Materials Required
Application for Admission
Application Fee
Fee Waiver
Letters of Recommendation
Transcripts
Unofficial Report of Midyear Grades
Personal Statement
Statement of Financial Resources
GRE (General Record Examination)
GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test)
English Language Test Scores
Writing Sample and Department-Specified Materials
Application for Admission
All sections of the application must be completed and submitted by the deadline in order for the application to be considered. Your application will be submitted electronically to our office—do not send us a printed copy of the Web application. If you are submitting a paper application, it must be mailed directly to the Office of Graduate Admission. Do not mail applications or materials to the academic departments or faculty.
Application Fee
Your application will not be considered without the application fee. The application fee for applications submitted on or before December 1 is U.S. $65. For those applicants submitting between December 2 and December 31, the fee is U.S. $80. All paper applications require an application fee of U.S. $105 regardless of the date submitted.
Fee Waiver
Requests for fee waivers will only be considered for U.S. citizens, permanent residents or applicants currently participating in one of the following programs: AmeriCorps (WWS applicants only), FAF, IIE/Fulbright, IIPP, IRT, JSI, McNair, NYC Urban Fellows, Peace Corps, PPIA, Project 1000, U.S. Military and VEF - on the basis of significant financial hardship. A completed application for a fee waiver must accompany your Web application at least TWO WEEKS prior to your departments deadline but no later than December 15. All fee waiver requests must be submitted using the Web application.
Letters of Recommendation
Three letters of recommendation from faculty members or others well-acquainted with your academic work are required. Letters of recommendation can be submitted electronically by using our Web recommendation service available through the Web application. When applying, simply supply your recommenders’ e-mail addresses. They will then receive an e-mail with directions on how to proceed. Recommenders are strongly encouraged to use the Web recommendation service instead of paper. If not all of your recommenders can access the Web service, then any combination of web and/or paper recommendations are acceptable. Do not send both web recommendations and paper recommendations from the same recommender. If your recommenders choose to submit their paper letters directly to the Office of Graduate Admission, it is your responsibility to inform them of the application deadline. Your recommenders should be aware that, if we receive recommendations after the application deadline, it may adversely impact the review of your application and may hinder your chances of admission.
Transcripts
One official transcript from every college or university you have attended should be mailed to the Office of Graduate Admission. To prevent delays, you should arrange with your registrar to provide transcripts before midyear grades are posted in order for them to reach Princeton by the application deadline.
Unofficial Report of Midyear Grades
Applicants currently enrolled in an academic program must mail an unofficial report of midyear grades to the Office of Graduate Admission as soon as the grades are available, even if the grades become available after the deadline.
Personal Statement
The statement should not exceed 1,000 words and should describe your academic and career plans as they relate to the department to which you are applying. We invite students to include the special barriers or challenges they have had to overcome to pursue higher education. You may upload your personal statement where indicated on the web application. Do not send a copy of your personal statement if you have attached it as a supplement form to your web application.
Statement of Financial Resources
Completion of the Statement of Financial Resources is required of all applicants to all master’s programs, including master’s in engineering and finance, the Woodrow Wilson School, and the School of Architecture. This form can be submitted online with the web application.
GRE (Graduate Record Examination)
All applicants are required to have taken the General Test of the GRE within the past five years. If your scores are more than five years old, you must retake the test. Refer to the departmental requirements to determine if the GRE Subject Test is required by the department to which you are applying. When registering for the test, you must request that your scores be sent to Princeton University, Office of Graduate Admissions (institution code 2672, no department code is required). Allow several weeks for test scores to reach the University. To ensure timely receipt of GRE scores, applicants are urged to take the paper exam in October, or the computer-based test no later than early December. An application is considered incomplete without these scores. For more information contact Educational Testing Service at (609) 771-7670 or (866) 473-4373 or on the web.GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test)
Only applicants to the Master’s in Finance may submit GMAT scores in place of the GRE General Test. If your scores are more than five years old, you must retake the test. When registering for the test, you must request that your scores be sent to Princeton University, Office of Graduate Admissions (institution code 2672, no department code is required). Allow several weeks for the scores to reach the University. For more information visit GMAT on the web.
English Language Test Scores
All applicants whose native language is not English and who have not received their undergraduate education in a U.S. college or university must submit scores from one of two internationally recognized assessments of English language proficiency, the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) or the Test of English as a Foreign Language, in its internet-based test form (iBT TOEFL).
IELTS is a testing arm of Cambridge University, United Kingdom ESOL examinations and the British Council. Students who wish to demonstrate English proficiency through the IELTS test should visit their website, for information about the administration of this test and how to have test results reported to Princeton in a timely fashion. Normally tests results are mailed out in two weeks from the date of the IELTS administration.
Students must sign up to take the Academic Test version of IELTS. The Graduate School has set a 7.0 on the academic version of IELTS as the minimum to be considered for admission to Princeton doctoral programs. (Note: IELTS test scores of 7.0 and above do not exempt international graduate students who accept Princeton’s offer of admission from the policy and requirements of the Graduate School’s English Language Program.) Scores that are more than two years old are not valid and will not be considered.
Educational Testing Service administers the internet-based Test of English as a Foreign Language (iBT TOEFL), the English proficiency test that most international applicants take. The Graduate School is now accepting only scores from the iBT TOEFL. Due to the nature of the graduate admission process, the Graduate School has not set a recommended minimum score on the iBT TOEFL (just as the Graduate School does not publish recommended minimum GRE Verbal or Quantitative scores, or minimum grade point averages. Admission is determined after a holistic reading of the entire application in the department and review and approval by the Graduate School.)
To provide guidance, however, to prospective applicants, the following information may be useful. Over the last two admission seasons the average iBT TOEFL combined score for admitted students was 108, with the following average sub-scores: Listening 28, Reading 29, Speaking 24, and Writing 27. Furthermore, data from the University's English Language Program indicates that of newly enrolling internationals students, those who score below 20 on the Speaking subsection of iBT TOEFL are virtually certain to have to take an English language course during their first year of graduate study to bring their spoken proficiency up to a minimum standard.
When registering for TOEFL, you must request that your scores be sent to Princeton University, Office of Graduate Admissions (institution code 2672, no department code is required). Allow four to six weeks for your scores to be released to the Office of Graduate Admissions. For more information contact Educational Testing Services at (609) 771-7100 or (877) 863-3456 or on the web.
Writing Samples and Department-Specified Materials
Writing samples, portfolios, music samples, policy memos, résumé, and other materials required by specific departments must be received by the application deadline. You may upload writing samples, policy memos, résumés, and other materials where indicated on the web application. Please avoid special packaging as this delays the processing of your application and does not increase the opportunity for greater consideration by the admission committees. In addition, all materials must be no larger than 8.5" x 11." The Office of Graduate Admission reserves the right to alter any items to meet the size requirement.