Is Princeton engineering easier to get into than another science major?

azwu331
Thu, 29 Oct 2015 21:59:26 +0000

@ccmember11598 The admissions officers place more emphasis on your math and science scores/grades if you choose to apply for the engineering school. For example, a lower than average Math II Subject Test score may not hurt as much if you plan on applying for an AB degree; however, it could potentially hurt your application if you apply for a BSE.

In addition, around 20% of Princeton’s early action acceptances are engineering applicants, while 80% are AB applicants. For the Class of 2019 it was 21%; for the class of 2018 it was 22%; for the class of 2017 it was 25%; for the class of 2016 it was 23%. This 20-25% number has been pretty constant over the last few years. For example, if Princeton accepts around 750 students during its early round, 150-175 of those students will be engineering applicants. Whether or not engineering actually makes it easier to get in depends on the strength of the applicant pool.

So, is engineering easier to get into? Maybe. Maybe not. So many variables are involved in the application process that the data for every year may be different. One thing is for sure though: your choice of AB or BSE will not be the factor behind an acceptance or denial.

Nevertheless, even though applicants are accepted into the school as a whole and not into a specific major, Princeton does take into consideration your choice of BSE or AB. Around 161 of the accepted SCEA applicants last year were engineering applicants. About 157 of the accepted SCEA applicants for the Class of 2018 were for engineering. 174 were BSE students for SCEA '17, 167 for SCEA '16. Once again, this 150-175 number has remained constant; perhaps the number of qualified engineering applicants has always been within that range, but I feel that Princeton might have a certain goal for the number of BSE applicants that want to accept during SCEA.

My advice? Just apply to whatever major you want, regardless of whether it is BSE or AB. There is very little difference between the acceptance rates for BSE and AB students. If you want to do Biological and Chemical Engineering, put down Biological and Chemical Engineering because you are passionate about the subject, not because you want a suspected back-door into Princeton.

Hopefully this helps!