Princeton is an Ivy League school in Princeton, New Jersey. It is a prestigious school known for its competitive environment and intense academic programs. They also have a checkered past with early action applications, which you can read about here. The acceptance rate for the class of 2024 was 5.5%.
Princeton’s supplement is broken out into three separate questions of varying length. Let’s take a look:
Extracurricular Activity and Work Experience:
Briefly elaborate on an activity, organization, work experience, or hobby that has been particularly meaningful to you. (Please respond in about 150 words)
The keyword here is meaningful. Princeton is giving you four options, which is good. Extracurricular activities are fair game, but we would avoid writing about a volunteer experience unless you’ve done a tremendous amount of work in your community. Don’t write about a service trip.
Choose the “thing” that means to most to you, not the thing that you think makes you sound smart. From there, tell a story with a beginning, middle, and end. Explain why you’re choosing what you chose by illuminating an experience that was especially fun, memorable, challenging, or rewarding. Don’t break from! Use the details of the story to shine a light on the soft skills that help you succeed.
Your Voice.
At Princeton, we value diverse perspectives and the ability to have respectful dialogue about difficult issues. Share a time when you had a conversation with a person or a group of people about a difficult topic. What insight did you gain, and how would you incorporate that knowledge into your thinking in the future? (250 words)
The only important sentence in this prompt is the second one: Share a time when you had a conversation with a person or a group of people about a difficult topic. Start by thinking about a time when you had a conversation with someone who is different than you or a time when you and someone like-minded tried to unpack a difficult topic or situation. Instead of trying to answer the questions about insight and future knowledge, tell them the story about the conversation. You might have had an experience that helped you gain empathy for someone whose background is not the same as yours, or maybe you had an eye-opening conversation with someone about your own views that needed to be examined. Do not break form, and explain the experience in vivid detail.
Also, we really REALLY understand the subtext of this question. And before we get into it, we just have to say Princeton, we love you. We really do. You’re one of our favorite New Jersey schools. We’ve sent many students your way. But we think this is a pretty rich question coming from a school whose campus has 9% black students and 4% black professors. We’re seeing a lot of similar questions this year and would like to formally challenge all colleges who ask them to evaluate the diversity of their faculty and current student body and make meaningful changes before asking teenagers to explain what they’re doing in the fight for racial justice in this country. We wouldn’t refer to the use of racial slurs as respectful dialogue, but okay.
Princeton has a longstanding commitment to service and civic engagement. Tell us how your story intersects (or will intersect) with these ideals. (250 words)
For this prompt, tell a story about either community service or civic engagement. But let’s discuss community service. There is a long-standing belief that community service gets kids into college. This is largely untrue, and writing about service trips tends to fall into the category of voluntourism. Google it if you’re unfamiliar.
We do, however, love to see students engage with their actual community. How have strived to make your school or neighborhood better? A continued commitment to improving the conditions of your immediate surroundings is what you should write about here.
Instead of writing about how your story will intersect with Princeton’s values, simply tell the story about your civic engagement. Instead of writing a vague wrap up about the entire experience, focus on one day or experience and take the reader through everything.
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?
This is Princeton’s best question. There are no wrong answers here, but you should back into this question by ensuring that you can work on your new skill on Princeton’s campus. An academic program is the most obvious space to hone it, but there might be something you want to glean from an extracurricular activity. They want to know that you’re a good fit for the school, so don’t tell them that you want to learn how to tame lions, as this is sadly not something that Princeton can provide for you.
What brings you joy?
**Watches “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” once.** We’re willing to bet that something comes to mind here, so go with that. It doesn’t have to be cheesy, but it’s okay if it is.
What song represents the soundtrack of your life at this moment?
As long as you avoid anything that is A) controversial or B) overplayed, you should be good to go. You don’t want to pick something that the admissions team might have an opinion about, like Taylor Swift’s new album. This is not the question that gets you into Princeton, so don’t overthink it. If you’re stuck, make a list of ten songs that might work and pick the best one.
Princeton is one of the hardest schools to get into in the country. Read through your common app essay before you start writing to ensure that you’re not doubling down on any information.
If you want help, contact us here.