Princeton is one of the best universities in the world, and it’s as highly in demand for transfer as it is for first-years. In this post, we’ll break down what you need to know to apply to Princeton as a transfer and have a fighting chance of admission.
In 2022, Princeton announced that they would begin scaling up their transfer enrollment, increasing the number of transfer in the undergraduate community. However, this all sounds a lot more exciting than the actual numbers in play. By “significantly expand,” they were talking about moving from 40 transfer students (total, not per year) enrolled at any given time to 100. More than double? Yes. Worth jumping for joy, though? Far from it.
The most recent published transfer application acceptance rate was very low. In the 2022-2023 application cycle, 1588 students applied for transfer. Ultimately, only 49 were admitted, or a measly 3%. Testing is not required for students applying for transfer in the 2024-2025 application cycle, and eligible students need to have at least one year of college credits under their belt before enrolling at Princeton. Students can apply to enter as sophomores or juniors, and only for fall admission.
The statistics on applying to Princeton as a transfer can be intimidating, but it is possible to pull it off if you have exceptional grades, a strong narrative, a clear academic path, and you play your cards right. Read on to learn how.
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While the framework for your transfer application to Princeton will be the quantitative aspects of your personality (the grades, the scores, etc.), the core of it will be your stories. More specifically, your essays.
Nearly everyone applying to Princeton as a transfer is technically qualified, but those who get in show more than just the ability to excel at Princeton. They illustrate how they’ll become part of the community, bettering Princeton through being there. The following essays are where to show that you are just that kind of person.
The Essays
In your essays for Princeton, it is important to show focus, drive, and a clear connection to the specific academic offerings at Princeton in your prospective area of study. If you apply as a potential history major and write about how cool history is, that isn’t compelling. You can study history nearly anywhere. Same goes for social stuff. You’re in college. Colleges are communities. Simply saying you want Princeton’s community doesn’t really tell them anything about you, or why, or what. In these essays we want to make sure that the why, the what, and the you, are super strong. Now, let’s get into it.
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 about 500 words)
This is a big essay — 500 words. It’s also easy to try to do a lot in it. “What lessons have you learning in life thus far?” is a massive question, and you could try to list five or 10, or even more, lessons that you want Princeton to know you know. We caution you, though, that doing that would be the wrong approach. More is not more here. Depth is what you want, not breadth.
But how do you accomplish that? Good question. We challenge you to focus on the last question in the list, “how has your lived experience shaped you?”
Pick one story — yes, one — that answers this single question. Then, you can use that story, told in an impactful and vivid and immersive way, to answer the other questions Princeton has for you, like lessons you’ve learned, what you’ll teach to classmates, and how you’ll contribute to the community.
Centering the supplement on one core story creates a focused structure that makes it easier to show, not tell, which is exactly the approach you want to take. You want to immerse the reader in the story you’re sharing, and this gives you the space to do that.
Finally, you’ll want to make sure to connect your narrative directly to the Princeton community. Be specific about how you’ll engage. It’s not just about having conversations in the dining room, but maybe eating at a language table. “Doing clubs,” isn’t compelling, but deep interest in a particular student group or two is. So, make your story compelling by being specific about your past, your present, and where you see yourself at Princeton.
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 about 250 words)
This supplement is awesome if you have something to say…and you’re applying to Princeton so you should. But let’s pretend for a moment that you haven’t locked into your community service and civic engagement groove yet in college? Step one, here, is to make sure you have something to write about. So, if you haven’t been engaged, get engaged. Look back at what you were involved with in high school (maybe poverty, food insecurity, or educational equity), and find a way to engage with the same — or similar — cause in college. Doing this is important because it gives you a crucial tool for this supplement: story.
Yes, like the previous supplement, story must come central. It’ll be shorter here, though, given that the supplement is half as long as the previous one. What you don’t need to do here, however, is connect your engagement explicitly to Princeton. You can, but you don’t have to in order to fulfill the brief. Instead, focus your space on your story and the idea that giving back isn’t just something you do, it’s who you are.
Then a series of 50-word responses:
Such fun or so annoying? You decide! We like to think that these are a ton of fun to play around with. Three to five sentences, one focused idea or vignette, and a chance to be a little quirky in an application that is mostly serious because it’s Princeton. <- that’s 49 words by the way.
What is a new skill you would like to learn in college?
What is a skill, anyway? Students tend to want to focus on something classroom oriented for this short answer, which can work, but it can also feel a little performative to talk about getting better at studying or taking neater notes. Instead, think beyond the classroom. Maybe it’s finally mastering the organizational system of a library, or becoming your floors microwave pasta chef. Whatever is here should be true to you, but not focused on your flaws. Have fun with it.
What brings you joy?
Do not say homework. Seriously. We know that you weren’t going to do that anyway, but we just want to make it explicitly clear that talking about assigned work isn’t ok here. Instead, focus on what you do when no one is looking. Maybe it’s making playlists for your friends, or hosting people you care about for dinner (even if that’s just chips and 7-layer-dip), or walking your family dog.
What song represents the soundtrack of your life at this moment?
Tough question! If anything trips people up on the Princeton application, it is, perhaps shockingly, this. We’re not going to make this torturous. Just be honest, but don’t be extra. Be true to who you are, and consider focusing on a particular lyric that hits for you. For us? We’re feeling “Northwest Passage” by Stan Rogers.
What are your plans during and after your higher education experience? Please respond in 150 words or fewer.
This is a career question. They don’t expect you to have your whole life planned, but Princeton expects more forward vision from potential transfers than from first-years. Try placing yourself in Princeton, or beyond, and painting that picture for the reader of how a moment of your life may one-day look.
Graded Written Paper
One of the strangest pieces of the Princeton transfer application is their requirement that applicants submit a graded written paper. We love this, though, because it lets you show your chops.
Start by reading the instructions — carefully. They are very specific about the types of papers you can submit, and the format they want to see. More is not more, and following the length guideline of 1-2 pages is especially critical. Why? Because they don’t have a lot of time, and you not following directions would communicate that you don’t respect their time, their guidelines, nor the other applicants. When you submit something outside of the guidelines, particularly in length, you’re saying “I deserve more.” And that doesn’t play well.
So, follow instructions. Length guidelines, yes, but also topic and format.
Final Thoughts
If you are considering transferring, start talking to your college counselor, your favorite professor, and your high school as soon as you start seriously contemplating a transfer. It is extremely important to begin tracking down documents and drumming up recommendations far in advance of any deadline, even if you aren’t sure when, or even if, you will apply for transfer. And, for Princeton, it’s basically mandatory.
Getting into Princeton as a transfer is hard, but it’s also possible. Contact us to access your ideal strategy.