Princeton University is a world-renowned Ivy League institution celebrated for its exceptional focus on undergraduate education, with premier academic programs in public and international affairs, engineering, economics, and mathematics. A defining hallmark of the academic experience is the mandatory senior thesis, which requires almost all undergraduates to conduct original, faculty-mentored research before graduating. Campus life is close-knit and deeply residential, uniquely anchored by the residential college system and the historic, student-run "eating clubs" along Prospect Avenue. Backed by a trailblazing no-loan financial aid policy, Princeton provides an intellectually rigorous and highly collaborative environment on a picturesque, park-like New Jersey campus.
Wikipedia:Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. The institution moved to Newark in 1747 and then to its Mercer County campus in Princeton nine years later. It officially became a university in 1896 and was subsequently renamed Princeton University.
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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?
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.
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?
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?
What is a new skill you would like to learn in college?
What brings you joy?
What song represents the soundtrack of your life at this moment?
Quoted from Princeton University's own page; answered in the Common Application or the QuestBridge Application. The application itself is the final word.
The personal essay is separate: see the Common App essay prompts.
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