Princeton University

49 Princeton Essay Samples

Updated for the 2024-2025 admissions cycle.

About Princeton

Founded in 1746, Princeton University is one of the oldest colleges in America, and it’s steeped in a rich history. Known for its wide range of interdisciplinary offerings, this New Jersey-based school has approximately 40 undergraduate concentrations. Princetonians benefit from smaller class sizes, specialized teacher attention, and an abundance of research possibilities. The school is known for its heavy focus on undergraduates. It’s thus no surprise that so many successful alumni have come out of Princeton, including three Supreme Court justices!

At a glance…

Acceptance Rate

5%

Tuition

$48,502

Average Cost

$9,836

Average SAT

1506

Average ACT

34

Location

Princeton, NJ

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Real Essays from Princeton Admits

Prompt: Princeton has a longstanding commitment to service and civic engagement. Tell us how your story intersects (or will intersect) with these ideals.

The leaves crunched beneath my boots as I ascended the stone steps. Above me, squirrels zipped through the trees. I was hiking through Bach Ma National Park with my World Wildlife Federation group in search for traps and snares. The park was protected land, but illegal poaching was rampant. Wire traps were strung along the forest bed, ready to capture wild animals to be sold on the black market. It was just another threat to an animal population already endangered by expanding agriculture and infrastructure developments.

As we stopped for a break, our mentor told stories of how she used to roam the forests, waiting until sundown to see if the elusive saolas would come out. Her eyes lit up as she talked of their unicorn-like horns and striking white streaks. It seemed downright magical to me that such an animal was only discovered 30 years ago, and equally tragic that it had already reached critically endangered status in that time. 

Over a year has passed since this hike, yet I still think about it all the time. Our work inspired me to build an adaptive animal sound recognition system — one that could gather real-time data about fauna populations in a non-invasive manner. For me, the key to conservation lies at the nexus of innovation and policy. I'm eager to harness the power of technology to protect natural habitats. But I'm also excited to advocate for government initiatives that ensure these spaces remain sustainable for generations to come.


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Essay by Rosie

Statistics & Data Science + Ethics, Politics & Economics (and Musician?) @ Yale :D

Prompt: 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?

What would a tenth grader do if asked to lead a discussion on a topic of their choice, and they chose to discuss contraception? And not just contraception as a general topic, but as a means of population control?

That was me, in my sophomore English class. I entered class confident that I knew the answer to the question of “reproduction with respect to poverty and climate change.” The previous year, I had studied the causes of global poverty through statistics. My analysis convinced me that high birth rate is a primary cause of poverty. The solution was clear: birth control policies are needed to prevent overpopulation and climate disaster. I was eager to share this revelation with my peers.

As I sat in a circle with my 24 classmates, I presented my case, confident my argument would be as logical to each of them as it was to me. In a country where the average number of children per family is 1.9, I assumed my peers would have no qualms about restricting family size, especially in the face of climate change. Contrary to my expectations, objections erupted immediately. “What if contraception is against my religion?” “Haven’t people resorted to sex-selective abortion when forced to limit family size?” “Don’t you care about freedom of choice too?”

As I grew more uncomfortable with the challenging questions, I realized that the perspectives of each of my classmates had been influenced by their individual backgrounds, religious beliefs, and ethical codes. The greatest impression on me was from a student who remained silent but was obviously uncomfortable. That afternoon, I was informed that she had six siblings and came from a deeply religious family.

I learned that complex global problems can be solved only by considering diverse perspectives and respecting other people’s beliefs. While statistics may serve as the groundwork for solutions, people are much more than numbers. As a future scientist, I will examine problems from all angles, seek collaboration, and utilize multiple approaches to find optimal solutions. Data may seem straightforward, but solutions can be nuanced.


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Essay by Z.L.

Dancing, crafting, and studying Computer Science at Stanford!

Prompt: Briefly elaborate on an activity, organization work experience, or hobby that has been particularly meaningful to you.

As someone who finds joy in helping others, I value community service as an immeasurably rewarding experience to give back while gaining interpersonal skills. Despite these benefits, many of my peers do not have the time or resources to volunteer. As a part of Passion Impact’s Volunteer Event Program, I make community service accessible to every student by organizing monthly volunteer opportunities. We’ve facilitated 24+ service and civic engagement events over the past 1.5 years, immensely increasing community engagement within our student population. Recent events include writing letters to seniors, fundraising for Make-A-Wish, and packaging free period products. Particularly in 2020, I led online programming for students to connect and volunteer virtually during social isolation. By encouraging youth to become active volunteers, I strive to instill leadership, self-awareness, and community accountability within the next generation of changemakers. Moreover, my responsibilities within Passion Impact– planning events, speaking at fundraisers, leading nonprofit-wide meetings– have helped me build foundational leadership and career skills like public speaking and professional collaboration that I carry over to my other community work. Most importantly, I’ve gained a deeper appreciation for the external and internal impacts of volunteerism that ultimately strengthens us as an individual, community, and world.


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Essay by JenniferT

Yale + CS + Environmentalism!

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