How to write the Princeton essays

Recorded Thursday, August 5, 2021 at 11:00 PM

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School information

Princeton University

Princeton, NJ
Description

With a slim acceptance rate that shrinks more ominously every year, Princeton is highly discerning in its admissions, and its committees consider not just grades and test scores, but the caliber of prose and thought demonstrated in the applications essays.

In order to stand out from a sea of other applicants, a student’s personal statements should exude as much thoroughness and eloquence as possible. In this stream, we’ll provide through tips for brainstorming and honing your Princeton supplements to burnish your strengths as a candidate and blow your readers away.

We’ll also analyze some examples so you can see potential responses to each prompt and how they’d be viewed by admissions officers.

School information

Princeton University

Princeton, NJ
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Undergrad College: Harvard University '17

Major: Music

Graduate College: University of Michigan, M.M.

Work Experience: Now in my fourth year at CollegeVine, I have helped dozens of students gain acceptance to their top-choice schools and have also advised and mentored thousands more through my livestreams. Apart from my work at CV, I am also a professional conductor and a multi-instrumentalist. I currently serve as the music director of the Apollo Ensemble of Boston, and I have led symphonic concerts and operatic productions throughout the United States.

My Admissions Story: Initially interested in pursuing a career as a performing cellist, I applied almost exclusively to music schools with dual and double degree options and ultimately enrolled in the Tufts University/New England Conservatory Dual Degree Program. Unhappy with the combined program and worried I'd never feel like I was fully a student at either school, I logged back into CommonApp.org in October of my freshman year. I can't say I went about the transfer process in the smartest way (I only applied to two schools!), but Harvard miraculously accepted me (or 'excepted me' as I wrote in a celebratory Facebook post that day - no one ever let me live that one down), and the rest was history.

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