application
What you need to get into Princeton: Academics
What you need to get into Princeton: Extracurriculars
What you need to get into Princeton: Character
The Three Pillars of getting into Princeton: Summary
The five steps in the Princeton admission process
Examples of successful Princeton applicants
Next steps

The three pillars of a Princeton application

The best way to think about your application to a school like Princeton is as consisting of three pillars:

Academics
Extracurriculars
Character

In the following sections, we’ll break down exactly what you need in each of these categories for a short at Princeton. Here, we’ll explain a bit about each of these three pillars and how they come together to support a viable Princeton application.

Academics refers to everything that’s on your transcript, plus your test scores. In other words, the Academics pillar consists of:

GPA
Rigor of curriculum
Dual enrollment/college credit courses
SAT/ACT scores
AP/IB scores

Extracurriculars are somewhat self-explanatory: these are just about anything you’ve done that isn’t directly connected to your academics. Common examples:

Sports
School clubs
Service work
Research
Gap years
Creative projects
Paid employment
Internships

But it’s Character that can be one of the most important elements of a Princeton application, and one of the hardest to pin down. What’s the Character pillar? In a nutshell, it’s your story: what kind of person and student are you? What drives you? What do you hope to accomplish?

All of these big and probably scary questions are what we mean when we discuss Character as part of your application. While all elements of your application come together to showcase Character, the single biggest place where you can convey it is in your college essays.

Below, we’re going to break down the Princeton’s admissions process according to each of these three pillars: what do you need to do when it comes to Academics, Extracurriculars, and Character to have a shot?

What you need to get into Princeton: Academics

We want to start with a disclaimer: nobody gets accepted to Princeton based on Academics alone. But plenty of applicants do get rejected because their Academics pillar is too weak.

When it comes to schools like Princeton, you should think of Academics as a prerequisite: while there are always rare exceptions, if your GPA and test scores do not line up with Princeton’s typical median, your chances of acceptance are very, very slim.

So, what are the Princeton baselines as far as Academics? Let’s take a look at the 2022-2023 Common App Data set for the stats.

When it comes to SAT/ACT:

To put it bluntly, you’ll need near-perfect SAT/ACT scores to have a shot at a Princeton admission. We’ll break down some statistics below:

To summarize these stats:

75% of Princeton admits had an SAT composite score of 1500+ or an ACT of 33+.
The top 25% of Princeton admits had an SAT composite of 1560+ or ACT of 35+.

To put the above statistics in perspective: if you’re applying to Princeton, having a top 1% SAT or ACT score makes you average.

There’s another helpful statistic to take a look at if you want to do a real deep dive, which is the percentage of students who get in with scores below those ranges. In a nutshell? Just about nobody. Take a look:

It’s a lot of numbers, but here’s the TLDR summary:

Only 7.74% of Princeton admits had an SAT score below 1400.
Only 6.03% of Princeton admits had an ACT score below 30.

The takeaway is simple: it is practically impossible to get accepted to Princeton without an ACT or SAT score in the top 1%.

A note on test-optional policies

Many people see that Princeton is test-optional and breathe a sigh of relief: if the policy says “optional,” then surely you don’t have to take the test, right?

Sadly, that’s not the case. The vast majority of Princeton applicants submitted test scores for last-year’s application cycle. The reality of it is that test-optional policies are not meant to apply to everyone.

If you come from a background where the Princeton admission committee could see testing as a real burden—you come from a low-income family or community, you worked a full-time job to support your family, you were dealing with serious health issues in high school, etc.—then test-optional can work for you (though you would still be better off submitting exceptional test scores).

But if you don’t have anything like that to point to, Princeton will expect you to submit test scores. They might not say so, but failing to do so when you don’t have a good reason will signal to admissions committees that you simply didn’t do well enough on the test.

Regardless of application requirements, at PrepMaven we encourage students to still take the SAT (or the ACT, depending on which test suits their skills).

Doing so will allow them to keep their options open as they navigate future college admissions cycles, and our philosophy as educators is to give our students as many tools as possible to maximize their future opportunities.

