Early Decision

Princeton accepted 581 of the 1,815 early decision applicants to the Class of 2008. The 32 percent acceptance rate was a nearly seven percent increase over last year's rate.

Though the number of students who applied early is down 25 percent from last year, Princeton continued its trend of filling just less than half of the entering class through early decision. Princeton had fewer early applicants than Harvard, Yale and Stanford universities, which all changed their admission system this year.

Perhaps the most significant change this year for Princeton's early acceptances is the concentration of engineers. The University accepted 27 percent more applicants to the School of Engineering and Applied Science compared with the Class of 2007.

Women make up 46 percent of those already accepted to the Class of 2008, while men make up 54 percent. 18 percent of the admitted students are students of color. More than 15 percent of the entering class are sons or daughters of Princeton graduates.

Regular Decision

For the class of 2008, Princeton admitted 1,631 of 13,690 applicants, totaling 11.9 percent.

Competition was extremely high, as the overall academic quality of applicants increased, while fewer weak students applied.

A total of 1,050 decision letters were sent to students who applied regular decision. Only 8.8 percent of the 11,875 students who applied under regular decision were admitted. A total of 581, or 32 percent of the 1,815 early-decision applicants were admitted.

Applicants from 50 foreign countries made up 9.2 percent of the international students this year.

35 percent of minorities and 11.2 percent of legacies were admitted. Men, at 53 percent, make up a slightly larger portion of the class than women.

Of those students admitted, 47 percent also received financial aid offers.

The class of 2008 is expected to have 1,175 students. Princeton expects a 57 percent matriculation yield from those students offered admission under regular decision plan to accept Princeton's offer.