Overall 10.9% Admit Rate, 8.4% Regular Decision Admit Rate

The Class of 2009 was chosen from a record 16,516 applicants, representing a 20.6 percent increase from the 13,695 students who applied in the previous year. The University has offered admission to 1,807 students, which is 176 more than the previous year. This year's acceptance rate of 10.9 percent is one percentage less than the previous year. 1,214 Regular Decision candidates out of the 14,477 that applied were accepted, for a Regular Decision acceptance rate of 8.4 percent. 593 Early Decision applicants out of the 2,039 that applied were accepted, for an Early Decision acceptance rate of 29.1 percent.

Taking into account the spots that have already been filled with Early Decision applicants, about 627 of the 1,214 Regular Decision admits are expected to enroll. This indicates the Admission Office expects a yield of approximately 68 percent, similar to the previous year.

Academically, this year's applicant pool was slightly better than the previous year's. The average SAT scores and the number of students who ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school classes were both higher than last year.

The percentage of admitted minority students increased 7 percentage points to 42 percent this year. 9.9 percent of the admits are legacies, compared to 11.2 percent last year. 54 percent of the admits were male. 9 percent of the admits are international students. Though the applicant pool included 122 countries, the admits represent 46 countries.

Early Decision

Princeton saw its early applicant pool rise 12 percent this year, after a substantial dropoff for the Class of 2008. This year's 29 percent acceptance rate was down from 32 percent last year for the early decision class. 593 applicants were accepted out of 2,039 early decision applicants.

The average SAT score was 730 for the verbal section and 730 for the math section and 94 percent of the admitted students were in the top 10 percent of their high school classes.

23 percent of the admitted students are students of color (up from 18 percent last year) and 9 percent are international.