Princeton University

In addition to the Common or Coalition Application personal statement, Princeton requires applicants to respond to several supplemental essay prompts. These essays provide an opportunity to showcase your personality, values, and interests.

Princeton Supplemental Essay 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, the dining hall or other campus spaces. What lessons have you learned in life thus far? What will your classmates learn from you? In short, how has your lived experience shaped you? (500 words or fewer)

Interpretation:
This is Princeton’s most introspective prompt, asking applicants to go beyond demographics and reflect on the emotional and intellectual journey that shaped them. It reveals how you understand difference, growth, and your potential to enrich a diverse campus dialogue. The best responses tend to demonstrate humility, evolution of thought, and the ability to learn from — and offer — perspective.

Princeton Supplemental Essay Prompt #2

Princeton has a longstanding commitment to understanding our responsibility to society through service and civic engagement. How does your own story intersect with these ideals? (250 words or fewer)

Interpretation:
This prompt connects your personal narrative to Princeton’s ethos of public service. It’s not merely about listing community service hours — it asks how deeply and authentically you engage with the idea of civic responsibility. It assesses empathy, agency, and how you define your role within larger systems or communities.

Princeton Supplemental Essay Prompt #3

What is a new skill you would like to learn in college? (50 words)

Interpretation:
This prompt opens a window into your curiosity and willingness to challenge yourself in unfamiliar territory. Princeton is interested in what excites you intellectually or personally when grades aren’t at stake — it gauges your openness to growth and the multidimensionality of your goals.

Princeton Supplemental Essay Prompt #4

What brings you joy? (50 words)

Interpretation:
This deceptively simple question is about what energizes your spirit and sustains your sense of wonder. The admissions team is trying to see beyond your academic drive — into your personality, authenticity, and the little moments or passions that make life feel meaningful to you.

Princeton Supplemental Essay Prompt #5

What song represents the soundtrack of your life at this moment? (50 words)

Interpretation:
This prompt encourages symbolic thinking and self-awareness. The song you choose — and how it connects to your current mindset or emotional state — says a lot about how you process your reality. It’s also a chance to convey originality and emotional nuance in a compact space.

Princeton Supplemental Essay Prompt #6

For Applicants Pursuing an A.B. Degree (or are Undecided): As a research institution that also prides itself on its liberal arts curriculum, Princeton allows students to explore areas across the humanities and the arts, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. What academic areas most pique your curiosity, and how do the programs offered at Princeton suit your particular interests? (250 words or fewer)

Interpretation:
This is a chance to articulate how your intellectual curiosity aligns with Princeton’s academic architecture. Admissions officers want to see evidence of deep interest — whether focused or interdisciplinary — and an awareness of how Princeton’s resources (courses, faculty, centers) align with your academic mindset. The prompt tests maturity of thought and the ability to connect academic questions with long-term purpose.

Princeton Supplemental Essay Prompt #7

For Applicants Pursuing a B.S.E. Degree: Please describe why you are interested in studying engineering at Princeton. Include any of your experiences in, or exposure to engineering, and how you think the programs offered at the University suit your particular interests. (250 words or fewer)

Interpretation:
This prompt assesses your technical curiosity, clarity of purpose, and depth of exposure to engineering. Princeton is looking for future engineers who are not only skilled but thoughtful — who understand the broader context of their work and are aware of how Princeton’s unique interdisciplinary engineering education fits their trajectory.