Higher test scores will always give applicants an advantage.

When it comes to GPA:

According to the stats, it’s just as important to have a sky-high GPA:

Key takeaways:

The majority of Princeton applicants had a perfect 4.0 GPA.
The average GPA was a staggering 3.95.

The takeaway here is similar to that with test scores: you need a near-perfect GPA to have a real chance at a Princeton admission.

Other considerations for Academics: Rigor and Course of Study

Princeton’s admissions website actually offers a suggested course of study that they’d like to see from your high school transcript. Here’s a quote from their admissions department:

If possible, we expect students will complete the following courses before beginning study at Princeton:

Four years of English (including continued practice in writing).

Four years of mathematics (including calculus for students interested in engineering).

Four years of one language.

At least two years of laboratory science (including physics and chemistry for students interested in engineering).

At least two years of history.

In addition, most candidates have had some study in the visual or performing arts.

Whenever you can, challenge yourself with the most rigorous courses possible, such as honors, Advanced Placement (AP) and dual-enrollment courses. We will evaluate the International Baccalaureate (IB), A-levels or another diploma in the context of the program’s curriculum

While not all Ivies say this up front, Princeton is explicit about expecting “the most rigorous courses possible.” This is really universal for schools of Princeton’s caliber, and what it means is that—regardless of your GPA—if you only took regular or honors-level courses, Princeton is unlikely to offer you an acceptance. They really want to see that you took the hardest courses possible.

Though what that looks like exactly will depend on your school’s offerings, Princeton will expect applicants to take AP courses wherever possible. Many successful Princeton applicants go further, taking dual enrollment or additional courses at local colleges.

Academics Summary: What do you need to do?

If there’s a shorthand, it’s this: Academics won’t get you into Princeton, but they can definitely keep you out. Think of this pillar as a hurdle you have to clear before admissions committees even consider your application seriously. Here’s close to the minimum of what you need for a shot:

Take maximally rigorous courses.
Have a perfect or near-perfect GPA.
Achieve an ACT or SAT score at least in the 99th percentile.

We can’t stress this enough: doing all of the above does not make you a strong candidate for Princeton. It is effectively the minimum that you need to accomplish to be considered a candidate at all.

If you’re serious about Princeton, you should start building up your Academics pillar as early as possible. There’s absolutely no substitute for expert academic and test-prep coaching: when everything has to be perfect for you to have a shot, you don’t want to take chances. Our tutors can help you maintain that GPA and work your way up to a competitive test score.

What you need to get into Princeton: Extracurriculars

If your Academics are competitive, it’s time to look at the second pillar: Extracurriculars. Just like with Academics, the exceptional is the norm for a school like Princeton.

The Princeton Admissions department offers the following advice about extracurriculars:

“We look for students who make a difference in their schools and communities, so tell us about your leadership activities, interests, special skills and other extracurricular involvements. Tell us if you’ve had a job or a responsibility in your home. Most Princeton students were academic standouts in high school. Most of them also invested their energy and talents in significant ways outside the classroom.

So, what makes a strong Extracurricular profile for Princeton? In addition to the suggestions from Princeton’s site above, we encourage you to focus on four key elements to evaluate how competitive your extracurriculars are—and, if you have time, to begin developing a competitive Extracurricular pillar.

Key elements of a competitive Princeton Extracurricular profile, in order:

Excellence
Dedication
Leadership
Initiative

Let’s take these one at a time.

Excellence

Princeton isn’t looking for someone who dabbles: they want applicants who have proven that they can excel at what they pursue. Whatever your main extracurriculars, there should be some kind of objective proof that you excelled above and beyond the norm in them. What might that look like?

If you code: placing high a national or international competition/challenge.
If you play sports: being a high-level competitor on a national competitive team.
If you write: winning state, national, or international prizes.

The idea here is fairly clear: it’s not enough just to do: you’ve really got to prove you can perform at an incredible level.

Note the scale as well: winning a school or local competition simply isn’t good enough to matter in most cases.

