“I immediately started crying because I never thought that I could achieve this,” Morgan Gagnon ’27 wrote to The Daily Princetonian about her admission to Princeton on Mar. 30. “It was a crazy moment emotionally.”
For the second consecutive year, the University did not release admission statistics on Ivy Day, when prospective members receive offers of admission. A ‘Prince’ analysis of admission rate trends suggests the acceptance rate for the Class of 2027 may be 5.82 percent or higher after the expansion of the student body.
In December 2021, the University announced that it will no longer release admission data for early action, regular decision and transfer admissions cycle. The University wrote that information such as acceptance rates and average standardized test scores “raises the anxiety level of prospective students” and “may discourage some prospective students from applying.” Princeton still reports information about its annual admission cycles to the Common Data Set and the College Scorecard.
All eight Ivy League schools release their regular decision results in late March or early April, a date collectively known as “Ivy Day.”
“It felt surreal,” wrote Aum Dhruv ’27 to the ‘Prince’ about his acceptance. “After the acceptance, hugging my mom, dad, and ba (grandma) was just as exciting. In fact, I’m looking forward to making bonds like that at Princeton.”
Other Ivy League institutions, including Harvard, Yale, Brown, and Columbia, have released admissions statistics on Ivy Day the past two years. This year, Harvard accepted 3.41 percent of its applicants, Yale accepted 4.35 percent, Columbia accepted 3.9 percent, and Brown accepted 5 percent. Across the Ivy League, acceptance rates stayed relatively stable since last year, despite long-term declines in acceptance rates.
The University continues to publicly release demographic information related to admission cycles, but only for students that enroll. 1500 students enrolled as members of the Class of 2026.
University Spokesperson Mike Hotchkiss wrote in an email to the ‘Prince’ that, as was the case last year, the University “will publish an announcement later this year that focuses on the enrolled students who will join Princeton as the Class of 2027.”
In August 2022, the University released admission data for the Class of 2026 without fanfare. The acceptance rate was 5.7 percent. The latest statistic actually published on Ivy Day by the Office of Communications was in 2021, for the Class of 2025 — the regular decision acceptance rate that year was 3.98 percent.
The Class of 2027 will be the second expanded class in the University’s four-year push to increase undergraduate enrollment by 125 students per year. The first, the Class of 2026, was the University’s largest incoming class in history at the time. The University’s expansion includes three new residential colleges: New College West and Yeh College opened this academic year; Hobson College, which is under construction, has a revised timeline for opening before spring 2026.
Princeton admissions statistics
The ‘Prince’ analyzed the University’s admission cycles over a ten year period from the 2012-2013 cycle to the 2021-2022 cycle using the Common Data Set.
As the University continues its suspension of the standardized testing requirements, the number of applications to the University may have continued to increase. The Class of 2025, the first class entering Princeton with the test-optional policy in place, was selected from a record-breaking applicant pool with an increase of 4,765 applicants from the previous year.
As a result, the University saw a markedly lower overall acceptance rate that year of 4.38 percent (including Early Action), based on calculations by the ‘Prince.’ This mirrors a larger trend among the Ivy League as a whole. For the Ivy League Class of 2027, the average acceptance rate among the eight schools is an estimated 5.23 percent, compared to the 6.96 percent average acceptance rate among all Ivy League schools for the Class of 2024.
Princeton’s acceptance rate increased for the Class of 2026 due to expansion, up to 5.7 percent — Princeton is the only Ivy League school that is currently expanding class sizes. Based on admission trends at other Ivy League institutions, the ‘Prince’ estimates the Class of 2027’s acceptance rate may be 5.82 percent or higher.
Gender balance by admissions cycle
For the 2020-2021 Princeton admissions cycle, more women applied than men, breaking a nine year trend. However, of the eight Ivy League colleges, the University had the second lowest number of female applicants. Starting with the class of 2021, more women have been admitted to the University than men.
Justus Wilhoit is an assistant News editor for the ‘Prince.’
Louisa Gheorghita is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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