How long should princeton essay be

The grade and the teacher comments should appear on the paper. If a grading rubric was used, please include this information along with your paper. The admission office is more interested in the quality of the writing than the grade it received and encourages you to submit a graded written paper that shows your best efforts, regardless of the grade. If your school does not offer grades for student work, please submit teacher comments and a rubric.

If you have already graduated and are taking a year off, you may contact your secondary school to obtain a graded written paper. Please see additional information about the graded written paper on the pages that offer further details for:. Frequently Asked Questions. What they want to know is that you're willing to have tough conversations.

So, pick a memory of a real conversation, recall as many details about what happened in the conversation as you can, and draft a description of the situation that's as true to real events as possible. Did you learn something new during the difficult conversation you're writing about? Explain what you learned from it in your response! For instance, perhaps you learned that being a nonjudgmental listener can help others feel more comfortable with listening to what you have to say.

Whatever you learned, make sure you describe it in your response. This will show Princeton Admissions that you're open to learning and growing. How will the knowledge you gained from this difficult conversation shape your behavior as a Princeton student? Think about what college is like: you'll be encountering students, faculty, and staff from all over the world.

This means you'll be in constant contact with different values, cultures, and ways of thinking about the world. Princeton wants to know that you're prepared to participate in this environment in positive ways! Even if the conversation you're describing was incredibly frustrating, don't insult the other people who were involved.

Instead, show empathy toward the people you spoke with. Princeton Admissions wants to know that you're a person who can extend empathy to many different kinds of people to be a good student and citizen.

Don't brag about what you accomplished. Instead, focus on what you learned from the conversation --even if you think that the other people involved were totally wrong and you were totally right.

Admissions counselors want to know that you learned from your experience. Tip 1: Pick a convo that impacted you. You should definitely write about a conversation that was meaningful to you, rather than one that you think is impressive or controversial. Take time to reflect on tough conversations you've had before drafting your response, and make sure you pick one that impacted you in some way. Tip 2: Connect the topic to college life.

While you obviously need to describe the topic of your difficult conversation and how you handled it, a crucial part of your response is how this convo prepared you to be an engaged, ethical member of the Princeton community.

Be sure to focus part of your response on explaining how what you learned will guide your life as a Princeton student. Princeton has a longstanding commitment to service and civic engagement. Tell us how your story intersects or will intersect with these ideals. When the prompt says "tell us how your story intersects or will intersect with these ideals," it means that you should think of real things you've done or real values you hold that motivate your civic engagement.

This is a key part of the story you'll have to share in your response. Basically, the prompt is assuming that who you are and what you value will motivate how you serve others and participate as an engaged citizen. To answer this prompt effectively, then, think about telling the story behind your decision to serve or fulfill your civic responsibilities in a specific way.

The decisions we make about our community involvement are often personal. For instance, maybe someone in your family recovered from cancer as a child, so your story with service involves gathering donations for a pediatric cancer care center in the region where you live.

Think about the personal connections that you've made, then include them in your response. Maybe you don't have much experience with service or civic engagement yet, but you have a big vision for how you'll serve and engage in the Princeton community. This prompt is a chance to describe the details of that vision. Alternatively, if you have existing experience with service and civic engagement and want to continue serving in similar ways at Princeton, share your ideas about how you'll accomplish that.

Service and civic engagement are lifelong commitments—describing your ideas about how you'll serve in the future will show that you're prepared for that commitment. While it's likely that the people you've served in the past learned things from you, don't focus your response on describing how wonderful you are. Instead, focus on how your service and civic engagement experiences have refined your values and helped you become a better human, which is what Princeton admissions wants to hear about.

If you decide to include a description of how you hope to serve once you get to Princeton, don't get too carried away. For example, you probably aren't going to get every single Princeton student registered to vote Be realistic about your ideas for how you'll serve in the future. Princeton admissions just wants you to show dedication to service and civic engagement.

They don't expect you to solve all of the world's problems. Tip 1: Tell a story. It's important to coach your answer in the form of a story.

Describe who you served, what the service looked like, and why you decided to serve in this way. If possible, connect it to your background, your identity, or your values. Turning your service experience into a story for Princeton admissions will make it more memorable.

Tip 2: Describe the impact. Princeton Admissions doesn't just want to know the story of your past experience with service--they also want to know how the experience continues to impact you today. Describe what you learned from the experience, how it changed you, and how it shapes your current actions and values. Tip 3: Connect it to your future.

Connect your story about your service to your vision for your life as a student at Princeton. This will let admissions know that you'll also be an exceptional student outside of the classroom in the Princeton community. The "More About You" short answer section of the Princeton Supplement is your last chance to show who you are: the real person behind all of the stats, scores, and successes that the rest of your application showcases.

In fact, the instructions for this required portion of the supplement are clear: "There are no right or wrong answers. Be yourself! This means that, in 50 words or fewer, you'll need to give admissions counselors a clearer picture of the "you" behind the application. All three of the "More About You" short answer questions are required, and each one gives you a chance to provide a little more context for your desire to be a student at Princeton.

To answer this question, all you need to do is describe a skill that you want to learn in college! There are a couple of different ways that you could interpret this prompt. Just remember: answer honestly. For starters, you could think of the prompt as asking about a skill that you want to learn from your actual college courses. If this is the path you choose, you could write about how you want to learn to produce a podcast, to lead a Socratic Seminar, or to write a winning elevator pitch.

Connecting the skill you want to learn to your areas of academic interests is a solid strategy. Alternatively, you could think more generally about any skill you want to learn during your time in college!

For example, maybe you struggle with public speaking, and you want to learn to share your ideas more clearly in your classes and your extracurriculars. Writing about skills that are more oriented towards exploring your identity, background, or interests outside of academics is perfectly fine here too. Whatever skill you decide to write about, it's important to briefly explain why you want to learn that skill. For instance, if you were writing about learning to bake like your grandmother, you might explain that this skill has been passed down in your family for generations, and you'd like to pass it down as well.