Dedication

Whatever you pursue, Princeton wants you to prove you’re dedicated to it. Having 1-3 core activities that you have spent years pursuing is the mark of dedication. While it’s totally fine to have a few lighter extracurriculars that you don’t dedicate as much time to, you need to have at least 1 thing that you’ve pursued for a long time with (as mentioned above) proven excellence.

Here, the key is really length of time and commitment: the best ECs are ones you’ve pursued for years, with significant time investment each week.

Leadership

In addition to excellence and dedication, Princeton will expect you to demonstrate some form of leadership in the ECs you pursue. The most obvious example of this is, of course, holding a position like team captain or class/club president.

While those can serve to demonstrate leadership, it’s clear that you’re able to show what came of that leadership. Many students aiming for Ivies try to join the Executive Boards of as many clubs and organizations as possible in high school, but this is the wrong move.

Instead of looking like a dedicated, passionate leader, you’ll look like someone who doesn’t care what they do so long as they have a fancy title. What you want is for your leadership to align with excellence and dedication: if you’ve been a member of a nationally recognized robotics team, it’ll be meaningful to show you also captained it.

If, on the other hand, you joined four clubs senior year and were president of all four, it’ll seem more like you were trying to build a resume.

Initiative

This is one people often forget, or misunderstand. When it comes to the Extracurricular pillar, one of the most crucial elements is to show that you sought something out and pursued it because of a real passion.

In a nutshell, this means that the more work you had to do to pursue your ECs of choice, the better. Joining an existent club at school might show dedication, excellence, and leadership, but it won’t, in itself, show much initiative. Starting a club that grows and becomes self-sufficient, however, does show initiative. Here are some examples of initiative:

Starting an organization that will continue to thrive after you leave high school.
Seeking out an unusual service, research, or work opportunity.
Making a personal sacrifice to pursue your extracurricular of choice.

A note of caution: Princeton is looking for the exceptional and the unusual. Standard accolades like Merit Scholar, NHS, AP Scholar, or club e-board member are a dime a dozen—in other words, they won’t make you more competitive. Below, we’ve put together a list of ECs that make for a competitive Extracurricular profile for Princeton, and another list of ones that don’t.

Examples of competitive ECs for Princeton:

You’ve pursued music since childhood, practicing 20 or more hours a week and performing at concerts across the country.
You fell in love with cooking your sophomore year of high school: first you got a job as a busser at a local diner; by the summer of junior year, you were a prep cook at a local restaurant, working 30 hours a week. You also have a growing Youtube channel where you show off recipes.
Interested in international relations, you sought out a local professor and helped them as a research assistant for a year. Eventually, you published an original research paper with their help.
You love visual art, and have dedicated countless hours each week over the last few years to painting and multimedia art projects. While not a member of any club or organization, you have a website gallery of your work and have even sold a few paintings to local businesses.

Examples of NON-competitive ECs for Princeton:

You started an Ultimate Frisbee club with 10 members your junior year of high school that you were President of.
You volunteered sporadically for a local soup kitchen to meet your NHS service hours minimum. You didn’t dedicate a significant amount of time to this activity, nor did you participate for very long.
You were a rank-and-file member of several school interest clubs (chess club, coding club, book club, etc.), but don’t have any notable accomplishments or results to point to.

Do you see the difference? It’s not that there’s anything wrong with the activities on the second list. In fact, it’s totally fine if you have a few activities like that on your Princeton application, but only if they are small side-projects in addition to your 1-3 main extracurricular activities, which should look more like the things on the first list.

This probably seems like a lot, and it absolutely is. But this is the kind of excellence that Princeton is looking for. So, what can you do to develop the Extracurricular pillar of your Princeton application?

Start early. The earlier you start pursuing an activity, the more impressive your commitment to it will be.
Keep a record of your pursuits. Websites, Youtube channels, etc., are a great way to maintain a portfolio of any creative projects.
Enter contests and seek out publication/recognition.

