Princeton’s admissions cycle consists of two rounds: Single Choice Early Action and Regular Decision. According to Princeton University Undergraduate Admission, “Princeton University’s single-choice early action program is a nonbinding process. If admitted, you have until May 1 to notify us about your decision to matriculate. If you apply single-choice early action on Nov. 1, you may not apply to an early program at any other private college or university within the United States.”

So there you have it. Princeton allows applicants to apply by November 1st through an application program that is non-binding. But is that all there is to this story? Not quite. Ivy Coach’s package clients only apply to Princeton through the Early round because the rumors that it’s easier to be admitted to an elite school during its Early round are absolutely true! But history shows us that Princeton has not always conducted Early admissions. In fact, Princeton has largely deferred to one of its Ivy counterparts when it comes to crafting its admissions rounds.

What Is Single Choice Early Action?

Since Choice Early Action is a non-binding program under which students apply to a university by November 1st under a restrictive Early Action policy but, if accepted in mid-December, are not bound to attend. The restriction of the policy is that students may not apply to any other private university in the Early round with the exception of public universities.

A Brief History of Princeton’s Early Admissions Round

This story starts in 1977, when Princeton introduced a non-binding Early Action application round. By 1996, Princeton switched out this program for an Early Decision application round that was binding. Ten years later, in 2006, they reversed course yet again, this time eliminating the early round altogether. In a press release published that year, Princeton cited Harvard’s elimination of their Early round, which had happened a week prior, as the defining reason for their decision:

“In making a similar announcement last week, Harvard pointed to the inequities of early admission programs for less advantaged students and concerns about early admission that many secondary schools have expressed with increasing urgency in recent years.”

Five years later, Princeton reversed course yet again and reinstated an Early round that has lived on to this day as the Single Choice Early Action (non-binding) program. So much for undoing the “inequities” that Early admission renders upon “less advantaged” students! But this switch did not come out of nowhere. Once again, Princeton was following in Harvard’s footsteps, only this time the copycat decision came in a matter of hours, not days. In a 2011 press release announcing the new policy, Princeton deferred to Harvard:

“In 2006, Princeton announced its intention to adopt a single admission program, shortly after Harvard University announced its intention to eliminate its early action program. At the time, both universities expressed the hope that other universities would follow suit. Only the University of Virginia did so, and it reversed that decision last year. Earlier today, Harvard also returned to an early admission program.”

We can’t say we’re surprised that Princeton has historically followed Harvard’s lead on the issue. There is an old Ivy Coach saying: where Harvard goes, the rest of the Ivy League follows!

Princeton Finally Blazes Its Own Trail on Early Admission

In 2020, Princeton finally broke away from this pattern of Harvard deferral by eliminating their Early round as part of a pandemic contingency plan, a move which Harvard would have never dreamed of. This took bravery! Princeton certainly felt the burn of this risky decision though (applications didn’t spike as much as they did at peer institutions), and quickly went back to business as usual in the following cycle, just as our Ivy Coach crystal ball predicted. We can’t say we blame them. While they often claim that the Early round is composed of more competitive applicants than the Regular Decision round, elite universities love the Early round because it’s when most enthusiastic students apply, a.k.a. those who are very likely to matriculate if admitted. 

However, this does not mean that Single Choice Early Action and other such programs are not fraught with issues of socioeconomic diversity. If Princeton truly wanted to commit to the principles they touted back in 2006, their Early round would still be a thing of the past. But for better or worse, that’s not the world that we live in. Single Choice Early Action at schools like Princeton is not going anywhere (unless another global catastrophe strikes — let’s hope not!).