FAQs

No. Students have enrolled at Princeton without completion of traditional high school programs. The most important factors for academic review include strong recent academic success, such as rigorous college coursework aligned with your intended areas of study, and the courses taught for credit at Princeton.

While available college coursework is often the ideal choice, some programs that may not grant credit or even provide grades can assist with this preparation. An example would include the Warrior-Scholar Project for active duty/military applicants, which can still provide valuable academic skills to prepare for the rigor of our curriculum.

We encourage you to add context and explain any challenges in the additional information sections, if not already addressed in the required responses. This includes both lower grades and any courses from which you withdrew. 

We review all academic work completed during and since high school, including any postsecondary college coursework, even if some of that work took place many years ago. It is possible to be a highly competitive applicant even if your past work was not your best, including during high school or your earlier college work. If this is the case for you, we strongly recommend considering more recent college coursework to build a solid transitional foundation, ideally in courses similar to those offered at Princeton. We consider whether our applicants are prepared today, not whether that was the case several years ago.

A resume is not required, but can be encouraged if you’ve had a nontraditional trajectory and the resume serves as a road map for the years of school and/or work since high school. Extensive detail is not required, as this can simply be a list of bullet points, accounting for all years. We do not require employment or military records as proof of employment or service, but students are welcome to submit them if they prefer. All of these optional items can be sent in the additional information section on the application, or sent after submission through the applicant portal or by email to uaoffice@princeton.edu.

Optional means optional, so these are not required, and most students do not submit additional nonacademic recommendations. However, many nontraditional applicants do find it helpful to submit optional references from individuals who know them better than their required academic references, such as supervisors or colleagues from work or the military, who can speak to their character, work ethic and other personal qualities that they would bring to our campus

Any college coursework will be evaluated in the admission process, whether in-person or online. Those that are most relevant are in subject matter similar to the courses offered at Princeton. Online courses can also be considered here, especially if they are taken in a synchronous setting, but are also valued in the admission process if they at least cover relevant material. The determination of whether they count for college credit is made by college deans and faculty during the transfer admission process only. You may not receive credit for all eligible courses.

If you have the opportunity to pursue activities of value to you, such as clubs or programs within your college or greater community, we recommend getting involved in the areas of interest. However, these activities are not expected for students with high external responsibilities, such as full-time/part-time work and/or at home responsibilities. We encourage students to articulate these responsibilities on the application, as they are still valued as extracurricular commitments that speak to your time management alongside your academic work. In all cases, you can still indicate the potential areas of interest for involvement at Princeton on the application, even if you have not yet had the opportunity to pursue those areas.

Students who need to take leave after admission but before enrollment can request to defer your enrollment from the Office of Admission, maintaining admission status but enrolling in a future year. Students who have already enrolled and need to take a leave of absence or reinstate admission must consult with their advisers through the Office of the Dean of the College for protocols on leave and readmission. Each year, a number of Princeton undergraduates interrupt their studies for a variety of reasons. Some students will choose to take a leave of absence to take care of a health issue, to pursue a professional or volunteer opportunity, to attend to family matters, to reconsider academic goals, or to meet military requirements. The Time Away from Princeton website is designed to help students navigate the leave-taking process, thrive during their time away, and plan for a successful re-entry into the Princeton campus community.

If you have not recent courses, the next best option is to consider anything written from a similar academic program, such as the Warrior-Scholar Project, even if this was not a for-credit course and/or no grade was provided. If you have no similar recent academic program, you may consider either requesting an assignment from an instructor, or writing an expository essay on a topic of your choice. It is also helpful if you can explain your circumstances and available options in the application.

We ask that students do their best to request this material, but students will not be at a disadvantage if their school is not able or willing to provide a transcript. If you are unable to provide this material after requesting it, you should indicate this in your application in the additional information section.

We require all students to submit all transcripts from high school and (if applicable) all transcripts from college and postsecondary work. The greatest emphasis in admission review will be on your most recent work; older work performance will not factor in negatively if it was not as strong. However, we still require these records so we can see the full overall academic picture of your trajectory. School reports should be sent by the most recent institution you attended.

If you are currently enrolled in college coursework, either full-time or part-time, you should submit at least two academic recommendations from within the past 2-3 years, ideally in courses similar to those offered at Princeton, such as those listed in our General Education Requirements. In-person courses are preferred, but if your only options are from online courses and/or courses of a different nature, then you can submit letters from these courses instead. Recommendations from rigorous academic workshops, such as the Warrior-Scholar Project, are also welcome substitutes. If you have no recent academic coursework from which you can submit recommendations, you can either submit the most recent recommendations you do have, or choose non-academic references, ideally from individuals who can speak to your intellectual potential.