UNDERGRADUATE ADMISSIONS GUIDE
Princeton has about 5,200 undergraduates, and every senior writes a thesis or completes a substantial independent project. Start here to understand how you’d study, then prepare each part of your application.
Fall 2027 entry
GET TO KNOW THE EDUCATION
You apply to Princeton University, not to a department. You’ll study for a Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) or a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (B.S.E.), and in your last two years you’ll do independent research in your department.
FIRST YEAR
Every first-year student takes a writing seminar. You can also choose from about 75 first-year seminars, each limited to 15 students and taught by Princeton faculty.
YOUR MAJOR
B.S.E. students choose a major after their first year, and A.B. students after their second. What you list on your application doesn’t commit you.
JUNIOR AND SENIOR YEARS
Planning starts in junior year, with a research project known as the junior paper. As a senior, you’ll write a thesis, or complete a substantial project in some engineering departments, guided one-on-one by a faculty member.
A.B. students take courses across several broad areas and become proficient in another language. B.S.E. students share a base in math, physics, computing, and chemistry or molecular biology, and take at least seven humanities and social science courses.
On your application: You pick the A.B., the B.S.E., or undecided, as well as the departments that interest you. Princeton says these choices don’t affect your chances or commit you to a course of study.
If engineering draws you: Princeton looks closely at B.S.E. applicants’ math and science background. The degree takes 36 courses, including four semesters of math and two of physics.
UNDERSTAND WHAT PRINCETON CONSIDERS
Princeton has no formula for weighting the parts of an application. It calls your transcript the most important part, then considers every other piece and each applicant’s particular strengths.
YOUR CLASSES
Princeton expects English, math, a foreign language, lab science, and history where possible, and looks for students who took the honors, AP, or dual-enrollment courses available to them.
Letrado’s adviceTake the most demanding classes you can handle well at your school. If it offers few advanced courses, your counselor’s school profile can explain that.
YOUR CURIOSITY
Princeton values liveliness of mind, motivation, creativity, perseverance, and independent thought. It calls intellectual curiosity and academic excellence the most important factors in its decisions.
Letrado’s adviceShow curiosity through actions: a question you kept following, a source you tracked down, a draft you rewrote. That says more than calling yourself curious.
BEYOND THE CLASSROOM
Princeton looks for students who make a difference in their schools and communities, and asks about your leadership, interests, special skills, and other involvements.
Letrado’s adviceDescribe what you actually did, for whom, and for how long. Paid work and family responsibilities belong in this picture too.
WHAT PRINCETON DESCRIBES
Unless you opt out, you may be emailed an invitation to meet a member of the Princeton Alumni Schools Committee.
An informal conversation about what matters to you, with time for your own questions.
Opting out won’t put you at a disadvantage. Alumni reach most applicants, but Princeton can’t promise everyone an interview, since it depends on alumni near you. If you aren’t offered one, that won’t count against you either. None take place on campus.
CLASS OF 2030 PROFILE
Princeton’s statistics describe who enrolled. They don’t say how many students applied or were admitted.
PLAN THE APPLICATION
Apply through the Common App, or the QuestBridge Application if you’re a QuestBridge finalist, with the Princeton-specific questions. If Princeton admits you early, you still have until May 1 to decide.
Single-Choice Early Action Next deadline
Nov 1, 2026Regular Decision
Jan 1, 2027Applying early to Princeton rules out early applications to other private U.S. colleges, even nonbinding ones. You can still apply early to public universities, service academies, universities outside the U.S., and colleges with rolling admission, if the decision isn’t binding.
The Common App or QuestBridge Application, plus the Princeton-specific questions. All low-income students, and anyone who is serving or has served in the U.S. military, can use Princeton’s own fee waiver.
Required: a graded paper of at least one page from an English, social studies, or history class in your last three years of school.
Your transcript, school report, counselor recommendation, and midyear report, plus letters from two teachers of higher-level courses in different core subjects.
Optional for fall 2027 entry, and applying without scores won’t put you at a disadvantage. Princeton will require them again for fall 2028 entry.
After you apply, you may be invited to talk with a Princeton graduate. You can opt out without any disadvantage.
English tests: If English isn’t your native language and your school doesn’t teach in English, take the TOEFL, IELTS Academic, Duolingo English Test, or PTE Academic by your deadline. Three years at a secondary school that teaches mainly in English exempts you.
The same review: Princeton reviews every application in the same way, whatever your citizenship or country.
Fee waivers: They’re open to international students applying for financial aid who come from a lower-income background, or for whom the fee is a hardship.
Your graded paper: Include the whole paper, the prompt, your grade, and any comments. If your school doesn’t grade work, send teacher comments and a rubric instead.