The last point deserves a special mention: as you can see from the list of competitive ECs, most of them take years of dedication. If you’re already a junior, one of the best things you can do is pursue contests, research, and publication, all of which can be accomplished fairly quickly and will add a solid EC to your list.

On that front, writing competitions and research are great places to start. Many of our tutors come from creative writing backgrounds, and many more are graduate students who’ve published research themselves—by working with one of these coaches, you can develop your own independent creative or research project.

What you need to get into Princeton: Character

This third aspect of your Princeton application is perhaps the most elusive—but it can be the most important.

What do we mean by Character? You can read our full breakdown of the Three Pillars of a College Application here, but for now we can summarize Character as those personal qualities that set you aside from other applicants who have similar grades and extracurriculars. It’s really that ”extra” factor, the one that doesn’t really show up on a transcript or resume.

The Princeton admissions department frames “Character” as being about commitment:

“We want to know what you care about, what commitments you have made and what you’ve done to act on those commitments.”

So, where does Character appear on your college admissions applications? Mostly, it comes across in the essays! This is where college admissions committees can actually hear your voice, see your thought process, and get an insight into how you view the world.

Some people tend to write off the college essay, but for an application to Princeton or an Ivy League school, it plays a vital part. You can read our post on how important the college essay is here, but for now you can think of it this way: Princeton gets so many incredibly talented applicants, so the college essay is one of the main things that can truly help you stand out.

What is Princeton looking for in terms of Character? Key qualities to convey in your essays are things like:

Self-awareness
Empathy
Community-mindedness
Passion
Resilience

We’ve got an entire collection of blog posts on how to structure the perfect college application essay—if you’re applying to Princeton, we highly recommend you start here. At the end of the day, Character is also a way of capturing your entire story, of connecting all of the different threads into one compelling narrative that presents you as someone who will contribute something to one of the most selective universities in the world.

Princeton’s supplemental essay prompts for 2023-2024

In addition to the personal essay, Princeton University will require you to submit a graded academic paper with your application, a short essay on your decided track of study, 2 additional supplemental essays, and 3 short-answer questions.

In this post, we’ll give you a brief overview of the supplemental prompts for this cycle. We’ve also posted a comprehensive guide here to answering these questions with breakdowns, ideas, and samples for all of the prompt.

Below are all of the prompts for this admissions cycle:

For A.B. Degree Applicants or Those Who Are Undecided

As a research institution that also prides itself on its liberal arts curriculum, Princeton allows students to explore areas across the humanities and the arts, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. What academic areas most pique your curiosity, and how do the programs offered at Princeton suit your particular interests? (Please respond in 250 words or fewer.)

For B.S.E Degree Applicants

Please describe why you are interested in studying engineering at Princeton. Include any of your experiences in or exposure to engineering, and how you think the programs offered at the University suit your particular interests. (Please respond in 250 words or fewer.)

Your Voice

Princeton values community and encourages students, faculty, staff and leadership to engage in respectful conversations that can expand their perspectives and challenge their ideas and beliefs. As a prospective member of this community, reflect on how your lived experiences will impact the conversations you will have in the classroom, the dining hall or other campus spaces. What lessons have you learned in life thus far? What will your classmates learn from you? In short, how has your lived experience shaped you? (Please respond in 500 words or fewer.)

Princeton has a longstanding commitment to understanding our responsibility to society through service and civic engagement. How does your own story intersect with these ideals? (Please respond in 250 words or fewer.)

More About You

Please respond to each question in 50 words or fewer. There are no right or wrong answers. Be yourself!

What is a new skill you would like to learn in college?

What brings you joy?

What song represents the soundtrack of your life at this moment?

These essays cover a broad range of topics, and intersect with some of Princeton’s deepest commitments such as intellectual pluralism and service. If you’ve been reading our blog posts, you might already notice that we’ve already written extensive guides on how to approach the first question, which is just Princeton’s version of a “Why major?” essay.

For specific advice on each of these prompts, check out our full length article on Princeton’s supplemental essays here.

