Princeton is arguably the best University in the USA. It is consistently ranked in the top 3 along with Harvard and Yale. However Princeton is more focused on undergraduate education than them. Princeton is centered around a strong liberal Arts and Sciences core. with most classes taught as seminars.
Admission to Princeton is extremely competitive with an acceptance rate of only 7%.
Princeton also uses the common application but has a comprehensive supplement.
The essays you will need to write are:
1.
Activities- Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences that was particularly meaningful to you.
(Response required in about 150 words)
2. Summers - Please tell us how you have spent the last two summers (or vacations between school years), including any jobs you have held.
(Response required in about 150 words.)
3. Your Voice- In addition to the essay you have written for the Common Application, please write an essay of about 500 words (no more
than 650 words and no less than 250 words). Using one of the themes below as a starting point, write about a person, event
or experience that helped you define one of your values or in some way changed how you approach the world. Please do not
repeat, in full or in part, the essay you wrote for the Common Application.
1.Tell us about a person who has influenced you in a significant way
.
2. "One of the great challenges of our time is that the disparities we face today have more complex causes and
point less straightforwardly to solutions."
Omar Wasow, assistant professor of politics, Princeton University; founder of Blackplanet.com.
This quote is taken from Professor Wasow's January 2014 speech at the Martin Luther King Day
celebration at Princeton University.
3. "Princeton in the Nation’s Service" was the title of a speech given by Woodrow Wilson on the 150th
anniversary of the University. It became the unofficial Princeton motto and was expanded for the
University’s 250th anniversary to "Princeton in the nation’s service and in the service of all nations."
Woodrow Wilson, Princeton Class of 1879, served on the faculty and was Princeton’s president from
1902–1910.
4. "Culture is what presents us with the kinds of valuable things that can fill a life. And insofar as we can
recognize the value in those things and make them part of our lives, our lives are meaningful."
Gideon Rosen, Stuart Professor of Philosophy, chair of the Council of the Humanities and director of
the Program in Humanistic Studies, Princeton University.
5. Using a favorite quotation from an essay or book you have read in the last three years as a starting point, tell
us about an event or experience that helped you define one of your values or changed how you approach
the world. Please write the quotation, title and author at the beginning of your essay.
The way to answer such an open ended prompt is to first make a list of your accomplishments and characteristics you want to showcase - especially those that Princeton values.
Focus on intelligence, perseverance, accomplished and ambitious. Select incidents, or accomplishments that showcase thes qualities and write a narrative around them . Princeton attracts a lot of students from privilaged backgrounds and if you fit that category, it ids important to show that you are aware of your status and are interested in helping those less fortunate. Do talk about your social service work or volunteer efforts.