If you want to learn how to produce a podcast, maybe you'd explain that you were searching for an interesting podcast on Marxist economics, but couldn't find one that had good production quality, so you want to learn how to produce one yourself. The same principles go for this prompt: write your response about something that genuinely brings you joy. It could be an activity, a person or relationship, or an experience you've had.

To answer this question, simply describe the thing that brings you joy. A good answer to this question will identify one specific thing that brings you joy, then describe it with gusto.

For example, if the thing that brings you joy is building model planes with your little brother, briefly tell the story of why that experience brings you joy. Maybe you like the challenge of focusing on small details, or perhaps your joy comes from building something with your hands.

Briefly giving these specific details will show how the thing that brings you joy reflects your values and identity --both of which will give more clues as to the kind of person you'll be as a student at Princeton. This short answer is fun! Keep your song selection relatively clean, of course, but otherwise, just think of a song that you're literally listening to on repeat right now , or pick a song that symbolizes your current experience.

Then explain why! For example, maybe you'll write about "Inner Child" by BTS because getting ready to leave home for college in the midst of so much has made you reflect on your younger years. Or, if you've literally listened to "my future" by Billie Eilish one thousand times since its release, briefly write about why you can't stop hitting repeat. Don't overthink this prompt: the music we love reveals things about our personality and how we cope with the realities of our lives.

Just be real, and you'll show Princeton admissions another facet of your genuine personality and how you process the world. Tip 0: find a cozy coffee shop to start writing your essay in. To wrap up, here are some final tips to keep in mind as you write your Princeton essays and any other essays for college applications. A vague essay is certain to squelch your chances of getting into Princeton, so make sure you're being as specific as possible in your writing.

For example, if you're writing about somebody who inspired you, touch on the little quirks or traits they have to help the admissions committee more easily visualize this person, such as their subtle mannerisms, the way they handled stress, or their perseverance in a difficult situation. Remember that you're writing about something real, whether that's a person, event, object, or experience.

Your aim should be to make the subject of your essay feel as real to your readers as it did and does for you. Other ways to ensure that you're being specific enough in your essay are to use common literary devices such as anecdotes, dialogue an actual conversation you had with someone , imagery, and onomatopoeia. These not only add color to your writing but also paint the subject of your essay in a more effective, relatable way. Lastly, I recommend getting somebody else to read over your essay which I talk about more in tip 4 ; this person can let you know if your writing isn't specific enough and if too much is left to be implied.

Include any of your experiences in, or exposure to engineering, and how you think the programs offered at the University suit your particular interests. Find a targeted story or angle. The first thing you should notice about this prompt is its length. As a result, you need to formulate a precise approach that allows you to convey maximum emotion, personal voice, and detail in a few paragraphs. For your probably terrified reference, this paragraph already has been 75 words, or half your limit.

You can brainstorm using a chart:. Prioritize your beginning. Here are some ideas to get started:. Start with your lowest point. These things became my world as my face crushed down onto the mat. I struggled to break loose, but it was useless — I was pinned. This writing is immersive and leaves us nowhere to go but up. Start with your highest point.

When we get really into our hobbies, most of us attain a state of flow, or even euphoria. This would be a tremendous lead-off for an exhilarating sport, like snowboarding or dancing, or a pastime that soothes you and makes you blissful. It perfectly conveys the natural high of doing what you love, and it unites us with the characters by involving us in their happiness.

Describe a snapshot. Your vignette could be a real picture of you doing your activity, or you could imagine one. For example:. The camera flash illuminates those hands — wrinkled, but strong from years of wrestling with clay.

The girl smiles, with all five of her teeth. This approach works well if you have a unique photo, or a photo with a beloved mentor. It also might work well in describing a piece of your own art, or a historical image. Deconstruct a stereotype of your pastime. This is a good way to come out swinging, and with a chip on your shoulder. Bonus points if you revisit this stereotype at the end just to drive home the point that you know better. Explain a shibboleth. A bold way to open your essay is by starting with a phrase or statement that your reader will not understand without your ensuing guidance.

Shibbolim take many forms: jargon, quotes, terms, or references. Maybe your team had a phrase or inside joke that made sense to you, but would be impenetrable to an outsider. This can be a great introduction if your pastime involves an influential mentor who used a signature phrase or maxim: teachers, coaches, authors, parents, etc. Maybe your teacher invented a useful or funny mnemonic or nickname. These can be great personal gems around which to discuss your sport, club, or community.

Bonus points if you repeat your shibboleth, in its illuminated glory, at the end. Use a bit of poetry. This is great for a topic that might seem technical or bewildering to outsiders. But does The Right Stuff use those words? Absolutely not. They said whoever challenged him would die.

By this, we just mean that your pastime should convey a sense of personal development and maturation. But doing so unthinkingly is a fatal mistake that you should never make. Can you imagine? Instead, you need to focus on the emotional meaning behind the achievements you mention. For example, how much work, how many early mornings, how many rainy practices, did it take you to go from a freshman on the bench to making it to state your senior year?

These details will make your nominal awards seem like tangible payoff rather than text. Call it the Lord of the Rings rule: colleges would rather admit the Frodo Baggins who spends three books walking on foot across Middle-earth than the Frodo who simply rides the Eagles into Mordor in a day. There are a few hacks you can use to make the words you have seem a lot longer and more developed.

That way, if you want to write about a longer time span, your final product will seem less rushed. Now, onto the next prompts, where you have a little bit more space…. While it can be tempting to simply retell the events of the story, remember that it is equally as important to talk in detail about the specific insight that you gained.