If you want to ensure your answers to these deceptively simple questions actually give Princeton admissions officers what they want, make sure to read through our guides, and take a look below for examples of real, successful supplemental essays.

When it comes to Princeton, every piece of your application has to be perfect. Your Academics are what gets you considered, and your Extracurriculars are what prove you’ve accomplished something unusual. But it’s your Character—exemplified mostly in your college admissions essays—that can convince college admissions committees you’re someone they want to have on campus for the next four years.

The Three Pillars of getting into Princeton: Summary

So, what does it take to get into Princeton, really?

A near perfect GPA achieved in a maximally rigorous courseload.
An SAT or ACT score well within the top 1% of test-takers.
An extracurricular profile that shows remarkable dedication, excellence, passion, and initiative.
Essays that tie together your story and convince admissions officers that you’re an interesting, unique applicant they want to have around for four years.

If that sounds tough, well, it is! So, what can you do to maximize your chances? Start preparing for all of the above as early as possible. If you want to do everything you can, we strongly recommend our tutors: they can help you ace your courses, prepare for your SAT/ACT, develop interesting extracurriculars, and write the perfect essay.

Below, we’ll get into some crucial info that can help you prepare your Princeton application, including an analysis of a real Princeton application (from one of our star tutors) and a breakdown of the Princeton application process.

What does Princeton’s admissions process look like?

In 2015, Princeton University was under review by the Office of Civil Rights for their use of race in their admission decisions. The investigation found that Princeton was in line with the current statutes regarding inclusion of race, and documents published in this investigation gave the public a better view into what the admission’s committee is like.

From these documents, we have a clear understanding of Princeton’s admissions review process:

Reader Cards Created: Once all required documentation for an application is received a “reader card” is created to summarize applicant information.

Applications Sorted by Regions: Applications are divided by region and sent to the appropriate regional team for review.

First and Second Reads: Each application is read twice. The first reader is responsible for documenting “academic achievements, applicant’s family background and reviewing the applicant’s teacher recommendations, extracurricular activities, and other accomplishments.” The second read is from a regional team coordinator who assigns academic and non-academic ratings, with 1 being the highest rating and 5 being the lowest.

Committee Review and Votes: The most promising applications for consideration go to committee review. The Dean of Admissions or Director of Admissions chair committee sessions, which also include admissions staff from several regions. The committees review the application and vote on a preliminary admissions decision.

Second Committee, if applicable: In years where more students are selected to be admitted than there are spots available, the applications go to a second stage of committee review to narrow down the class. “The second stage of committee review was also an opportunity to consider other characteristics of the admission pool, such as the number of admission offers made to prospective engineering students since it is a specialized program, or the requests of the music or athletic departments for students with relevant skills.”

Final Selection: After voting at the second stage, the final class is selected including applicants to be waitlisted.

As you can see, the process is hyper-rigorous—no surprise there! But it’s crucial to notice that it revolves around breaking applicants down into Academic and Non-Academic categories. Why? Because, in all but very rare cases, Academics are a prerequisite to getting in.

That’s why our approach puts Academics first: if you can’t lock down your GPA and test scores, you’re going to have little chance of getting past the Princeton admissions officers First and Second reads.

Worried about your grades or test scores? The best solution is to work with one of our expert tutors—many of whom are Princeton students themselves!

Guide to the Princeton interview (from an actual Princeton interviewer!)

The interview isn’t required by Princeton during the admissions process. If you choose to complete one, it’s not heavily weighed and won’t substantially boost or hurt your chances of admittance.

As long as you are polite, enthusiastic, and well-informed about Princeton and why you’re applying, you will likely ace the interview.

As a former alumni interviewer for Princeton, I can assure you that the goal of any Princeton admissions interview is more to give applicants a better look into what it is really like to attend Princeton University. In their guide for alumni interviewers, Princeton states that “Interviewers should think of their role as being more akin to an ambassador or a reporter than a judge.”

So, the interview is a pretty low-stakes part of the application (and optional). But, it’s always nice to feel prepared.

