Princeton University Class of 2026 Profile

Curious to learn about the breakdown of the Princeton University Class of 2026? You’ve got questions. We’ve got answers. The Daily Princetonian, the student newspaper of Princeton, has released its annual “Frosh Survey,” revealing key demograhics about Princeton’s first-year class. The survey also includes information on student academic interests, views, and more. What more could you want?

New Jersey Students Well-Represented in Princeton Class of 2026

So from where do this year’s Princeton first-year class members hail — at least those that responded to the survey? As The Daily Princetonian reports, “Respondents hail from 64 countries, 45 states, and three U.S. territories…New Jersey residents represent the greatest proportion of incoming domestic Princetonians (14.3 percent), a figure roughly comparable to the population of international students (17.6 percent). The largest contingent of new non-American Tigers hail from Great Britain (2.3 percent of total, 13 percent of internationals). And Asia is the most popular continent of origin for international students (6.7 percent of total, 38.3 percent of internationals).”

One in Four Members of Princeton Class of 2026 Identify As LGBTQ+

What else, you ask? About half of respondents to The Daily Princetonian survey identified as students of color. Additionally, “Most respondents (46.8 percent) have parents who graduated with a Master’s or Professional Degree, a figure disproportionate with the national rate of 13.1 percent…39.6 percent of the incoming class expects to pay full-price for their Princeton education. Of the remaining 60.4 percent of respondents who are receiving financial aid, nearly one-third attend Princeton for free…One in four members of the Class of 2026 identify as members of the LGBTQ+ community, a figure roughly in line with the rest of Gen-Z, which stands closer to one in five.”

Members of Princeton Class of 2026 Also Considered MIT, Stanford, Harvard, Yale

What other universities were members of the Princeton Class of 2026 strongly considering? If not Princeton, the following schools were the first choices of the members of the Class of 2026: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (22.6%), Stanford University (20%), Harvard University (17%), Yale University (13.6%), Brown University (6%), and Columbia University (5.5%). Duke University (1.7%), Georgetown University (1.7%), Northwestern University (1.7%), University of Pennsylvania (1.7%), Dartmouth College (0.9%), Johns Hopkins University (0.9%), University of California, Los Angeles (0.9%), the University of Chicago (0.9%), and the University of Southern California (0.9%) were also top choices under consideration.

Most Non-Recruited Athletes Submitted Test Scores to Princeton

And how about the submission of testing? As The Daily Princetonian reports, “In testing, perhaps no group stood out more than recruited athletes. Only half of recruited athletes (50.5 percent) submitted standardized test scores to Princeton — an option made possible by the University’s decision to remain test-optional through the 2022–23 admission cycle. Among those athletes who shared their SAT scores with the ‘Prince,’ 41.3 percent scored lower than 1390. This contrasts starkly with non-athletes, 81.3 percent of whom submitted test scores and 8.5 percent of whom scored below 1390. Broadly, in line with official numbers released by the Office of Admission, most students scored in the mid 30s on the ACT and the upper 1500s on the SAT and 14.7 percent of respondents sat for both examinations.”

Members of the Princeton Class of 2026 Love Engineering

Finally, what do this year’s Princeton first-year students want to study? As the survey results state, “Engineering once again triumphed as the most popular field of study among the first-year class, attracting 32.3 percent of incoming students, nearly four times the paltry 8.2 percent who intend to concentrate in the humanities. Similarly keeping with previous years, Finance stood as the most popular potential certificate choice for 2026 — nearly one in five students intend to pursue the qualification. At 12 percent, “Undecided” was the most popular concentration followed closely by the ever-popular Computer Science (10.5 percent), Economics (8.7 percent), and School of Public and International Affairs (8.5 percent). Zero respondents indicated that they intend to concentrate in French and Italian, Religion, or Slavic Languages and Literatures.”

Learn more about the Princeton Class of 2026 by checking out the results of The Daily Princetonian survey!