So you want to apply to Princeton? Here are some tips and tricks to make your supplemental essays stand out to admissions officers! Prompt: 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 500 words or fewer.) What the Prompt is About: Lots of schools have what we like to call a “community” prompt, or a prompt that asks how you, with your unique skills and experiences, will impact the Princeton community. In other words, Princeton knows you’ll benefit from their education—but how will they benefit from you? This prompt also wants you to share extensive details about your life experiences (academic or otherwise) to help them better understand what you’ll bring to the table. Tips: Before working on this prompt, brainstorm key moments in your life. Try to pick three important experiences that have led to unique realizations or made you change your perspective dramatically. You might want to discuss a trip to another country, a course you took in school, or an extracurricular activity. Come up with three “lessons” you’ve learned before you write. Make sure that each “lesson” is something that would benefit an academic community, For example, maybe a trip to Egypt helped you better understand how to engage with different cultures and religions. Organize your essay wisely. As this is a longer prompt (500 words max), we recommend splitting it up into five paragraphs including: an introduction, three body paragraphs that discuss your three “lessons,” and a conclusion paragraph that ties it all together! Prompt: 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 250 words or fewer.) What the Prompt is About: Princeton is basically asking what your ethical code is and how it aligns with Princeton’s. Concretely, it wants to know how you have impacted others through “service” and “engagement,” or helping others. Tips: Define your ethical code. What are you personally committed to? How do you strive to improve your community or the lives of others? Use evidence: briefly describe an event or experience when you had a positive impact on others. Be descriptive. Although this prompt is shorter (250 words max), try to use vivid, descriptive language when describing your experience so your readers will feel like they are “in your shoes.” “More About You” Prompt: 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? What brings you joy? What song represents the soundtrack of your life at this moment?What the Prompt is About: Princeton wants you to be as honest as possible to get to know you. They want raw, creative, and surprising answers that make you stand out as one-of-a-kind! Tips: Be as truthful as possible. Don’t make anything up—the more open you are, the more likely it is that no one else has the same answer as you! Go deep. Try to come up with answers that people might not know just from looking at you, but reveal who you are on the inside. Think outside the box: Surprise your readers—you can even incorporate humor into your responses to make the admissions officers remember you! For A.B. Degree Applicants or Those Who Are Undecided Prompt: As a research institution that also prides itself on its liberal arts curriculum, Princeton allows students to explore areas across the humanities and the arts, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. What academic areas most pique your curiosity, and how do the programs offered at Princeton suit your particular interests? (Please respond in 250 words or fewer.) For B.S.E Degree Applicants Prompt: Please describe why you are interested in studying engineering at Princeton. Include any of your experiences in or exposure to engineering, and how you think the programs offered at the University suit your particular interests. (Please respond in 250 words or fewer.) What the Prompts are About: If you are applying to Princeton for a Bachelor of the Arts (A.B. Degree), an undecided major, or an engineering degree (B.S.E. Degree) Princeton wants to know more about your academic interests and how their offerings suit your goals. Tips: Do your research. Be sure to thoroughly research your major or academic interests and be informed of its requirements before writing. Pick some courses! Review Princeton’s course offerings and have fun picking 2-3 courses that interest you. Let Princeton know why the courses excite you! Define your academic goals. Try to come up with a five and ten-year “game plan” so that Princeton knows how and why they fit into it.