To give you a better idea of what to expect, Princeton recommends that the interview take between 30-45 minutes. They specifically advise interviewers to wrap up the discussion at the 45 minute mark no matter how well the conversation is going.

The guide also emphasizes to interviewers that most applicants are between 17 and 18 years old and may not have the same formal interview skills one would expect when applying for a job. Interviewers should make applicants feel at ease and keep the conversations informal.

Some suggested questions include:

How do you spend your time after school?
Can you recommend a book or movie you’ve enjoyed?
What classes do you enjoy the most?
What do you do for fun?
What do you hope to get out of a college education?

However, there are no required questions or scripts that any alumni interviewer has been given. They are directed to avoid certain topics such as politics and any sensitive information, but otherwise they are free to steer the interview how they please.

Interviewers are also not given an applicant’s bio or academic record, they are not provided with any of your application materials. This means you’ll have to take a little bit of time to get them up to speed on who you are and what you do.

Once the interview is complete, the interviewer will write a one page summary of their discussion that will be added to your application materials. In their guidebook, Princeton admissions specifically asks interviewers to comment on:

The interviewers’ impression of the candidate’s personal qualities, with supporting examples when possible. Is this someone you could imagine interacting positively and contributing to campus activities?
Unusual circumstances about the applicant’s background, local area, experiences, or accomplishments that you believe it would be helpful for admission officers to know. Were there particular limitations or special opportunities that impacted this student’s experiences?
Your sense of the student’s intellectual curiosity. Can they effectively discuss a favorite academic area? Can they describe in some detail a project or paper that they have worked on that was particularly interesting to them? Is there a book, film or work of art that has been meaningful to them that they are excited to discuss?

Real profiles of admitted Princeton applicants

Every Princeton admit looks a bit different, but each has several characteristics: academic excellence, extracurricular distinction, and character.

To give you some examples, we’ll turn to some of our many talented Princeton tutors. You can read more about their stories here: “How I got into Princeton”

Elizabeth didn’t just have a perfect 4.0 GPA and 36 ACT: she also demonstrated academic excellence through 16 AP Courses. She also pursued art from a young age, dedicating 10+ hours weekly and being featured in school art shows while also captaining her JV field hockey team.

Harry, a UK student, was one of only 8 students in his year to attain all A*s (the highest grade) on his GCSE A-levels, while also achieving awards for his work in Physics and History. Aside from academic excellence, Harry represented England internationally in Track and Field as one of top 4 performers in the country.

Justin had a 35 ACT, 4.0 unweighted GPA, and was very involved in the California Cadet Corps: by their senior year, they were both the Battalion Commander and Brigade Commander, making them the highest ranking officer in San Bernardino County.

Alyssa had a perfect 4.0 unweighted GPA and a 36 ACT while also holding 7 state titles in public speaking and debate.

We’ve got lots more profiles that you can check out, but you can notice a trend: each of these Princeton admits had jaw-dropping academic achievements and incredible distinction in at least one other area.

If you’re impressed, don’t forget that all of those Princeton students profiled in “How I got into Princeton” are our tutors! Interested with working with academic, test prep, and college essay tutors with these kinds of qualifications? Easy: just contact us here.

Next Steps

With an acceptance rate of just 5.6%, getting into a dream school like Princeton University is no easy task. Here are some next steps you can take to improve your chances of getting in.

Overall academic success is critical to admissions at Princeton University. Check out academic subject tutoring for your student here.
Having a top performing SAT or ACT score can only make you a more competitive applicant. We can help you reach that score, consult with a test prep expert to see if individual tutoring or prep courses would be right for you.
Your personal essay can demonstrate your character and highlight your skills better than any part of your application. Our top tutors can also help your students perfect their personal essays. Schedule your initial consultation here.

If you’re in the process of applying, there are few better resources than real sample essays that worked to get other students into Ivy+ schools. Fortunately, we’ve got over 50 real essays for you to use as examples: click the link below to download them for free.

How to get into Princeton 2023-2024