princeton university personal statement

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Graduate Program

Frequently Asked Questions for Graduate Applicants

Do i need to submit a pre-application do you pre-screen applicants, can i start in the spring term, can i attend part-time, evenings, weekends, or summers, can i transfer credits from another school to princeton toward receipt of my ph.d., do i have to have a master's degree to apply to the ph.d. program, if i apply for the ph.d. program and am not accepted, will you still consider me for the master's program, does my undergraduate degree have to be in computer science, what materials are required with my application, i applied last year and was not accepted. i want to reapply. what do i need to do, where should my application materials be submitted, can the application fee be waived, will you still review my application if i do not pay the fee, i haven't finished my degree yet. what transcript should i submit what about gpa, what about midyear grades, what should be in the personal statement.

Is the GRE general exam required?

What is the Institution Code for Princeton? Do I need to use a department code? What if I put a department code - will you still get my scores?

Must i submit toefl or ielts.

What TOEFL should I take?
I already took the CBT. Do I have to take the iBT too?

What is the minimum score for TOEFL? for IELTS?

Is there an english language requirement, what about financial aid, how will i know if all my application materials haven been received, when does application review begin, when will i know your decision, who can i contact if i have specific questions.

Do you require official transcripts?

No, you do not need to submit a pre-application. We do not pre-screen or pre-evaluate applicants.

No, admission to Princeton is for fall only. Application materials are available starting in September of each year for admission in fall of the next year.

The Ph.D. program is full-time only. Princeton does not offer evening, weekend, or summer courses.

No. All work for the Ph.D. must be done as a Princeton student. Work done previously at another institution may help you complete our program faster, but you will not be given credit for work done prior to your admission to Princeton.

No. Most of our applicants come directly from a bachelor's degree program.

No. We will only consider you for the degree track to which you have applied. Princeton allows applicants to apply to only one department and for only one degree at a time.

No. Normally, however, our applicants have a degree in computer science, engineering, science, or mathematics.

We require transcripts, TOEFL or IELTS (international students only), and three letters of recommendation. In addition, each candidate is asked to write a personal statement of interest as part of the application packet. Please complete all sections of the application. The institution code for TOEFL is 2672. No department code is required. NOTE: It is important that all materials reach us by the application deadline in order for your application to receive full consideration. The only exception is computer-based test scores for tests taken in early December. Late or missing materials will seriously hurt your chance for admission. It is your responsibility to see that we receive all materials on time.

Applicants who applied the previous year may reapply the following year. However you must complete a new application. On the first page of the application you will be asked if you have applied before. In addition, you must submit transcripts of any academic work accomplished since the date of the last application, register three recommenders, and a revised personal statement. All materials, including the application fee, are due by the application deadline.

All materials should be submitted to the Office of Graduate Admissions. Please do not send anything directly to the department.

Fee waivers based on financial hardship are available for U.S. citizens or permanent residents or for anyone that has participated in one of the programs listed on this website .

Applications cannot be submitted without payment.

Your current transcript should be submitted with your application. If you are admitted to Princeton, you will be required to submit a final transcript and proof of receipt of degree before you can register in the Fall. If your school calculates GPA on other than a 4.0 scale, include a statement of GPA with your application.

Students are able to upload their midyear grades to their applications at any time through their submitted application checklist.

The statement should not exceed 1,000 words and should describe your academic and career plans as they relate to the department, and specifically to the area(s) of computer science you are interested in studying.

Is the GRE general exam required?

We are no longer either requiring or accepting GRE general exam scores.

The Institution Code is 2672. We do not require a department code. If you enter one we will still receive your scores.

The following applicants are not required to submit English language test scores: Applicants whose primary language is English. Primary language is defined as the language that someone communicates in most frequently and in most situations when speaking, reading, and writing. Applicants whose undergraduate instruction is entirely in English as certified by the institution and for whom the degree will be awarded prior to anticipated enrollment at Princeton. Applicants whose graduate study was on a full-time basis for at least one year where instruction is entirely in English as certified by the institution. All other applicants must submit valid TOEFL, IELTS or DET scores. More information can be found here

Ph.D. applicants: The Graduate School has not set a recommended minimum score on the iBT. However, the following information may be useful. Over the last two admission seasons the average iBT TOEFL combined score for admitted students was 108, with the following average sub-scores: Listening 28, Reading 29, Speaking 24, and Writing 27. Furthermore, data from the University's English Language Program indicates that of newly enrolling internationals students, those who score below 20 on the Speaking subsection of iBT TOEFL are virtually certain to have to take an English language course during their first year of graduate study to bring their spoken proficiency up to a minimum standard. Students choosing to submit IELTS must take the Academic Test version.

Masters applicants: Masters applicants who are required to take the TOEFL must score a minimum of 28 on the spoken part of the TOEFL in order to be considered for the program. The IELTS equivalent to the TOEFL is an 8 on the speaking sub-section.

Yes. All non-native English speakers applying to the PhD program who score less than 27 on the Speaking Section of the TOEFL or 8 on the IELTS must pass Princeton's Oral Proficiency Test (POPT). The SPEAK test is given at the beginning of the first year. Students who do not pass this must take additional English classes and retake the POPT. Students who do not pass the POPT by the end of year 1 will not be readmitted for a second year of graduate study.

Masters applicants: Masters applicants who are required to take the TOEFL must score a minimum of 28 on the spoken part of the TOEFL in order to be considered for the program. The IELTS equivalent to the TOEFL is an 8 on the speaking sub-section.

All Ph.D. candidates are considered for university financial awards. These awards generally consist of tuition and health fee plus a monthly stipend for the 10 month academic year. We also encourage applicants to apply for any fellowships for which they are eligible, i.e., NSF, NDSEG, or comparable international fellowships. Summer support is determined separately. Financial support for students is reviewed each year. Master's candidates are normally offered financial aid via teaching assistantships (if available). Non-native English speakers must pass the University's English screening exam before they can be offered a teaching assistantship.

Applicants who use the online application will be able to use "track your status" to see what materials have been received. We are unable to track materials for applicants who print out the application and send it in.

All applications are first processed by the Office of Graduate Admissions. The department will receive all files together in mid-January.

We make our final decisions in mid-February. Admits will be notified by email from the department by the end of February. All other applicants will be notified by the Graduate School by mid-March.

First contact our graduate coordinator. She can be reached by email at: [email protected].

Do you require official transcripts?

At the time of application, transcripts do not need to be official. Only if you are offered admission and accept our offer will you be required to submit official final transcripts . For more information, please visit https://gradschool.princeton.edu/transcripts .

Advisor Corner: Crafting Your Personal Statement

New section.

Being able to articulate an answer to the question “why medicine?” is critical for an applicant as they apply to medical school. One of the first opportunities for an applicant to convey this message to admissions officers is through their personal comments essay in the AMCAS application. We asked three pre-health advisors how they advise their students to put their best self forward when crafting their personal statements.

The personal statement is an unfamiliar genre for most students—you’ve practiced writing lab reports, analytical essays, maybe even creative fiction or poetry, but the personal statement is something between a reflective, analytical narrative, and an argumentative essay. You want to reveal something about yourself and your thoughts around your future in medicine while also making an argument that provides evidence supporting your readiness for your career. Well ahead of when you’re writing your personal statement, consider taking classes that require you to create and support arguments through writing, or those that ask you to reflect on your personal experiences to help you sharpen these skills.

As you draft your essay, you may want to include anecdotes from your experiences. It’s easiest to recall these anecdotes as they happen so it can be helpful to keep a journal where you can jot down stories, conversations, and insights that come to you. This could be recounting a meaningful conversation that you had with someone, venting after an especially challenging experience, or even writing about what keeps you going at times when you feel in danger of giving up. If it’s more comfortable, take audio notes by talking into your phone.

While reading sample personal statements can sometimes make a student feel limited to emulating pieces that already exist, I do think that reading others’ reflective writing can be inspirational. The Aspiring Docs Diaries blog written by premeds is one great place to look, as are publications like the Bellevue Literary Review and Pulse , which will deliver a story to your inbox every week. Check with your pre-health advisor to see if they have other examples that they recommend.

Rachel Tolen, Assistant Director and Premedical Advisor, Indiana University I encourage students to think of the personal statement not just as a product. Instead, I encourage them to think of the process of writing the statement as embedded in the larger process of preparing themselves for the experience of medical school. Here are a few key tips that I share with students:

Start writing early, even months before you begin your application cycle. Expect to revise many versions of your draft over time.
Take some time to reflect on your life and goals. By the end of reading your statement, the reader should understand why you want to be a physician.
When you consider what to write, think about the series of events in your life that have led up to the point where you are applying to medical school. How did you get here? What set you on the path toward medical school? What kept you coming back, even at times when it was challenging? On the day that you retire, what do you hope you’ll be able to say you’ve achieved through your work as a physician?
Don’t waste too much time trying to think of a catchy opening or a theme designed just to set your essay apart. Applicants sometimes end up with an opening that comes across as phony and artificial because they are trying too hard to distinguish themselves from other applicants.
Just start writing. Writing is a means for thinking and reflecting. Let the theme grow out of the process of writing itself. Some of the best personal statements focus on ordinary events that many other people may have experienced, but what makes the essay stand out are the writer’s unique insights and ability to reflect on these experiences.

Dana Lovold, MPH, Career Counselor at the University of Minnesota Your personal statement can and should include more than what you’ve done to prepare for medical school. The personal statement is an opportunity to share something new about yourself that isn’t conveyed elsewhere in your application.

Advisors at the University of Minnesota employ a storytelling model to support students in finding and writing their unique personal statement. One critical aspect of storytelling is the concept of change. When a story lacks change, it becomes a recitation of facts and events, rather than a reflection of how you’ve learned and grown through your experiences. Many students express concern that their experiences are not unique and wonder how they can stand out. Focusing on change can help with this. Some questions you may want to consider when exploring ideas are:

What did you learn from the experience?
How did you change as a result of the experience?
What insight did you gain?

