Early Action Returns at Princeton

For those rising high school seniors who aspire to go to Princeton University, know that Princeton has reinstated its Single Choice Early Action program for the 2021-2022 admissions cycle. As our readers may remember, Princeton was the only Ivy League institution to cancel its Early program last year due to the pandemic. The institution only permitted students to apply to the school through Regular Decision. The move still led to a spike in applications but not the kind of spike that its peer Ivy League institutions experienced in the most competitive year ever in the history of college admissions. But if some folks thought the move to cancel Single Choice Early Action at Princeton would be a permanent one, well, they were wrong.

As Princeton’s admissions office writes on its website, “For the 2021-22 application cycle, due to the lack of access to testing sites, Princeton will not require submission of standardized testing (SAT or ACT). 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, also known as restrictive early action, on Nov. 1, you may not apply to an early program at any other private college or university.  However, please note the following:Y ou may apply early to any public institution or service academy, as long as the decision is nonbinding. You may apply early to any international institution, as long as the decision is nonbinding. You may apply early to any college or university with a nonbinding rolling admission process. If you apply early action, there are three possible outcomes for your admission decision. We will either:Offer admission. Deny admission. Or, defer a final decision on the application and review it again in the regular decision process. We will provide an admission decision in mid-December.”

So, yes, Early Action is back at Princeton for this upcoming admissions cycle. Students who know that Princeton is their clear first choice now have the opportunity to show their love to the school — as they did for many years prior to the 2020-2021 admissions cycle — by applying Early. Just as applicants can apply Early Action to Harvard University or Yale University or Early Decision to Columbia University, Dartmouth College, Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania, or Cornell University, students will be able to apply in the Early round in the hope of becoming a Tiger.