Wilson School takes 58 percent of applicants

The Wilson School accepted 90 sophomores Wednesday, less than a month after 156 students submitted their applications for the only selective major on campus.

"I was walking through the courtyard when my buddies who knew they got in yelled to ask if I checked my mailbox," John Curtis '08 said. "I just ran to the dining hall and found out that I was accepted as well. I called both my parents."

This year's admissions process was slightly more competitive than last year, when 145 students applied.

Over the past six years, the average acceptance rate has been 58 percent.

"The demand for admission to the [Wilson] School has been pretty constant, though we now admit 90 as opposed to 60 students a decade ago," Wilson School professor Stanley Katz, who also chairs the Undergraduate Program Committee, said.

Application numbers over the past decade have ranged from a low of 130 to a high of 167, Katz added.

There are "a couple of people on the waitlist," he said. But, he added, "Not many people decline their acceptances."

Of those accepted, six students are certificate students while the other 84 are concentrators. Certificate students are held to the same standards as concentration students, but may take fewer departmental courses.

The 'best option'

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Hicham Alaoui '08 received notification of his acceptance via email because he is currently studying abroad in Paris.

"I've always been interested in international affairs because I'm an international person," he said. "I went to school in Morocco before coming to Princeton. I've been all over the place."

Students in the Wilson School undergo an interdisciplinary course of study, but all complete coursework in economics, history, politics, psychology or sociology.

This approach made the Wilson School "definitely the best option," Luke Cohler '08 said.

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Perhaps the most distinctive part of the Wilson School is the policy task force, which both certificate and concentration students complete each semester of their junior year.

Michael Zhang '08, whose potential policy focus is rural China, said that he chose to concentrate in the Wilson School instead of the politics department because of the hands-on approach that the task forces provide.

"The task forces look at policy and actually make recommendations to people who work in their fields," Zhang, who is also a photographer for The Daily Princetonian, said. "So it really gives you an opportunity to examine real world things, versus politics, where you look at the policy aspect of the political realm."

Curtius, who wrote his essay on Colombian drug cartels and terrorism, said he "came to Princeton in hopes that [he]'d be accepted."

Right after he received his acceptance letter, however, Curtius spent time consoling a friend who was not accepted.

When asked if the Wilson School should have open admission, Curtius said, "There are pros and cons." Though a selective admissions process enables assessment of "which students will be best able to study policy and offer good recommendations in their policy task forces," the competitive nature of the process can be problematic, he said.

"I've heard people say, 'I want to get in just because.' There are other students who are really interested in policy but don't get in," Curtius said.