What separated Princeton accepted vs. rejected applicants this cycle? A 4.0, and activities that showed initiative and real responsibility: paid jobs, founding something, building things. Princeton admits under 5% of applicants by its official rate, and in our sample its admits and non-admits had exactly the same median SAT.
We compared 145 Princeton applicants from self-reported 2026 r/collegeresults posts: 26 admitted, 99 rejected and 20 waitlisted. (Three admits came off the waitlist.) This is part of a larger comparison of accepted vs. rejected applicants at top colleges, and Princeton's decisions are also pooled with the other seven Ivies in Ivy League accepted vs. rejected applicants.
People who post results skew strong, so 18% of this sample got in, far above Princeton's real rate. Compare the two groups with each other, not with your own odds. With 26 admits, a gap of a few people can be noise.
Princeton admitted student GPA and SAT
| Admitted | Rejected or waitlisted | |
|---|---|---|
| Median unweighted GPA | 4.0 (19 stated) | 3.98 (89 stated) |
| Median weighted GPA | 4.64 (17 stated) | 4.60 (73 stated) |
| Median SAT (scores sent) | 1550 (22 people) | 1550 (91 people) |
| Median ACT (scores sent) | 36 (6 people) | 35 (35 people) |
| Median AP/IB courses | 12 | 11 |
| National-level award | 85% | 76% |
15 of the 19 admits who stated a GPA had a 4.0 (79%), versus 43 of 89 among everyone else (48%). That's one of the widest 4.0 gaps of any school we've written up. Everything else was close: identical SAT medians, nearly the same weighted GPA and course load. 137 of the 145 sent test scores.
Which activities Princeton admits listed more often
- A paid job: 54% of admits versus 29% of everyone else.
- Founding a club or organization: 62% versus 41%.
- Coding or tech projects: 35% versus 16%.
- An arts or writing award: 31% versus 14%.
- Tutoring or teaching: 62% versus 48%.
- Community service: 62% versus 50%.
And some showed up more often among applicants who weren't admitted:
- Scouting or civic groups: 8% of admits versus 24%.
- Debate, speech or Model UN: 15% versus 26%.
- Research: 50% versus 57%.
Paid jobs came out ahead at Princeton just as at Yale and across all eight Ivies combined. Founding an organization is more of a split: it came out ahead here but showed up more among non-admits at USC. Coding projects, which made no difference across the Ivies as a group, lined up with admission at Princeton; 15 of the 26 admits were aiming at computer science or engineering.
Research is worth noting. It came with a slightly lower rate at Princeton, unlike at Yale or Stanford. Research with real output did a bit better: 19% of admits listed a publication or paper award, versus 12% of everyone else.
By the majors applicants listed, computer science (10 admitted, 33 not) and engineering (9 admitted, 30 not) did better than math and physical sciences (6 admitted, 36 not) or the social sciences (4 admitted, 31 not). These groups are small, so treat that as a hint.
Early action, deferrals and the waitlist
Princeton uses Single-Choice Early Action, which is non-binding but limits where else you can apply early; see which Ivy League schools have early decision vs. early action.
- Early action: 4 of 12 admitted (33%).
- Regular decision: 11 of 77 admitted (14%).
Those are small numbers, but the direction is clear. Five applicants said they were deferred, and 3 of them were admitted in the spring.
Twenty-three applicants were waitlisted at some point, and 3 came off it. Princeton's own figures are much less hopeful: for Fall 2025, 1,086 students accepted a waitlist spot and 36 were admitted, about 3%. See Ivy League waitlist acceptance rates by school.
Being from New Jersey didn't help: none of the 6 New Jersey residents in the sample were admitted.
How Princeton compares with Yale and Stanford
All three admit under 5%, and all three showed the same core pattern in our data: a 4.0 was far more common among admits, and SAT scores barely separated anyone. Paid jobs stood out at both Princeton and Yale; early action applicants did about twice as well at both. At Stanford, community service, founding an organization and research stood out; founding something came out ahead at Princeton too.
What Princeton applicants can take from this
- A 4.0 mattered more than anything else measured. The SAT didn't separate anyone.
- Initiative and responsibility stood out. Paid jobs, founding something and building projects were more common among admits.
- Research alone wasn't enough. It came out slightly behind here; research with real output did a little better.
- If Princeton is your first choice, consider applying early. Early applicants did better in this sample.
- New Jersey resident? See Rutgers-New Brunswick's deadlines and admitted-student scores for your in-state option.
Princeton's College Intel page carries the same applicant-profile comparison, updated as new posts are logged.
Sources
- College Intel's tally of self-reported r/collegeresults posts, 2026 admissions cycle (445 posts logged as of Oct 17, 2026; 145 with a Princeton decision). Recruited athletes and transfer applicants excluded. Aggregates only; no individual post is reproduced, and no figure rests on fewer than 3 people.
- Princeton Fall 2025 waitlist figures, as cited in Ivy League waitlist acceptance rates by school
- College Scorecard -- U.S. Department of Education (Princeton's official admission rate)