QuestBridge finalists: Princeton’s National College Match is binding, with all materials due November 1. If you rank Princeton and don’t match, you’re considered in Regular Decision automatically.
If you’re deferred: Your early application moves into Regular Decision, and Princeton considers it again with that group.
Arts supplement: If you’ve devoted significant time to an art form, you can send optional work by November 6 for Early Action or January 8 for Regular Decision.
WRITE IN YOUR OWN VOICE
Up to 1,150 words in allTwo essays of up to 250 words, one of 400 to 500 words, and three short answers of up to 50 words each.
Princeton asks these questions alongside the Common App or QuestBridge Application, and when you apply, you certify that your essays are your own work. Its application pages set no AI rule, but in an August 2025 blog post, its dean of admission cautioned against using AI in your application.
Letrado’s adviceAI can help you brainstorm, check spelling and grammar, or understand a topic, but every sentence you submit must be your own. Given the dean’s caution, you may want to leave AI out of this application altogether. Write the way you talk, with plain words and specific details.
A.B. and undecided applicants say which academic areas most pique their curiosity and how Princeton’s programs suit them. B.S.E. applicants explain why they want to study engineering at Princeton, including any experience of it.
Princeton asks how your lived experience has shaped you and how it will affect your conversations in class, in the dining hall, or elsewhere on campus. It also asks what your classmates will learn from you. A few real moments will say more than a summary of your life.
Princeton describes a longstanding commitment to service and civic engagement, and asks how your own story intersects with those ideals. Everyday responsibilities to your family or community can be an honest answer.
A new skill you’d like to learn in college, what brings you joy, and the song that represents the soundtrack of your life at this moment.
Princeton prefers thesis-driven analytical writing to science research, creative writing, personal narratives, or papers mostly focused on data analysis. The paper should be written in English originally, not translated.
MAKE ROOM FOR THE FINANCIAL QUESTION
Admission is need-blind, so asking for aid won’t count against you. If you’re admitted, Princeton meets 100% of your demonstrated need with grants, not loans, under the same policy for international students.
U.S. FAMILY INCOME UP TO $150,000
family contribution for most U.S. families, when assets are under $175,000.
U.S. FAMILY INCOME OF $250,000
average family contribution, with assets under $175,000 and one child in college. At $200,000, it’s $12,500.
INTERNATIONAL FAMILIES
Princeton meets the full need of every admitted international student, just as it does for U.S. students.
For most U.S. families, the contribution is 25% of income above $150,000, plus 5% of student and parent assets above $175,000. Your family’s main home and retirement savings don’t count as assets. For families outside the U.S., Princeton adjusts the contribution for the cost of living.
How Princeton sets the family contribution (opens in a new tab)PUBLISHED 2026–27 COST · BEFORE AID
$94,624Tuition is $68,140. The rest covers housing, food, fees, books, and personal expenses. Travel isn’t included and may range from $50 to $5,000.
For fall 2027 entry, use the 2027–28 budget when Princeton publishes it. Without family health coverage, add the Student Health Plan: $4,220 in 2026–27, with aid available.
Princeton’s student budget (opens in a new tab)Letrado’s adviceTry Princeton’s net price calculator as a family before you apply. It’s built for families in the U.S. and Canada, so if you live elsewhere, apply for aid anyway: asking won’t hurt your chances.
Princeton estimates the average grant for an aid student at $83,000, and 89% of recent seniors graduated debt free.
Princeton’s cost and aid overview (opens in a new tab)ADMITTED TO PRINCETON · N.S.
He went to a CBSE school in India and was applying abroad for the first time. His application leaned on grades, coding competitions, and technical terms, while his interest in language, which came from family life and translation, barely appeared. We helped him connect the two.
He had built a simple tool to help younger cousins practice pronunciation in two languages. Early drafts called it an education platform. He rewrote it with its real number of users, fewer than thirty, and dropped claims of learning impact, since it had never been formally evaluated.
Relatives ignored instructions he thought were obvious, accents challenged the model, and some corrections felt discouraging. Those scenes let him write about listening, usability, and language without pretending the project was a startup.
His parents were planning a large expense and hoped for a clear computer science path. He compared computer science, linguistics, independent work, and breadth requirements. He showed how linguistics strengthened his technical interest, and he made the final preference order himself.
Princeton’s own advice (opens in a new tab) is to create an application that helps it see your achievements, inside the classroom and out, in their true context. Describing a project at its real size does exactly that.
HIS PRINCETON OUTCOME
Offered a place at Princeton University
HIS CHOICE: PRINCETONPrinceton University · Photo: Ken Lund / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0. Cropped.
He compared three offers with his academic interests in view. MIT and Stanford said no. He had talked through results like these before decisions arrived, and treated them as normal results in an uncertain process.
ALSO ADMITTED TO
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