By sharing your thoughts on these aspects of your preparation and motivation for medicine, the reader has a deeper understanding of who you are and what you value. Then, connect that insight to how it relates to your future in the profession. This will convey your unique insight and demonstrate how you will use that insight as a physician.

In exploring additional aspects of what to write about, we also encourage students to cover these four components in the essay:

Motivation refers to a student’s ongoing preparation for the health profession and can include the initial inspiration.
Fit is determined through self-assessment of relevant values and personal qualities as they relate to the profession.
Capacity is demonstrated through holistically aligning with the competencies expected in the profession.
Vision relates to the impact you wish to make in the field.

After you finish a working draft, go back through and see how you’ve covered each of these components. Ask people who are reading your draft if they can identify how you’ve covered these elements in your essay so that you know it’s clear to others.

Statement of Values

Diversity and inclusion are central to Princeton's educational mission and its desire to serve society. Throughout the University, members of the Princeton community have a deep commitment to being inclusive.

Our Commitment to Diversity

A diverse environment is more intellectually and socially stimulating. The variety of viewpoints creates more debate and encourages people to re-examine their own positions, with the potential of leading to new insights, in and out of academic settings. Research findings on the impact of diversity (.pdf) from the fields of psychology, sociology and economics show that experiences with diversity improve one's own intellectual skills and performance, improve self-confidence, decrease negative stereotypes and biases, and create awareness of inequalities and discrimination that may be — and often are — addressed through civic action.

Fairness is a core value of the University. Students, staff and faculty applicants of all backgrounds should have an equal opportunity to earn a position at Princeton and then contribute and succeed in their future endeavors.

Princeton students should live and learn in an environment that reflects U.S. society and introduces them to the world beyond. In broadening the range of perspectives to which they're exposed, students will have a better understanding of the world and be better equipped to lead and serve others.

Because we believe — and know from research — that having a diversity of perspectives is crucial for excelling in our mission of teaching and research, we've invested in many initiatives to make the campus more welcoming to people of all backgrounds. Also recognizing that access is key to inclusion, we are working to increase both physical access to the campus — see our map of accessible routes and buildings (.pdf) — and digital accessibility

With continual attention and effort, we're aiming at making Princeton's campus demographics reflect the United States' vibrant, pluralistic society while strengthening our values in every aspect of our campus experience.

Learn more about our commitment to diversity, the key initiatives and resources that will help to build support and enrich our campus community.

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Extracurriculars.

10 Stellar Princeton University Essay Examples

What’s covered:.

Essays 1-2: Why This Major
Essay 3: Extracurricular
Essay 4: Difficult Topic
Essays 5-7: Civic Engagement
Essays 8-10: Quotation and Values
Where to Get Your Essay Edited for Free

Princeton University is consistently ranked within the top three colleges in the nation, and is world-renowned for its quality of education. Admissions is extremely selective, with an acceptance rate dropping lower every year. Since most applicants will have a strong academic profile, writing interesting and engaging essays is essential to standing out.

In this post, we’ll share Princeton essay examples that real students have submitted to give you a better idea of what makes a strong essay. We will also explain what each essay did well and where they could improve.

Please note: Looking at examples of real essays students have submitted to colleges can be very beneficial to get inspiration for your essays. You should never copy or plagiarize from these examples when writing your own essays. Colleges can tell when an essay isn’t genuine and will not view students favorably if they plagiarized.

Read our Princeton essay breakdown to get a comprehensive overview of this year’s supplemental prompts.

Essay Example #1: Why This Major

Prompt: If you are interested in pursuing a B.S.E. (Bachelor of Science in Engineering) degree, please write a 300-500 word essay describing why you are interested in studying engineering, any experiences in or exposure to engineering you have had, and how you think the programs in engineering offered at Princeton suit your particular interests. (300-500 words)

In 7th grade, I was assigned a research project. Although I didn’t know it at the time, this project would end up sparking an interest which would guide me throughout the rest of my public school career. The project was simple: using Google and other resources, I had to find a potential career I’d be interested in pursuing later in life. Being a naive 7th grader, I had virtually no idea where to start. I knew I had a strong preference for STEM, but as to which area of STEM to pursue, I was clueless. After looking at a myriad of other careers, I finally came across aerospace engineering.

At first, I was intrigued by the name. I remember thinking that it sounded awesome, and I was compelled to learn more. Fast forward a few days and many hours of research, and aerospace engineering stole my heart. When I got to high school, I took all of the classes my school offered that would be beneficial for an aerospace engineer. AP Physics, Multivariable Calculus, PLTW engineering courses, and countless others made the list, and all the while my desire to become an aerospace engineer intensified. I joined numerous STEM clubs to nurture this interest, and in doing so I not only became a better engineer, but also a better person. I also began looking into outstanding aerospace colleges, and Princeton made the very top of my list.

When I look back on it now, I’m not surprised that aerospace engineering is what called to me in that project. In fact, I’ve been fascinated with planes and rockets since a very young age! I would often build models out of LEGOs, and there are numerous times I spent way too many hours playing Kerbal Space Program. When I discovered there was a career dedicated to those parts of my personality, it makes sense that I’d be drawn to it. I find it fascinating that just by using the arsenals of math and science, we can fabricate every tool needed to explore and catalog the cosmos. If that isn’t powerful, I don’t know what is.

Although aerospace engineering has been my main interest throughout high school, I’ve also felt a pull towards mechanical engineering and robotics. Princeton is unique in that it offers a joint major in mechanical AND aerospace engineering, which is something I haven’t seen at any other school. In addition, Princeton’s certificate program in Robotics and Intelligent Systems will allow me to pursue robotics in the context of aerospace engineering. In particular, if I am admitted to Princeton University, I would love to have the opportunity to conduct research in the Intelligent Robot Motion Lab. The IRoM-Lab’s focus on how robots function in complex environments safely and efficiently has me especially excited, and I’ve come up with a few ideas of my own to be pursued.

Engineering is the driving force behind progress in society, and I am willing to do everything I can to contribute to that progress.

What the Essay Did Well

This essay does a nice job of covering each aspect of the prompt. We learn why this student wants to study aerospace engineering, what steps they have taken to explore their interest in the subject, and how they will expand on their passion at Princeton. It’s important to make sure you touch on every part of the prompt, so going through each paragraph and finding where you address each question is a nice way to check when you are editing.

Another positive aspect of this essay is the open and conversational tone. It feels like the reader is having a casual discussion with this student about where their love for engineering came from and where they hope to go with it. Using phrases like “ f ast forward a few days, ” “ in fact, ” and “ awesome ” grounds the essay by being more informal. Although you’ve been told in school informality is a bad thing, in college essays it allows you to be more open and comfortable with the admissions officers reading your work and makes you seem more like a person, and less like an application.

Finally, this student did a good job of picking something about Princeton’s engineering program that is unique . Many students reference opportunities at a school that are widely available at other colleges as well, for example an aerospace engineering club. However, this student was very clear about why they are so attracted to Princeton’s program: “ Princeton is unique in that it offers a joint major in mechanical AND aerospace engineering, which is something I haven’t seen at any other school. ” This tells us that finding a joint program is something very important to this student and that they are applying to Princeton for more than the name and recognition—they genuinely value the unique offerings this school has!

What Could Be Improved

One thing this essay could work on is showing, not telling. They tell the reader “ aerospace engineering stole my heart ,” that joining STEM clubs made them a “ better engineer, but also a better person, ” and that they have “ felt a pull towards mechanical engineering and robotics, ” just to name a few.

What we don’t know is what about aerospace engineering stole their heart; was there a particular topic, a movie they watched, or some new revelation they had from studying it? What we don’t know is how they became a better person by joining STEM clubs; did they engineer a useful tool that became implemented in their school or community? What we don’t know is what about mechanical engineering and robotics excites them; was there a specific experience that influenced them or do certain emotions overtake them when they construct a robot.

If the essay used more active language and relied more heavily on placing the reader in stories, rather than recounting their takeaways from 17 years of experience, we would have answers to those questions posed above. It can sometimes feel like you need to summarize your life experiences to make everything fit in a college essay, but we promise that if you take the time to focus on individual anecdotes and the impact they had on you, your reader will take away so much more than if you gave them a rushed summary.

Table of contents

Essay Example #2: Why This Major

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 interests? (Please respond in 250 words or fewer)

The twang of the strings as the delicately strung horsehair bow grazes the steel strings, the enraptured sensation of my hand cramping as I write, and the feeling of connection as my hands dig deep into the damp earth as I nurture my plants. As an academic and most importantly a teen my interests are bilateral. My need for stimulation and innate inquisitive nature are reflected in my academic interests as well.

As I learned about the intricacies of cell biology and genetics I was enthralled. My love for understanding how the world and humans work from a scientific lens stem from my love for humanity. When I learned about CAS 9 CRISPR and the future of science I felt I had stumbled onto my passion. Furthermore, familiarizing myself with scientific ethicality, I knew this field was for me.

Princeton recognizes the importance of academics, and the humanities as do I. At Princeton I will take “Scientific Integrity in the Practice of Molecular Biology” where I will explore the conflict between innovation and morality. I can see myself appreciating the wonderful art around Princeton’s campus as I walk to my classes. I look forward to the exchange of knowledge at Princeternship where I will be able to spend time with well-versed individuals to further my knowledge.

Princeton’s acknowledgment of the arts and humanities align with mine and I am sure yearning for the arts will grow alongside my intellect; gaining enough knowledge to potentially change the world with CRISPR.

There are three important things that all students should do in their “Why This Major?” Essay : share how their academic interest developed, describe their reasoning and goals, and explain their school choice. While this student’s presentation needs improvement, they at least attempt to meet each of these requirements.

One good thing that this student does (that many students forget) is referencing the specific resources at Princeton — the class “Scientific Integrity in the Practice of Molecular Biology” and the resource of Princeternships.

What Could Be Improved

While this student attempts to satisfy the three requirements of a “Why This Major?” Essay , they have room to improve.

The first requirement is sharing how your academic interest developed. This student writes:

This would be more compelling if it was anchored by a story or anecdote. For example, they could begin with:

“You know how the Sorcerer’s Stone was awesome, but became super dangerous in the wrong hands?” I looked around and everyone was on the edge of their seats. “That’s CRISPR.”

