Princeton University has offered admission to 726 students from a pool of 3,443 candidates who applied through single-choice early action for the Class of 2016.
Princeton's undergraduate admission office mailed notification letters to students Dec. 15, and the decisions were available to applicants via secure online access on the same day.
This is the first year since 2006 that the University has offered an early application round for prospective students whose first college choice is Princeton. The University's early action program requires applicants to apply early only to Princeton, and not to other early programs, but does not require them to decide whether to accept Princeton's offer until the end of the regular admission process in the spring.
"We are thrilled with the academic quality of the accepted students and the range of talents they presented to the committee," Dean of Admission Janet Rapelye said. "In this first year of early action, we received a broad and deep applicant pool, which was one of our goals in deciding to return to an early program. Each application was reviewed carefully and individually, and we had to make some difficult decisions. The accepted early action applicants represent between 31 and 36 percent of the total number of students we expect to admit this year."
Of the students accepted through early action this year, 10 percent are international students, and 37 percent are U.S. students from diverse backgrounds. Fifty percent of the prospective students are men, and 50 percent are women. They represent 30 countries and 42 states, plus the District of Columbia.
Fifty-six percent of the admitted students come from public schools, and 10 percent are the first in their families to attend college. Thirteen percent of the admitted students are sons or daughters of Princeton alumni. Twenty-three percent of the admitted students indicated they want to study engineering.
Sixty-four percent of the early action students applied for financial aid, which under Princeton's groundbreaking "no-loan" policy provides students who qualify for aid with grants that do not need to be repaid.
Candidates deferred during the early action process, and about 100 of this year's early applicants who requested to be moved to the regular decision schedule before early action decisions were made, will be reconsidered during the regular decision application process. Neither group needs to reapply.
Regular decision candidates must apply by Jan. 1 and will receive notification of their decision by early April.
