Over half of the Class of 2028 received some form of college counseling from their high schools. When looking at racial demographics, Black students reported receiving college counseling at the highest frequency – 74 percent. When asked about what their top choice school would be if not Princeton, MIT led with 23.7 percent, followed by Yale and Stanford. About 55 percent of respondents were not offered admission to another “prestigious” institution.

Across all secondary school types, community service was the most popular high school extracurricular, with 76 percent of survey respondents giving back to their communities. Close behind, 54 percent and 50.6 percent of students participated in honor societies and varsity athletics, respectively. Outside of extracurriculars, 56.4 percent of members of the Class of 2028 have held a job during the summer and 37.3 percent held a job during the school year.

More than 60 percent of freshmen reported knowing that a peer cheated during high school, yet only 5.9 percent reported that peer. While at Princeton, Rights, Rules, and Responsibilities mandates students to report any cheating of which they have knowledge. In the graduating Class of 2024, no respondent indicated reporting a peer for cheating, despite 42 percent knowing that a peer had cheated.

Nearly 40 percent of the Class of 2028 intends to obtain a B.S.E. degree, though less than 30 percent of women do. These future engineers also report slightly higher SAT scores than their A.B. peers. Respondents who attended religious or parochial high schools are more likely to study the humanities at Princeton, while nearly half of students from selective public schools intend to major in an engineering field. Among those with career goals to “seek truth” in the Class of 2028, over half are interested in entering academia after college, and almost a third of respondents reported their career goals are making money.

While only a minority of the Class of 2028 who attended public schools used their school’s college counseling services more than twice — if it even was available to them — 80 percent of independent private school students did so. The Class of 2028 also had a variety of educational experiences, with nearly 90 percent of domestic students attending schools that offered AP classes, while just a quarter of international students said the same. Over 10 percent of the Class of 2028 has taken math classes beyond multivariable calculus and a large majority of students reported studying at least ten hours per week in high school.

Eighty percent of the members of the Class of 2028 scored in the 99th percentile or above on the SAT, defined by the College Board as above a 1440 score. Of those who took the ACT, 68.5 percent scored in or above the 99th percentile by notching a 34, 35, or 36 on the exam. 74 percent of the Class of 2028 took the SAT, while 28 percent took the ACT.