I first learned about the revolutionary genome technology in my AP Biology class, and I must admit, I didn’t get it. Mrs. Gertry said it was powerful, but she didn’t say how. To make matters worse, when I stayed after class to ask how, she said “Honestly kid, I don’t fully get it myself. I just know the experts say that we are on a precipice of DNA advancement, and that’s exciting.”

Since that day, my excitement has steadily developed. It develops as I read The Scientific American blog under the covers each night. It develops as I walk to the UCLA research lab on Friday afternoons. And it will continue to develop until one day I become the expert that Mrs. Gertry told me about.

Relatedly, the current start to this essay — “The twang of the strings as the delicately strung horsehair bow grazes the steel strings, the enraptured sensation of my hand cramping as I write, and the feeling of connection as my hands dig deep into the damp earth as I nurture my plants” — is confusing, grammatically incorrect, and does not advance the student’s response to the question they are asked. This paragraph should be cut altogether.

The second requirement is describing your reasoning and goals. This student tells us that they want to “change the world with CRISPR.” Though this is more specific than simply changing the world, it is not specific enough. The student should outline more specific, tangible goals like:

Advancing treatment techniques for neurodegenerative patients
Improving early identification of viruses like COVID-19
Creating CRISPR-modified foods that are better for the human body and the environment
Developing an economically-viable procedure for biodiesel production

The third requirement is explaining your school choice. While this student references a few Princeton-specific resources, they also write “Princeton recognizes the importance of academics, and the humanities as do I” and “I can see myself appreciating the wonderful art around Princeton’s campus as I walk to my classes.” Every college is interested in academics and humanities and every college has art on campus. These superfluous comments take words away from topics that need more exploration.

Finally, this essay could use editing. Grammatical errors interrupt the flow and confuse the reader. For example, the first sentence we read is not actually a sentence, but rather a series of clauses, and there are multiple instances where the student is missing offsetting commas.

To avoid this issue, have friends, family, teachers, and peers read your essays before submitting them to your top schools. Spelling and grammar errors can make a student seem unmotivated, which is the last thing you want in college admissions.

Essay Example #3: Extracurricular Essay

Prompt: Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences that was particularly meaningful to you. (150 words)

Soft melodies float in the air, feathery sounds of consonance and dissonance create a cloud of harmonies I fall into each night. Born into a family of musicians, I began practicing the piano at four years old. Thirteen years later, I still look forward to sitting at the piano day after day, embarking on adventures to transform a monochrome score into a piece of art with color and dimension.

Although I relish the thrill of piano competitions and performances, the intellectual challenge that accompanies learning a piano piece in its entirety is an unmatchable experience. In light of the multitasking that musicians must master, the piano has first taught me discipline, that creating anything meaningful requires practice, patience, and persistence. But in the end, the many hours, days, and weeks practicing the piano are rewarded when I can share an emotional experience with others not by speaking, but through the movement of hands that make a piece come alive.

This essay starts on a euphoric high point, placing the student and reader in the midst of music all around them. The use of delicate diction like “ soft melodies ” and “ feathery sounds ” creates a sense of beauty and comfort, conveying this student’s attraction towards the piano without explicitly stating it. The student continues to use their mastery of language to make the essay come alive with phrase, “ transform a monochrome score into a piece of art with color and dimension.”

Another positive aspect of this essay is how the student includes the effect playing piano has on them. Admissions officers aren’t just asking this question to get a longer summary of your extracurriculars than the 100 characters in your activities section; they want to see your personal reflection on the meaning this activity has to you. How have you grown? How has this shaped your personality? What is your emotional response to participating in this activity?

This essay touches upon those ideas to bring more depth and color to their essay. This lends to a nice structural separation of the two ideas. In the first paragraph, we see the physical aspect of playing the piano and understand the sounds of it. The essay shifts from physical to emotional description in the second paragraph by detailing the practice and discipline they have developed through their years of playing. Having this clear contrast makes it easier to focus on each idea on its own, so when the reader finishes the essay, we can appreciate the activity for both of its components.

The second paragraph could use a more emotional backbone. The student tells us about how practicing piano taught them skills like discipline and how they enjoy sharing an “ emotional experience with others ” by playing. Other than that, the rest of the second paragraph doesn’t convey anything new about the student and their emotional relationship to the piano. A more impactful paragraph might look like this:

“ Words get lost on my tongue but my music, the melodic crescendos of those black and white keys, fills the silence. When sitting on that stool, practicing and perfecting for hours on end, I replay the warm smiles, the tear-streaked cheeks, and the shaky breaths I coax from my audience, connecting us in a way no conversation ever has. Those images have instilled more discipline in me than a drill sergeant’s whistle. Repeating the same three bars, I see my mom’s face as she hears my rendition of Clair de la Lune. Stretching my fingers to reach an octave, I hear my friends’ clapping as I finish Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. I can’t count the hours I’ve spent alone with my piano. All I know is it’s worth every second when I get to play for others.”

This paragraph reveals the same two central tenets but brings infinitely more emotional impact. One of the ways it is able to do this is by showing, not telling. If this student had shown what it looks like to connect with others and practice endlessly, the essay would have revealed much more about the student and been more engaging to read.

Essay Example #4: Difficult Topic

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? (350 words)

Superhero cinema is an oligopoly consisting of two prominent, towering brands: Marvel and DC. I’m a religious supporter of Marvel, but last year, I discovered my friend, Tom, was a DC fan. After a 20-minute vociferous quarrel about which was better, we decided to allocate one day to assemble coherent arguments and have a professional debate.

One week later, we both brought pages of notes, evidence cards, and I had my Iron-Man bobblehead for moral support. Our moderator – a Disney fan – sat in the middle with a stopwatch – open-policy style. I began the debate by discussing how Marvel accentuated the humanity of the storyline – such as Tony Stark’s transformation from an egotistical billionaire to a compassionate father – which drew in a broader audience because more people resonated with certain aspects of the characters. Tom rebutted this by capitalizing on how Deadpool was a duplicate of Deathstroke, Vision copied Red Tornado, and DC sold more comics than Marvel.

40 minutes later, we reached an impasse. We were out of cards, and we both made excellent points, so our moderator failed to declare a winner. Difficult conversations aren’t necessarily always the ones that make political headlines. Instead, a difficult discussion involves any topic with which we share an emotional connection. Over the years, I became so emotionally invested in Marvel that my mind erected an impenetrable shield, blocking out all other possibilities. Even today, we haven’t decided which franchise was better, but I realized that I was undermining DC for no reason apart from ignorance.

The inevitability of diversity suggests that it is our responsibility to understand the other person and what they believe. We may not always experience a change in opinions, but we can grant ourselves the opportunity to expand our global perspective. At Princeton, I will continue this adventure to increase my awareness as a superhero aficionado, activist, and student by engaging in conversations that require me to think beyond what I believe and viewing the world from others’ perspectives.

And yes, Tom is still my friend.

Diversity doesn’t always have to be about culture or heritage; diversity exists all around us, even in comics. The genius of this essay lies in the way the student flipped the traditional diversity prompt on its head and instead discussed their diverse perspective on a topic they are passionate about. If you don’t have a cultural connection you are compelled to write about, this is a clever approach to a diversity prompt—if it is handled appropriately.

While this student has a non-traditional topic, they still present it in a way that pays respect to the key aspects of a diversity essay: depicting their perspective and recognizing the importance of diverse views. Just as someone who is writing about a culture that is possibly unfamiliar to the reader, the student describes what makes Marvel and DC unique and important to them and their friend. They also expand on how a lack of diversity in superhero consumption led to them feeling ignorant and now makes them appreciate the need for diversity in all aspects of their life.

This student is unapologetically themselves in this essay which is ultimately why this unorthodox topic is able to work. They committed to their passion for Marvel by sharing analytical takes on characters and demonstrating how the franchise was so important to their identity it momentarily threatened a friendship. The inclusion of humor through their personal voice—referring to the argument as a professional debate and telling us the friendship lived on—contributes to the essay feeling deeply personal.

Choosing a nonconventional topic for a diversity essay requires extra care and attention to ensure you are still addressing the core of the prompt, but if you accomplish it successfully, it makes for an incredibly memorable essay that could easily set you apart!

While this is a great essay as is, the idea of diversity could have been addressed a little bit earlier in the piece to make it absolutely clear the student is writing about their diverse perspective. They position Marvel and DC as two behemoths in the superhero movie industry, but in the event their reader is unfamiliar with these two brands, there is little elaboration on the cultural impact each has on its fans.

To this student, Marvel is more than just a movie franchise; it’s a crucial part of their identity, just as someone’s race or religion might be. In order for the reader to fully understand the weight of their perspective, there should be further elaboration, towards the beginning, on how important Marvel is to this student. Maybe they found parallels between a struggle they were going through and a character, maybe seeing Marvel movies was a bonding activity with their father, or perhaps the escapism brings them a peace they can’t find anywhere else. Letting the reader in on whatever the reason is would bring more weight to the story.

Essay Example #5: Civic Engagement

Prompt: Princeton has a longstanding commitment to service and civic engagement. Tell us how your story intersects (or will intersect) with these ideals. (250 words)

Many students had no choice but to engage in online learning during the pandemic. However, due to the nature of digital learning, many students have faced a gap in education that may take years to remedy. I am passionate about the importance of education. Everyone should have access to quality education regardless of race, zip code, or socioeconomic status. The cold facts are that while some students have access to resources that might lessen the effects of online learning, many do not. Through no fault of their own, students are held back from achieving their full potential. To help close this learning gap, my peers and I offered free tutoring during the pandemic. I taught math and reading to elementary and middle school students, concentrating on the African American community. From this experience, I was exposed to the deficiencies of the public school system and the consequent impact on its students. Nevertheless, I genuinely enjoyed my experience instructing those children. Their warm spirit, limitless energy, and ready minds are all characteristics that I wish to emulate. Due to my experience, I never take my education for granted and am forever grateful for the future it has helped me build. I hope I can work on the public education system and make it more accessible and profitable for the children it is supposed to serve and further give back to the community.

