Tips For Applying to Princeton University

Cantiger
Sat, 20 May 2017 18:49:32 +0000

Math at Princeton is extremely advanced. My son’s room mate was a math concentrator and had extensive experience in working proofs prior to coming to Princeton. He had been admitted to many top schools and chose Princeton because he felt it would offer the strongest development for him (FYI he went on to PhD studies in another top math program after Princeton). He ended up being essentially average among other math concentrators, many of whom came from Eastern block and Asian countries.

If you are considering applying as a math concentrator you will need some significant advanced work in the next two years. Princeton does accept applicants to the school as a whole, however, and many applicants change their intended concentration with little to no difficulty so an applicant could certainly intend one concentration and switch to another with advisor approval. However, if you indicate math as a concentration your application is likely to be viewed with a comparison to current students and their preparation. (FYI - My son who was by far top in his high school in math and placed in the top 25 in a national math contest told me he would not have been even close to having adequate preparation to be a math concentrator)

Otherwise you have built a strong resume and will undoubtedly have some great options when it is time to apply for college. Try not to set your sights on a single school. Rather, apply to a broad spectrum of matches and reaches. Best wishes to you!