Princeton University
recent blog posts for Princeton University
Princeton has a 4.62% acceptance rate during the 2024-2025 admissions cycle, which means it is hard to get into. But makes sense for a school that boasts famous alumni like Michelle Obama, Jeff Bezos, and the fictional Jack Donaghy. But that 4.62% number really doesn’t tell us that much other than the school is hard to get into – and we already knew that before we wrote this post, and you already knew it before you read this post. There are a lot of other data points that can give us interesting insight into how schools operate, and today we’re going to break down Princeton’s data and tell you how to apply it strategically.
Princeton is a school that needs no introduction, but let’s do it anyway. Princeton is an Ivy League research university in New Jersey. While they offer many different majors, some of the most popular are through Princeton’s School of Engineering and Applied Science. Unlike some other schools, Princeton applicants don’t apply directly to the engineering school. Instead, applicants indicate (in a non-binding way) if they intend to pursue a BSE or AB and their likely area of interest (for engineers, there is also a short essay, but more on that later). This is all non-binding and once at Princeton, it is easy to change your plans.
Princeton is an iconic university, most often associated with exceptional academics in a stunning environment that pushes students to expand beyond perceived intellectual limits. Students who seek to transfer to Princeton often do so because whatever college they are currently at isn’t, they feel, pushing them as far as they can go.
In 2025, Princeton received the largest number of applications in university history, and the overall acceptance rate for the Class of 2029 was only 4.4%. This continued a trend of a “sub 5%” acceptance rate at Princeton.