Essays with lower word counts require students to be focused in their answers. This student does a great job of choosing a specific issue — education access — and sticking to it. While they reference the intersections of race/education and wealth/education (which are important!) they do not get sidetracked from their overall focus.

They also provide evidence of their interest in education by mentioning their free tutoring initiative. This is important. Admissions officers read lots of essays where students claim interest in issues but do nothing to improve them. This student puts their money where their mouth is.

The main issue with this essay is that the writing style and structure are not engaging or personal.

For example, while you may not have space for a “hook” or introduction in a shorter response, your first sentences must draw the reader in. This student begins with stilted sentences that tell us nothing about them — neither their life experiences nor their personality. The first personal sentence that the student writes is “I am passionate about the importance of education,” which comes too late and is not written with personality.

Structurally, for a short Political/Global Issues Essay , we recommend that students focus on their personal connection to an issue rather than the issue itself. This student primarily discusses their issue — education access —, and when they do mention their own experiences, they fall into the unfortunate trap of telling instead of showing.

To remedy this, the student should pick an anecdote that shows their personal connection to education, then use it as an avenue for communicating their values to admissions officers.

This student’s anecdote could be:

Their experience with online learning during the pandemic
How they started their free tutoring program
A specific moment with a specific student while they were tutoring
Forecasting a moment in the future when they are continuing to prioritize education access

Essay Example #6: Civic Engagement

When I began my internship in my state’s Division of Human Rights, some family members scoffed upon hearing the nature of certain cases I dissected. To them, it was a malapportionment of time to heed race-based workplace discrimination when genocides were ongoing. To them, these government institutions reflected the weakness of modern western culture. Despite this deterrence, I stayed confident that preventing severe human rights violations begins with taking more minor instances seriously.

Exercising my critical thinking while putting justice into action was fulfilling regardless of a complaint’s validity — I dealt with companies firing employees upon discovering their illness diagnoses. I helped interview a woman claiming language harassment as an English speaker in a majority-Hispanic workplace. I accounted for factors such as respondents having attorneys (unlike complainants) when recommending determinations in the face of contradicting claims. I wasn’t discouraged when the same man called the office for the 10th time that day, shouting his demand that we process his case immediately.

Bureaucracy can cause waste, yet when I compare human rights protections in the Middle East and the United States, I realize that upholding ethics through the law is necessary for many sectors. The same elements that slow the processing of cases safeguard moral consistency, allowing genuine complaints to be separated from frivolous ones. When “insignificant” discrimination slips through the cracks, more severe violations ensue. At Princeton, I’d extend my work in regional human rights to a global scale, building a safer future for vulnerable populations in the Arab world.

This essay engages a simple yet effective structure. Within 12 words, the prompt has been answered. How has the student shown vivid engagement? Through their internship in their state’s Division of Human Rights.

But they don’t stop there. They humanize their experience accepting the internship by describing the backlash they received from their family. They help us understand the nature of their work by describing the people they interact with. And they forecast what their civic engagement will look like at Princeton. This structure is pulled off beautifully.

Additionally, the student’s moments of reflection do a great job of showing admissions officers their positive qualities:

THEY ARE THOUGHTFUL — This is seen as they recognize the importance of cumulative effects over time in the sentence “When “insignificant” discrimination slips through the cracks, more severe violations ensue.”
THEY ARE STRONG-WILLED — They do not let their family’s opinions shake their values and beliefs. They are invested in the cause of human rights, no matter the consequences in their personal life.
THEY ARE MATURE — They acknowledge that positives and negatives can exist at the same time, a mature concept. This is specifically seen in the sentence “The same elements that slow the processing of cases safeguard moral consistency, allowing genuine complaints to be separated from frivolous ones.”
THEY ARE MOTIVATED — This student has taken on an intense job at a very young age. They are a hard worker, motivated, and willing to go above and beyond.

In a short essay, it is important to cut the fat. Every word should be intentional and any phrases that do not contribute to the essay should be cut. The main issue with this essay is that the student keeps a lot of fat.

For example, the sentence “Exercising my critical thinking while putting justice into action was fulfilling regardless of a complaint’s validity” can become “Exercising my critical thinking was fulfilling, regardless of a complaint’s validity.” The tighter version does not change the meaning of the sentence and helps the essay flow better.

The student also writes “when I compare human rights protections in the Middle East and the United States, I realize that upholding ethics through the law is necessary for many sectors .” The phrase “through the law” is fluff and the lack of precision about “many sectors” detracts from what the student is trying to say.

Read each sentence you write individually and make sure it makes perfect sense. Make sure it is clear, tight, and does not require extensive mental acrobatics to understand.

Secondly, while this student makes the wise decision to forecast their future, their forecasting should be more specific. They write “At Princeton, I’d extend my work in regional human rights to a global scale, building a safer future for vulnerable populations in the Arab world.”

Specific examples would make this forecasting more effective. This could look like:

At Princeton, I plan to continue my human rights work through PAJ organizations. As a vocal member of the Princeton Students for Immigration Empowerment, I will use my administrative skills and legal knowledge to help students acquire visas, housing, and support as quickly and easily as possible.

Essay Example #7: Civic Engagement

Since childhood, I have observed the adults of my life giving up their ideals due to financial struggle. My lawyer mother’s dream of justice was disrupted by the corrupt legal system revolving around bribery. My father’s architectural aspiration collapsed after his company’s bankruptcy. They wanted to contribute positively in society: my mother to protect the righteousness and fairness of the laws, and my father to creatively beautify the world surrounding him. Due to the constant pressure of satisfying the basic needs and the appeal of luxuries, they failed. They were not the only ones as illustrated by politicians whose words promise the people security yet their actions submit to corporations’ contributions. Thus, growing up, I chose to pursue money. Though it sounds like a disingenuous excuse for my own greed, I believe that studying finance and economics can exert positive changes on society because these disciplines are interwoven with industries and the well-being of individuals. Interning with a local financial service firm showed me the importance of financial security, which could produce a significant difference in more community involvement, philanthropy, and personal happiness, even among a small community. Whether it is improving financial literacy locally or addressing the wealth gap nationally, an understanding of money and its effects are necessary for meaningful changes to happen. Everyone seeks to solve world hunger, gender inequality, or climate change. Yet to each of these social problems exists an economic perspective that drives its entire operation to which I am committed to target.

One of the most important parts of writing a Political/Global Issues Essay , or a Civic Engagement Essay, is picking an issue close to your life. This student structures their essay around their family history, which helps the essay feel relatable.

The student humanizes themself by approaching their family history with vulnerability. They write about painful subjects — dreams being broken and hopes being let down — honestly, admitting that their parents were motivated by a desire for luxury and by corporate incentives.

This student’s maturity also transfers to a larger scale. They have identified that capitalism rules the world at a very young age and are committed to working within the system with the ultimate goal of advancing service and philanthropy.

Though this may be a polarizing approach to capitalism, the student addresses it in a non-polarizing way. They position their desire to work in finance as motivated by the greater good. Lots of young people don’t have complex opinions on politics and the economy so, at the very least, this student showed that they have thought about the confines of capitalism and have an opinion.

A few changes could make this essay less confusing.

One simple but important change would be adding a paragraph break to separate the student’s discussion of their family history and their discussion of their life plans. This would help the essay flow better.

The break would occur before “Though it sounds like a disingenuous…” and would turn the preceding sentence — “Thus, growing up, I chose to pursue money” — into a transitional sentence, smoothly carrying us from the student’s childhood to their present life.

Second, as the student discusses their family history, they could more clearly communicate the facts of the story. For example, after reading the sentence “My lawyer mother’s dream of justice was disrupted by the corrupt legal system revolving around bribery,” we can’t tell if the writer’s mother was implicated in a scandal, if someone attempted to bribe her, or if she was disillusioned when she saw the success of a bribe. With tighter writing, we would have fewer questions.

Additionally, if we knew the details of the parents’ stories, the summarizing sentence “Due to the constant pressure of satisfying the basic needs and the appeal of luxuries, they failed” would be more effective.

Lastly, because the connection between this student’s essay and civic engagement is looser than we’ve seen in other examples, it would benefit them to emphasize “civic engagement” at the end of the essay.

The student writes:

Whether it is improving financial literacy locally or addressing the wealth gap nationally, an understanding of money and its effects are necessary for meaningful changes to happen. Everyone seeks to solve world hunger, gender inequality, or climate change. Yet to each of these social problems exists an economic perspective that drives its entire operation to which I am committed to target.

Instead, they could write:

While everyone seeks to solve world hunger, gender inequality, and climate change, most people fail to recognize that understanding money must come first. For civic engagement to be effective, it has to be financially informed.

Essay Example #8: Quotation and Values

Prompt: Using a favorite quotation from an essay or book you have read in the last three years as a starting point, tell us about an event or experience that helped you define one of your values or changed how you approach the world. Please write the quotation, title and author at the beginning of your essay. (250-650 words)

“I will be the gladdest thing under the sun! I will touch a hundred flowers and not pick one.” – Edna St. Vincent Millay, “Afternoon on a Hill” (Renascence and Other Poems, 1917)

My teenage rebellion started at age twelve. Though not yet technically a teenager, I dedicated myself to the cause: I wore tee shirts with bands on them that made my parents cringe, shopped exclusively at stores with eyebrow- pierced employees, and met every comforting idea the world offered me with hostility. Darkness was in my soul! Happiness was a construct meant for sheep! Optimism was for fools! My cynicism was a product of a world that gave birth to the War in Afghanistan around the same time it gave birth to me , that shot and killed my peers in school, that irreversibly melted ice caps and polluted oceans and destroyed forests.

I was angry. I fought with my parents, my peers, and strangers. It was me versus the world.

However, there’s a fundamental flaw in perpetual antagonism: it’s exhausting. My personal relationships suffered as my cynicism turned friends and family into bad guys in my eyes. As I kept up the fight, I found myself always tired, emotionally and physically. The tipping point came one morning standing at the bathroom sink before school. I looked in the mirror and didn’t recognize the tired, sad girl that looked back with pallid skin and purple eye bags. That morning, I found my mother and cried in her arms. I decided that the fight was over.

