Admissions & selectivity
Princeton University Acceptance Rate & Admissions
What is the acceptance rate at Princeton University?
Princeton University’s reported acceptance rate is 4.6%.
- Acceptance rate · Fall 2024
- 4.6%
Source: College Scorecard · Fall 2024 admissions. Acceptance rates can change from year to year; this figure does not predict the current or next admission cycle.
Source: Princeton University Common Data Set 2025-26, C1 · first-time, first-year students.
How to interpret the acceptance rate
Princeton University admitted 4.6% of applicants, below the median of 71.2% for comparable institutions (same type and size). In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported 42,303 applicants, 1,868 admitted, and 1,408 enrolled.
What SAT and ACT scores do enrolled Princeton University students report?
In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, Princeton University reported that 60% of its entering class submitted SAT scores. The middle half of those SAT submitters scored from 1490 to 1560.
Among the 20% who submitted ACT scores, the middle half scored from 34 to 35. Far more of the entering class submitted SAT scores than ACT scores, so the SAT range describes more of the class.
The ranges below describe enrolled students who submitted test scores at Princeton University. Use them as academic context, then check the university’s current testing policy for your application cycle.
60% of entering students submitted SAT scores
- 25th percentile
- 1490
- Median
- 1530
- 75th percentile
- 1560
CDS 2025-26 · enrolled first-year score submitters. This range is not an admission cutoff.
20% of entering students submitted ACT scores
- 25th percentile
- 34
- Median
- 35
- 75th percentile
- 35
CDS 2025-26 · enrolled first-year score submitters. This range is not an admission cutoff.
Source: Princeton University Common Data Set 2025-26, C9 · Enrolled first-time, first-year score submitters.
Who enrolls at Princeton University?
- Pell Grant recipients
- 19.2%
- Entering students outside the first-time, full-time group
- 2.4%
- First-year retention
- 98.4%
Retention source: College Scorecard; full-time first-year retention.
About these student measures
The entering-student group includes part-time entrants as well as other attendance patterns.
Princeton University admitted 4.6% of applicants, a figure well below the median of 71.2% for comparable institutions (same type and size). In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported 42,303 applicants, 1,868 admitted, and 1,408 enrolled.
Undergraduate enrollment stands at 5,709. Pell Grant recipients make up 19.2% of undergraduates, and an estimated 2.4% of students enter as transfers or part-time students.
In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported 2,274 transfer applicants, 42 admitted, and 32 enrolled. The composition suggests a student body drawn primarily from first-time, full-time entrants, with a modest share of Pell-eligible students.
Princeton University reports a first-year retention rate of 98.4% and a six-year graduation rate of 97.6% for its first-time, full-time cohort. Both figures run well above the peer medians of 83.4% and 68.8% for comparable institutions.
In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported a retention rate of 99% for the first-time, full-time fall 2024 entering class. Enrolled students can expect a setting where nearly every first-year student persists and where the six-year completion rate leaves little room between the entering class and the diploma.
Data & methodology
Sources and reporting periods: methodology.
Analysis and methodology by Daniel Rogers, founder of College Azimuth.
Explanatory text is AI-assisted drafting checked against those figures; it is not an additional data source.
Admission rates describe past applicants, not an individual’s chance of admission; confirm requirements and deadlines with the institution.
Figure notes link to sources and limitations. About College Azimuth.