I took a break from fighting. I let go of my constant anger about global problems by first focusing on the local ones that I could do something about, and then learning to do things not because they fixed a problem, but for the simple joy of trying. I apologized to friends that I wronged previously, said yes when my mom asked me to go grocery shopping with her, and spent afternoons alone in the park, just reading. I baked brownies in the kitchen because it made me happy. I slept in on weekends when I could, but I also made an effort to get out of bed and move. I made an effort to be nice-optimistic, even-with the people around me, but more importantly, I made an effort to be nice to myself.

After a period of self-care, the fight in me recharged, but this time I didn’t rush to spend it in anger. Now, it’s a tool I use wisely. I’ve channeled it into tangible causes: I don’t want the feeling of loneliness and anger to fester inside of anybody else, so I work with school administration to create community-building events for my senior class. From being the first to implement a class messaging system to starting a collaborative playlist with all 800 of my peers, I’ve turned my energy into positive change in my community.

I’ve still got a few more years of teenage angst in me, but the meaning of my rebellion has changed. It’s not about responding to a world that’s wronged me with defiance, anger, and cynicism, but about being kind to myself and finding beauty in the world so that I can stay charged and fight for the real things that matter.

I’ve realized that the world is my afternoon on a hill, full of sunlight and optimism if only I can see them. Now, I am the gladdest thing under the sun! I can be vulnerable and open, and I can show my passion to the world through love. I will touch a hundred flowers, seize a hundred opportunities, and love a hundred things. I will not pick just one.

This essay does a really nice job of providing an overview of this student’s personality and how it came to be. The reader sees clear growth in the student as they progress through the essay. They weren’t afraid to be vulnerable, sharing details about feeling exhausted and lonely, which helped build empathy for the journey of self-discovery and reflection they’ve been on. Understanding their past personality allows readers to understand how confronting that personality formed their new, positive outlook on life.

There was a noticeable shift in the tone from the first paragraph to the second that brought the vulnerability with it. The beginning reads as a funny anecdote where the stereotype of a moody teenager is established. What the reader doesn’t expect is the sharp turn towards discussing the emotional impact of being a moody teenager. The tone shift subverts the reader’s expectations by surprising them with deep, personal reflection that makes them read the rest of the essay with more empathy.

This essay really captures the student’s outlook on life in different stages of their development, which provides so much insight to the admissions officers reading it. They reveal so much about themselves by continuously focusing the essay on how their internal feelings dictated their external actions.

One thing this essay could have done better was work the quote into the piece as a whole. The essay had a great story, but it was difficult to piece together how the story was connected to the quote until the student explicitly explained it in the last paragraph. It would’ve been helpful to keep the theme of the quote running through the entire essay so the reader could draw a connection. For example, using metaphors of sunshine and flowers throughout the piece would have called attention back to the quote and reminded the reader of why this quote is so important.

Essay Example #9: Quotation and Values

“One of the great challenges of our time is that the disparities we face today have more complex causes and point less straightforwardly to solutions.”

– Omar Wasow, assistant professor of politics, Princeton University. This quote is taken from Professor Wasow’s January 2014 speech at the Martin Luther King Day celebration at Princeton University .

The air is crisp and cool, nipping at my ears as I walk under a curtain of darkness that drapes over the sky, starless. It is a Friday night in downtown Corpus Christi, a rare moment of peace in my home city filled with the laughter of strangers and colorful lights of street vendors. But I cannot focus.

My feet stride quickly down the sidewalk, my hand grasps on to the pepper spray my parents gifted me for my sixteenth birthday. My eyes ignore the surrounding city life, focusing instead on a pair of tall figures walking in my direction. I mentally ask myself if they turned with me on the last street corner. I do not remember, so I pick up the pace again. All the while, my mind runs over stories of young women being assaulted, kidnapped, and raped on the street. I remember my mother’s voice reminding me to keep my chin up, back straight, eyes and ears alert.

At a young age, I learned that harassment is a part of daily life for women. I fell victim to period-shaming when I was thirteen, received my first catcall when I was fourteen, and was nonconsensually grabbed by a man soliciting on the street when I was fifteen. For women, assault does not just happen to us— its gory details leave an imprint in our lives, infecting the way we perceive the world. And while movements such as the Women’s March and #MeToo have given victims of sexual violence a voice, harassment still manifests itself in the lives of millions of women across the nation. Symbolic gestures are important in spreading awareness but, upon learning that a surprising number of men are oblivious to the frequent harassment that women experience, I now realize that addressing this complex issue requires a deeper level of activism within our local communities.

Frustrated with incessant cases of harassment against women, I understood at sixteen years old that change necessitates action. During my junior year, I became an intern with a judge whose campaign for office focused on a need for domestic violence reform. This experience enabled me to engage in constructive dialogue with middle and high school students on how to prevent domestic violence. As I listened to young men uneasily admit their ignorance and young women bravely share their experiences in an effort to spread awareness, I learned that breaking down systems of inequity requires changing an entire culture. I once believed that the problem of harassment would dissipate after politicians and celebrities denounce inappropriate behavior to their global audience. But today, I see that effecting large-scale change comes from the “small” lessons we teach at home and in schools. Concerning women’s empowerment, the effects of Hollywood activism do not trickle down enough. Activism must also trickle up and it depends on our willingness to fight complacency.

Finding the solution to the long-lasting problem of violence against women is a work-in-progress, but it is a process that is persistently moving. In my life, for every uncomfortable conversation that I bridge, I make the world a bit more sensitive to the unspoken struggle that it is to be a woman. I am no longer passively waiting for others to let me live in a world where I can stand alone under the expanse of darkness on a city street, utterly alone and at peace. I, too, deserve the night sky.

There are many positives to this essay. To begin with, launching into the essay with multi sensory imagery in the anecdote was really effective at drawing the reader in. The audiovisual context (laughter, street vendors) keeps the scene alive and fully immerses the reader, while the internal narration illustrates how this student looks at the world. The contrast between the imagery of the external scene and the internal thoughts and feelings fully immerses the reader in the essay and alludes to the overarching theme of things being more complicated than they seem on the outside.

Another good thing this essay did was provide a personal account of this student’s experiences with harassment. This established their authority to speak on the topic and underscores their essay with authenticity. They then “zoom out” to provide relevant background information that supplies additional context for readers who might not be that familiar with the extent of the issue at hand. By relating their personal stories to the large-scale issue at hand, they simultaneously develop a personal connection while demonstrating an understanding of a serious global issue.

What really could’ve made or broken this essay was the quote the student chose. Allowing you to choose any quote, this is an extremely open-ended prompt which gives students the opportunity to write about whatever they choose. This student did an excellent job of picking a quote that isn’t well-known or significant, but fit perfectly into the narrative they were trying to express in this essay. The approach the student likely took with this prompt is figuring out what experience they wanted to discuss and finding a quote that fit, rather than picking a quote first. This approach made for an essay that existed independently from the quote and didn’t rely on it as a crutch.

All together, the essay feels cohesive with every part relating back to the overarching theme of diving deeper than the surface level of things. The student’s vulnerability and personal reflection throughout the essay helps carry the theme through each paragraph. Even the conclusion does a great job of circling back to the anecdote at the beginning, bringing the societal problem the student addressed back down to the personal level to remind the reader the student’s personal stake in the issue.

One potential criticism of this essay could stem from the ratio of background to active work. The author spends a lot of time setting up their personal connection and the global context of the issue; however, their essay could stand to gain from more content centered on their actual actions towards fighting harassment against women. They could discuss another small-scale discussion or project they led or elaborate more on their current inclusion. Dedicating two paragraphs to this rather than one gives admissions officers a better idea of their leadership skills and active role in fighting harassment.

Essay Example #10: Quotation and Values

“If any man stopped and asked himself whether he’s ever held a truly personal desire, he’d find the answer. He’d see that all his wishes, his efforts, his dreams, his ambitions are motivated by other men . . . A stamp of approval, not his own. He can find no joy in the struggle and no joy when he has succeeded.”

Essay/Book: The Fountainhead Author: Ayn Rand —

The US Open.

My parents had asked me if I wanted to come along, and I agreed. We got there; we took pictures next to a giant tennis ball, bought some tennis rackets, and finally headed over to our seats. It was absolutely freezing–and as the match continued, the world around me got darker and darker. An open stadium, I could see the stars in the sky just as clearly as I could feel the cold seeping through my coat. Trying to forget about my discomfort, I gazed up at the stars and listened to the vaguely muffled sounds of grunts and balls hitting the court.

A million things ran through my head.

The persistent cold that I was trying to forget. The beauty of the twinkling lights in the sky. The vast emptiness of the world around me.

And, even as I pulled closer to my mom and dad, an abject feeling of loneliness settled over me, my isolation from the excitement of the crowd making itself apparent as I felt none of the frustration, disappointment, or adrenaline-fueled excitement that the crowd and the players were feeling–a million miles away from my surroundings, insignificant in this moment.

And, it dawned on me, I am. I am insignificant–we all are. Even the tennis players whom we so eagerly watch are only really significant for the few hours of their game–and, is that insignificance necessarily a bad thing? Why should I pursue significance–and essentially, recognition–throughout my life? Why do I feel the need to be recognized? Should I not just want to aid in world progress–whether that be dancing to promote emotional expression, or engineering to promote prosperity and scientific advancement?

I began to understand the futility of ambition revolving solely around world recognition. Why should the entire world know my name? Shouldn’t success be just knowing that I created something, something that helped someone or something somewhere, something that advanced the face of knowledge or innovation, regardless of whether I gained actual ‘credit’ for it?

Having changed my definition of success, I no longer search for significance. My absolute insignificance has never been clearer, clearing the way for me to discover myself in my passions, rather than discovering passions in the hope of gaining relevance. My success is no longer defined by the approval or recognition of anyone but myself, making my successes sweeter and my hard work more gratifying.

This leaves no bar on my dreams, no curb on my goals. I’m an aspiring engineer because I love how math and physics and purpose click together as you design and invent and innovate, how the electricity of passion sparks through my fingertips as I stay up late working on my model rockets and deriving simple harmonic equations. I’m a dancer because I love how the music and movements feel in my muscles and bones, how fiery adrenaline rushes through my veins when I am in the middle of a performance. I’m a hopeful social entrepreneur because I want to give purpose to my innovations; I’m a singer because I like to feel the vibrations of songs collecting in my throat; I’m a programmer because I like to ‘logic’ my way through problems. None of its for money, or for a prize, or for world recognition–because even that significance doesn’t last long. I’m insignificant, and whether or not I remain so–as long as I fulfill my own purpose and achieve my own goals–it makes no difference to me.

This essay has a strong opening that does an excellent job of setting the scene for the perspective shift this student is about to have. There is clearly a sense of the student’s indifference to attending through explaining the match was their parents’ idea, their focus on the freezing cold weather, and explaining how their mind drifted to think about anything but the match. Establishing how removed they were in the moment is a nice segway to their feeling of insignificance. Because we know how they weren’t able to appreciate a moment everyone around them hyped up and cherished, we better understand how they came to the conclusion they are insignificant.

Even once the student delves into philosophical questions about our purpose—a topic that it is easy to lose your readers on—we stay engaged because of their continued use of rhetorical questions. Especially when discussing more abstract topics in your essay, asking questions is a great tactic to help the reader see things from your perspective and break complex ideas down into more manageable chunks.

This essay concludes by telling us a lot about the student and their passions. The repetition of the phrase “ I’m a… ” creates a sense of continuity throughout their multiple identities and builds momentum for what’s to come. Not only do they reveal they are an engineer, a dancer, a singer, a programmer, and a social entrepreneur, but they also explain their reasoning and purpose for pursuing each of these passions. Sharing all of this student’s facets is a nice way to demonstrate to admissions officers that although they have a unique perspective on success, they are still an engaged and active member of their community.

There are a few ways this essay could be tightened up. The first would be to better incorporate the anecdote of the US Open throughout the rest of the essay. While there is nice set-up, the student basically abandons their story after they shift to talking about insignificance. Yes, the prompt asks for an experience that changed how you approached the world, but that experience should have more of an impact on you than just the location of your life-altering perspective shift. It would have been nice to see them grapple with how they differ from the US Open crowd who idolizes significance or even simply utilizing tennis metaphors to keep the theme going.

Another thing this essay needs to work on is being less vague. Take this sentence for example: “ Shouldn’t success be just knowing that I created something, something that helped someone or something somewhere, something that advanced the face of knowledge or innovation, regardless of whether I gained actual ‘credit’ for it?” That is wordy and reveals nothing about the student. They use a word containing “some” six times in a singular sentence—lazy writing! Although this is a particularly vague sentence, much of the essay focuses on the abstract idea of embracing insignificance without relating it personally to the student. Bringing in more concrete ideas and tangible thoughts or actions this student has to demonstrate their insignificance would leave a much stronger impression on the reader.

It’s also important to make sure your quote fits in perfectly with your essay. Since it’s the first thing your reader will see, it creates an immediate impression going into the story, but if it doesn’t obviously tie into your essay it will be forgotten by the time your reader finishes. This essay unfortunately lost the quote by the end because it wasn’t clearly connected to the essay. It possibly would have been better had they picked a quote about being insignificant, or even about staring up into the night sky and feeling alone, seeing as that was the moment that their perspective changed. Your quote doesn’t need to be moving and inspirational, it just needs to effortlessly align with your essay.

Where to Get Your Princeton Essays Edited

Do you want feedback on your Princeton essays? After rereading your essays countless times, it can be difficult to evaluate your writing objectively. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays.

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

Other Princeton Essay Resources

Princeton Essay Guide
How to Answer Princeton’s “More About You” Questions
How to Write the Princeton Civic Engagement Essay
How to Write the Princeton Diversity Essay
4 Example Hooks for Princeton’s Meaningful Activity Essay
How to Write the Meaningful Activity Essay for Princeton

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2018 Application Countdown, Part 2 - Personal Statement

How to Build Momentum in a Personal Statement

The personal statement must “smell authentic” meaning that it could never be possible to confuse it with any other applicant. To be compelling, your story must be told with humility while also highlighting your strengths and leadership. Begin your personal statement by telling your story of public service and your contributions to the public good. Define your passion for specific policy issues and the ways in which you have engaged with those areas either as a volunteer or paid professional.

Next, explain your reason for applying to a graduate school of public policy and international affairs. Be sure to explain what is motivating you to pursue this degree, what skills you expect to acquire and how the School best fits your interests.

Of critical importance is to show your focus, which means that we want to know what you intend to do with this degree following graduation. Indicate not only the sectors where you wish to work, but name the specific organizations, agencies, non-profits, multilateral institutions, foundations, advocacy, elected office and so forth. By naming the sector and providing specific job examples, you provide a clear and strong indication of your ambition and future leadership. Yes, it is aspiration rather than accomplishment. However, we want to admit new students who are outrageously ambitions – yet realistic of the progression in their careers.

Saturday, May 11

Previous issues, submit a tip.

Faculty letter to U. admin calling for VP Calhoun’s resignation

Protesters gathered around a bus.

Calvin grover / the daily princetonian.

The following is an open letter and reflects the author’s views alone. For information on how to submit a letter to the Opinion section, click here .

We, the undersigned faculty members and academic staff at Princeton University, write this letter to condemn your repression and vilification of Princeton students and other community members currently protesting and engaging in civil disobedience in solidarity with Palestine.

For almost a week now, people of multiple faiths, genders, ages, and colors — belonging to the Princeton community and beyond — have participated in an entirely peaceful student-led sit-in on campus in pursuit of their demand that the University divest from Israel. In your communications with the campus community, you fail to mention the context preceding the students’ escalation of their protest which culminated in the occupation of Clio Hall on Monday, April 29: your refusal to consider the students’ demand for divestment from Israel for decades and your ignoring of their most recent efforts since the Fall of 2023 to reach you through the formal and procedural channels available at the University. You do not admit the complete refusal of the Princeton administration to respond to all the earlier requests to engage with students in serious, good-faith dialogue.

In the face of such deliberate indifference, escalating a student protest through the occupation of a University building is a measure with abundant precedent in the history of protest movements in this country and beyond — a history that the University itself lauds. If we may remind you, your assigned Pre-read for this past school year was “How to Stand Up to a Dictator” by Maria Ressa ’86.

Protest measures such as occupying academic buildings, encamping on university lawns, and assembling and mobilizing people on campus premises have all long been part of U.S. campus protests, including at Princeton . Such protest measures have been amply visible on U.S. and global campuses during moments like the protest against apartheid in South Africa , and against the U.S. wars in Vietnam , Afghanistan , and Iraq . The current protest is no different. It is neither exceptional nor dangerous. Rather, it is your criminalization of this protest, and of the student protesters who are leading it, that is both exceptional and dangerous.

In her April 30 message to the campus community, Vice President W. Rochelle Calhoun falsely claimed, without providing any evidence, that student protesters who entered Clio Hall on April 29 were violent and threatened people inside the building. This is a lie negated by the eyewitness account of the faculty observer who entered the building with the student protesters. VP Calhoun builds a case for unsparing discipline upon the students on the grounds of the picture of yelling, abuse, and unsafety she paints. This attempt to scare student protesters through stereotyping and the threat of arrest and criminal punishment constitutes an authoritarian assault on democratic principles.

All Princeton students protesting for divestment from Israel have done so non-violently and their disruptions have been no different than those in previous occupations on campus. The only student arrested for violent activity on April 29 was a counter protester who was charged with assault.

Your invocation of “time, place, and manner” restrictions to free speech appears arbitrary in this case and clearly shows your bias against the viewpoint espoused by the student protesters. Moreover, your use of force and power that we have witnessed over the last week sets a dangerous precedent of how the subjectively interpreted grounds of maintaining “public order” might swallow and circumvent future expressions of student, faculty, or staff dissent and protest.

If anything, your recourse to the contrived imperative of “maintaining public order” with the help of law enforcement agencies — a textbook colonial discourse and tactic still abundantly employed by authoritarian states — has only brought disorder and disturbance to an otherwise entirely organized and peaceful student-led protest movement. For instance, to cite one among the many cases of police heavy-handedness that you unleashed on your own students, an arrested Black Muslim student had no choice but to pray while restrained with zip-ties, next to the Graduate School’s own Office of Access, Diversity, and Inclusion.

Let us be very clear and direct: your turn to authoritarian threats of violence against your own students peacefully protesting a just cause has little to do with an ostensible concern for public order and safety, and everything to do with the desire to quash a movement critical of a particular modern nation-state, and of the possible implication of Princeton University’s financial portfolio in a horrific genocide being currently conducted by that nation-state. By casting student protesters as potential criminals, you also authorize the insidious and untenable assumption of equating raising one’s voice against the violence of a modern nation state with antisemitism. More than anyone else, such an implication is offensive to our Jewish students who are playing a leading role in the organization and execution of these protests, at Princeton and across the country.

Along with our diverse student organizations , we reject the lockdown of Morrison Hall from April 30 to May 2, which houses the Department of African American Studies and the Effron Center for the Study of America — where many students come to engage with Latino Studies, Asian American Studies, American Studies, and Indigenous Studies. Four of five arrested undergraduate students are pursuing degrees in African American Studies.

We affirm the democratic tradition which includes the historic role of civil disobedience. We affirm Princeton University’s commitment to serve humanity and we seek to pursue this value without discrimination among the people of the world.

We urge you to stop the criminalization, gross mischaracterization, and harassment of non-violent student protesters. We urge you to drop all charges against the arrested students, in recognition of their right to protest and their use of civil disobedience methods, and to grant them full amnesty. We demand that the University recognize that the students have tried all available procedural means to initiate dialogue on their demands with the administration and that you enter into dialogue with the students immediately. Finally, we demand the immediate resignation of VP Calhoun, in whose leadership we have lost all faith following her untruthful and, in our opinion, deliberately misleading representation of student protesters, that has proven to be the real threat to the Princeton University community.

Dan-el Padilla Peralta, Associate Professor of Classics and associate faculty in African American Studies; Faculty Coordinator, MMUF Princeton

Rob Nixon, Barron Family Professor of Environment and Humanities, HMEI and English

Anne McClintock, A Barton Hepburn Professor High Meadows Environmental Institute and GSS

Behrooz Ghamari, Professor NES

Gyan Prakash, Dayton-Stickton Professor of History

Max Weiss, Associate Professor of History

Susana Draper, Professor, Comparative Literature

Judith Weisenfeld, Agate Brown and George L. Collord Professor of Religion

Ruha Benjamin, Alexander Stewart 1886 Professor of African American Studies

Hal Foster, Townsend Martin 1917 Professor of Art and Archaeology

Joshua Guild, Associate Professor of African American Studies

Zahid Chaudhary, Associate Professor

Andrew Cole, Woodrow Wilson Professor of Literature, Department of English

Lara Harb, Associate Professor, Near Eastern Studies

Tehseen Thaver, Assistant Professor of Religion

Karen Emmerich, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature

Mohamed Abou Donia, Associate Professor of Molecular Biology

Bryan D. Lowe, Assistant Professor of Religion

Carolyn Areum Choi, Assistant Professor, Effron Center for the Study of America

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies

Zia Mian, Senior Research Scholar and Co-Director, Program in Science and Global Security (SGS)

Agustín Fuentes, Professor of Anthropology

Jenny Greene, Professor of Astrophysics

Meredith Martin, Associate Professor English

Eldar Shafir, Class of 1987 Professor in Behavioral Science and Public Policy

Chika Okeke-Agulu, Robert Schirmer Professor of Art and Archaeology and African American Studies

Muhammad Qasim Zaman, Professor of Near Eastern Studies and Religion

Molly Greene Professor Department of History Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies

Junko Yamazaki, Assistant Professor, East Asian Studies

Divya Cherian, Associate Professor of History

Eduardo Cadava, Philip Mayhew Professor of English

Gayle Salamon, Professor of English

Benjamin Bradlow, Assistant Professor of Sociology and International Affairs

Steven Chung, Associate Professor, East Asian Studies

Vera S Candiani, Associate Professor, History

Carlos Brody, Professor of Neuroscience, Princeton Neuroscience Institute

Christine Allen-Blanchette, Assistant Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and Statistics and Machine Learning

Lorgia García Peña, Professor, African American Studies and Effron Center.

V. Mitch McEwen, Assistant Professor in Architecture

William Gleason, Hughes-Rogers Professor of English and American Studies

Natasha Wheatley, Assistant Professor of History

Gavin Steingo, Professor, Department of Music

Ben Baer, Associate Professor, Comparative Literature

Curtis Deutsch, Professor of Geoscience and HMEI

Erin Besler, Assistant Professor, School of Architecture

Bradley Dickerson, Assistant Professor, Princeton Neuroscience Institute

Matthew Karp, Associate Professor of History

D. Vance Smith, Professor of English

John Storey, Professor of Genomics

Adji Bousso Dieng, Assistant Professor of Computer Science

Aleksandar Hemon, Professor, Creative Writing Program, Lewis Center for the Arts

Autumn Womack, Associate Professor, English and African American Studies

Radhika Nagpal, Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Computer Science

Jeremy Goodman, Professor, Astrophysical Sciences

Catherine Clune-Taylor, Assistant Professor, Program in Gender and Sexuality

Stephen F. Teiser, D.T. Suzuki Professor in Buddhist Studies and Religion

Pedro Meira Monteiro, Arthur W. Marks ‘19 Professor of Spanish and Portuguese

Jay Cephas, Assistant Professor, School of Architecture

Andrea L. Graham, Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

Fenna Krienen, Assistant Professor, Princeton Neuroscience Institute

Jack Tannous, Associate Professor of History and Hellenic Studies

German Labrador Mendez, Professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Byron Ahn, Assistant Professor, Program in Linguistics

Natalia Castro Picón, Assistant Professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Rafael Cesar, Assistant Professor, Department of Spanish & Portuguese

Hendrik A. Hartog, class of 1921 bicentennial professor in the history of American law and liberty, emeritus

James Gunn, Eugene Higgins Professor, Astrophysical Sciences (emeritus)

Olga Peters Hasty, Professor Emerita, Slavic Department

M. V. Ramana, Visiting Professor, Princeton School of Public and International Affairs

Fadi A. Bardawil, Visiting Associate Professor, Anthropology and Near Eastern Studies

Ken Anderson, Visiting Professor, Keller Center, SEAS

Shen-yi Liao, Visiting Faculty Fellow, University Center for Human Values

Nancy Coffin, Sr. Lecturer, Near Eastern Studies

Anastasia Mann, Lecturer

Mounia Mnouer, Lecturer, Near Eastern Studies

Mayank Sarika, Lecturer, School of Public and International Affairs.

Aniruddhan Vasudevan, Lecturer, Anthropology

Anthar Darwish, Lecturer, Department of Molecular Biology

yuniya edi kwon, Lecturer and Arts Fellow, Lewis Center for the Arts

Colleen Asper, Lecturer, Lewis Center for the Arts

Sean Cashbaugh, Lecturer, Princeton Writing Program

Devanne Brookins, Lecturer and Associate Research Scholar, SPIA

Jessica Leung, Lecturer, Keller Center

Faris Zwirahn, Lecturer in Near Eastern Studies

Abdelrahman Hamdan, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Adel Ardalan, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Princeton Neuroscience Institute

Arthur Obst, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University Center for Human Values & High Meadows Environmental Institute

Ayah Nuriddin, Cotsen Postdoctoral Fellow in the Society of Fellows, Lecturer in the Council of the Humanities and African American Studies

Christine Roughan, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Near Eastern Studies

Danny Hang, Research Specialist, Department of Psychology

Dionne Worthy, Dept. of African American Studies, Admin and Events Coordinator

Emilee Shine, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Molecular Biology

Evan Russek, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Computer Science and Psychology

Forrest Rogers, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Neuroscience and Molecular Biology

Guillaume Falmagne, Postdoctoral Research Associate, HMEI/EEB

Hamza El-Asaad, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Science and Global Security

Harini Kumar, Postdoctoral Research Associate, CGI and Dept. of History

Harrison Ritz, Associate Research Scholar, PNI

Javier Masís, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Princeton Neuroscience Institute

Joseph Fronczak, Research Scholar, History

Juan Ferre, Postdoctoral Research Associate

Judy Kim, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University Center for Human Values & Psychology

Lacy Feigh, Link-Cotsen Postdoctoral Fellow in the Society of Fellows, Lecturer in the Council of the Humanities and History

LaNell William , Associate Research Scholar

Lindsay Becker, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Chemical and Biological Engineering

Lindsey Stephenson, Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Mae Guthman, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Princeton Neuroscience Institute

Maral Sahebjame, Postdoctoral Researcher, Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies

Martin Zettersten, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Psychology

May Kosba, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Program in African Studies

Merihan Alhafnawi, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Mia Kussman, Research Specialist, Princeton Neuroscience Institute and Psychology

Moamen Elmassry, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Molecular Biology

Mohan Gupta, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Psychology

Mostafa Abdou, Postoctoral Research Associate, Princeton Neuroscience Institute

Naveed Mansoori, Associate Research Scholar

Negar Razavi, Associate Research Scholar, Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies

Nicolás Sánchez-Rodríguez, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Society of Fellows

Nusrat Molla, Postdoctoral Research associate, Andlinger Center for Energy and Environment

Paola Estrada, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Molecular Biology

Rachel L Bedder, Postdoctoral Research Associate, PNI & Psychology

Samuel A. Nastase, Associate Research Scholar and Lecturer, Princeton Neuroscience Institute

Sergio Garcia, Associate Research Scholar, Chemical and Biological Engineering

Sina Tafazoli, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Princeton Neuroscience Institute

Supratik Baralay, Perkins-Cotsen Postdoctoral Fellow in the Society of Fellows, Lecturer in the Council of the Humanities, Classics and in Humanistic Studies

Tea Temim, Research Astronomer, Department of Astrophysical Sciences

Yeon Soon Shin, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Psychology

Princeton High School students walk out in support of ‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment’

A tree with a sign attached that reads "the aunties and uncles and cousins of greater Princeton give us life." On the same sign is a crocheted blanket with a peace symbol. In the background, people are walking around a green lawn strewn with blankets and tarps.

On the 15th day of the ‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment’ and the seventh day of an associated hunger strike, students at Princeton High School walked out of school to the sit-in site at Cannon Green.

Reject Israel Shabbat, join Solidarity Shabbat

Several dozen people stand in front of a sunlit building.

"Tonight’s “Israel Shabbat,” as well as the day-to-day celebration of Israel in light of its international human rights violations and brutality over the last seven months, has alienated many Jewish students critical of the ethno-state’s actions."

Postdocs win unionization, vote finalized

A brick building looms overhead as the sun shines in the east.

In the election held on Thursday, postdocs voted 484–89 in favor of joining a union with United Auto Workers.

Most Popular

Live updates: ‘gaza solidarity encampment’ at princeton, students claim meeting with eisgruber was unproductive, hunger strike will continue, ‘i think we were forced into this position’: hunger strike for palestine continues, sitting in at princeton: proud past, shameful present, civil disobedience has consequences.

University Writing Center
The Writing Mine

The time has come to write a personal statement, but you do not know where to begin. No worries, writing about yourself is no easy task. After all, there’s only so much you can fit when writing a personal statement.

What is a Personal Statement?

A personal statement is a required essay done by a prospective candidate in an educational setting whether they are applying for a scholarship, graduate school admission, studying abroad, fellowship program, etc. However, it should not be confused with being the same as a statement of purpose. A statement of purpose strictly focuses on how your achievements, such as professional or academic, can benefit the program you are applying to . In contrast, a personal statement allows more creativity and freedom to develop within the applicant. Occasionally, personal statements may come with specific questions about what to write about.

Why Should They Choose You?

Although it is important to emphasize your achievements, whether it be academic or professional, the person reading your statement wants to get to know you better through your background information and what inspired you to pursue your goals. Overall, it’s important to ask yourself these questions when considering writing a personal statement:

● What exact moment led you to be where you are today?

● What separates you from the rest of the candidates?

● What personal traits or qualities do you have that will help you succeed?

● What do your story, goals, or skills obtained bring to the table?

Are You the Right Fit?

Although the focus of a personal statement is yourself, you must consider that you’re applying to a specific institution or program that offers specific opportunities. Not everyone will be the right fit and that’s okay, there are many opportunities for you to join. However, if you truly want to get in and be accepted, you must try to make a connection with your audience. Mention how the school or program will help you succeed and accomplish your goals. This goes back to what you bring to the table.

The unique trait about personal statements is that no two are alike. Everybody’s story is different. The requirements for each application vary in length, format, and topics. Nevertheless, having a concrete idea of how to organize your thoughts and ideas before you submit your final draft saves a lot of stress and time when the deadline comes. If you need an idea of where to start, brainstorm, or organize your thoughts, below is an example of a structure for your layout that may help you in getting out of that writing block:

Introduction:

- Introduce a memory that leads back to where your interest or passion started or motivated you be where you are today

- Give a sneak peek to your reader in a quick summary as to what you’re going to be talking about in your body paragraph (background information, accomplishments, & future aspirations from being admitted into the school or program)

*Note: Introductions should be a brief paragraph of everything you’re going to be writing about, leave the details for your body paragraphs.

A) 1 st Paragraph (Background Information)

What’s your undergraduate major/degree or other educational history?

What part of your demographic information is relevant? (hometown, heritage, family

history, etc.)

What’s an obstacle or challenge that changed the way you viewed your life?

Make sure be able make one connection to all three, it’ll make it easier for your

reader to follow through with your story and understand your goals

If deciding to write about an obstacle or challenge, remember to not solely focus on

the negative experience of it. Instead, try thinking about what you were able to take

from the experience and how did it change you as a person.

B) 2nd Paragraph (Academic and Professional Achievements)

Any organizations you’ve joined or rewards you’ve obtained? (The more you have

done, the better)

What skills have you’ve obtained through participating in any organizations, events,

jobs, etc.? C) 3 rd Paragraph (Future Goals and Accomplishments)

What is the next step after being admitted?

What do you hope to learn or take from being part of the program?

How will you apply it to your desired goal?

Conclusion:

Restate your goals in one or two sentences

Talk about what you envision for your future, what do you hope to gain from all of this?

What will you benefit from being on the program?

What do you contribute to the program?

How will you apply everything you learned?

*Note: Your concluding/closing paragraphs are usually short with a maximum of three or four sentences, leave out any details.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, there are several things to remind yourself of when writing a personal statement: focus on answering the main questions, tell your story, and use examples of any challenge or obstacle that you faced throughout your life. If you decide to focus on a challenge or obstacle, think about the tone you will use. Writing about this challenge or obstacle focuses on the learning experience or the opportunity rather than solely on the negative parts. Remember, you’ve worked hard enough to get where you are today. Hopefully, you can get started on that personal statement you’ve been procrastinating on, and good luck on whatever path you decide to pursue.

Connect With Us

The University of Texas at El Paso University Writing Center Library 227 500 W University El Paso, Texas 79902

E: [email protected] P: (915) 747-5112

COMMENTS

Personal Essay
Applicants are required to submit a statement with their application briefly describing how their academic interests and life experiences would help them contribute to Princeton's scholarly community. The Graduate School does not have specific formatting requirements, however the essay must be written in English and should not exceed 500 words.
PDF How to Write Statements of Academic Purpose
To help you get started, we've compiled a few tips to help you write a strong statement of purpose. Do your homework! 1) Take time to learn about the faculty and their research - a good personal statement connects your research interests to the faculty at the school you are applying to and the type of work you will do with them.
PDF Graduate School Guide
a personal statement or statement of academic purpose. These terms are often used interchangeably, though depending on the institution there may be some key differences between them. and their research, and how your interests align with Personal Statement: As the name implies, a personal statement is more about who you are than what you've done.
How to Get Into Princeton: Essays and Strategies That Worked
Part 4: 2023-2024 Princeton supplemental essays (examples included) Beyond the Common App personal statement, Princeton requires applicants to answer several short answer and essay questions. Princeton's supplemental essays give the admissions office a more personal and comprehensive portrait of each applicant. They also provide students ...
Application
The personal statement should not exceed 500 words and must be written in English. The goal of the personal essay is to give you space to highlight your unique personal and professional story and share how it has helped to prepare you for success in graduate school. ... Princeton School of Public and International Affairs ⋅ Princeton ...
Questions about Primary Applications and Personal Statements
I am really happy with what I wrote in my HPA autobiography and would like to just use it for my personal statement, but it's way too long. Do you have advice on how to use the autobio to create a personal statement? ... 36 University Place Floor 2M, Princeton, NJ 08544 PH: (609) 258-3144 | FX: (609) 258-6170 [email protected]
The Personal Statement
The personal statement is included on the primary (common) application and sent to each school to which a student applies. It is, as its name suggests, personal - each applican... Health Professions Advising. Off screen link: Skip to ... 36 University Place Floor 2M, Princeton, NJ 08544 PH: (609) 258-3144 | FX: (609) 258-6170 [email protected]
Frequently Asked Questions for Graduate Applicants
In addition, you must submit transcripts of any academic work accomplished since the date of the last application, register three recommenders, and a revised personal statement. All materials, including the application fee, are due by the application deadline.
How to Write the Princeton University Essays 2023-2024
Prompt 1: 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 ...
Breaking down the MPA/MPP personal statement, personal essay, and
The personal statement should answer the prompt and include an explanation of one's commitment to a career in public service. We are interested in a clear description of the policy areas of interest to you and why you care about them as well as how your previous academic, personal, and professional experiences have shaped your career goals ...
Advisor Corner: Crafting Your Personal Statement
Kate Fukawa-Connelly, Director of Health Professions Advising, Princeton University. The personal statement is an unfamiliar genre for most students—you've practiced writing lab reports, analytical essays, maybe even creative fiction or poetry, but the personal statement is something between a reflective, analytical narrative, and an argumentative essay.
Statement of Values
Princeton students should live and learn in an environment that reflects U.S. society and introduces them to the world beyond. In broadening the range of perspectives to which they're exposed, students will have a better understanding of the world and be better equipped to lead and serve others. Because we believe — and know from research ...
10 Stellar Princeton University Essay Examples
Princeton Essay Examples. Essays 1-2: Why This Major. Essay 3: Extracurricular. Essay 4: Difficult Topic. Essays 5-7: Civic Engagement. Essays 8-10: Quotation and Values. Where to Get Your Essay Edited for Free. Princeton University is consistently ranked within the top three colleges in the nation, and is world-renowned for its quality of ...
Personal Statement Review
Call 855-699-4482. or. Schedule a Free Consultation. Personal Statement Review.
Appendix H: Personal Diversity Statements in the ...
Appendix H: Personal Diversity Statements in the Academic Recruitment Context Office of the Provost: Institutional Equity & Diversity Princeton University . February 2019 . Purpose and Prevalence . In the last decade, some universities have begun to request a required or optional personal diversity statement as part of the academic job application.
2018 Application Countdown, Part 2
Begin your personal statement by telling your story of public service and your contributions to the public good. Define your passion for specific policy issues and the ways in which you have engaged with those areas either as a volunteer or paid professional. ... Princeton School of Public and International Affairs ⋅ Princeton University ⋅ ...
Faculty letter to U. admin calling for VP Calhoun's resignation
For almost a week now, people of multiple faiths, genders, ages, and colors — belonging to the Princeton community and beyond — have participated in an entirely peaceful student-led sit-in on campus in pursuit of their demand that the University divest from Israel. In your communications with the campus community, you fail to mention the context preceding the students' escalation of ...
CRISPR-GPT: An LLM Agent for Automated Design of Gene-Editing ...
The introduction of genome engineering technology has transformed biomedical research, making it possible to make precise changes to genetic information. However, creating an efficient gene-editing system requires a deep understanding of CRISPR technology, and the complex experimental systems under investigation. While Large Language Models (LLMs) have shown promise in various tasks, they ...
Writing A Personal Statement
The time has come to write a personal statement, but you do not know where to begin. No worries, writing about yourself is no easy task. After all, there's only so much you can fit when writing a personal statement. ... The University of Texas at El Paso University Writing Center Library 227 500 W University El Paso, Texas 79902 E: uwctutors ...

Frequently Asked Questions for Graduate Applicants

What is the Institution Code for Princeton? Do I need to use a department code? What if I put a department code - will you still get my scores?

What is the minimum score for TOEFL? for IELTS?

Is the GRE general exam required?

Do you require official transcripts?

Advisor Corner: Crafting Your Personal Statement

Statement of Values

Our Commitment to Diversity

What are your chances of acceptance?

Your chancing factors

10 Stellar Princeton University Essay Examples

Essay Example #1: Why This Major

What the Essay Did Well

What Could Be Improved

Essay Example #2: Why This Major

What Could Be Improved

Essay Example #3: Extracurricular Essay

Essay Example #4: Difficult Topic

Essay Example #5: Civic Engagement

Essay Example #6: Civic Engagement

Essay Example #7: Civic Engagement

Essay Example #8: Quotation and Values

Essay Example #9: Quotation and Values

Essay Example #10: Quotation and Values

Where to Get Your Princeton Essays Edited

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2018 Application Countdown, Part 2 - Personal Statement

Saturday, May 11

Faculty letter to U. admin calling for VP Calhoun’s resignation

Protesters gathered around a bus.

Princeton High School students walk out in support of ‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment’

Reject Israel Shabbat, join Solidarity Shabbat

Postdocs win unionization, vote finalized

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