I noticed that the Common Data Set indicates that interest is considered, but tour information on the Princeton website states this: “We use this information for scheduling and outreach. The University does not use visitor information and/or a campus visit to evaluate an applicant.” It seems a bit contradictory at first glance. Is there another way to demonstrate some interest other than a college fair?
Yes. Sign up for Princeton Admissions newsletters/blog and read them. Follow them on social media. Have a conversation with your Admissions Officer and faculty in field(s) you are interested in.
Thank you, @odannyboySF. Those are great suggestions.
odannyboySF is mistaken. You don’t need to go through any of those tricks to demonstrate interest. The only interest PTon cares about is your submitted application. They really don’t CARE about any other interest. As a recruiter for a PTon peer for +25 years, I can tell you that they’re in that small club of schools that doesn’t have to.
Just to add to what T26E4 about the only interest besides applying they care about is whether you applied SCEA or RD. They at least know you are more interested in Princeton vs some peer schools.
Thanks for the replies @T26E4 and @Dolemite. Princeton and UPenn are the only ivies to check that interest is considered on the CDS. The rest of the ivies (couldn’t find Columbia’s) have checked not considered. I know that applying ED to UPenn does seem to matter quite a bit so perhaps that is indeed all they mean by “interest”.
Every school cares about demonstrated interest. It depends to what extent though. If your parents are extremely wealthy or you are the child of a celebrity demonstrated interest matters. It also matters if you are an admit based solely on academics. Five to ten per cent of all admits at the Ivies are admitted based upon their superior academic qualities. Ivies also care about interest from certain URMs. And lets not forget athletic admits.
A visit to tour the campus is meaningless but other types of interest can be meaningful. Lets say you had an interest in Chemistry and you met with the chairman of the chemistry department two or three times that could make a difference
@nocturne21 I would hazard a guess that both Penn/Columbia and Princeton care about demonstrated interest a little bit, but only when it comes to the super qualified applicants who are expected to have other choices. In the case of Penn/Columbia it is because it is rather common for cross-admits to turn them down for HYPS and in the case of Princeton because people often turn it down for Harvard, Stanford (and also Yale to a lesser extent).
My son is attending Princeton. From this experience/data point, Princeton does not care about demonstrated interest in the broad sense (things like did you attend an informational interview at X location, did you visit or go on a tour) because Princeton assumes that they are one of the top universities in the world. There is no surprise, to them, that people ‘love’ them. I agree with T26E4 that the only way you really demonstrate interest is by applying. Further, I will add the simple, generic but effective advice that Princeton will pick up on interest in an application (e.g. do your essay responses look like something recycled or something responsive to the prompts? And yes, you can recycle an essay theme and still appear to be responsive). Factors such as minority status, wealth, athletics, or social/political influence may be reasons why Princeton may have an interest in you, but I don’t think that’s what ‘demonstrated interest’ plumbs.
Which is really to say I would not focus more than 0.01% on trying to demonstrate interest outside your application. Inside your application is where you should focus your energy (and likely anxiety, sorry). Good luck.
@nocturne21 son was admitted to Princeton last year SCEA, having never set foot on Princeton’s campus, nor did he email anyone. He just turned in his application. We actually had to hurry up and schedule a visit during the crazy snow storm last year, just to confirm he liked the school.
Rather than work on demonstrating interest, instead work on being interesting!
Thanks all for the replies. Since applying SCEA is probably the ultimate way to show interest, and my D did not apply early, she will focus on showing her interest in her essays. It seems my original question came from me confusing trackable interest with demonstrated interest. Makes sense now!
Best way to show interest is in how she knows the school and the mutual match. Remind her, it’s “show, not just tell.” That’s more than stats.
Whether or not a college tracks visits, the more competitive, the more they want to see this understanding.
Although Yale specially asks “Why Yale?” in their supplemental application, Princeton and Harvard do not. One reason for that: Princeton understands they are a tippy-top college and tens of thousands of students want to attend – and one student’s reason is not better than another. Instead, Admissions focuses on what an applicant OFFERS the school, what they bring to the table in terms of intellectual passion, special talents, extracurricular interests, maturity, social conscience, concern for community, tolerance, inclusiveness and love of learning.
IMHO it would be a complete waste of an opportunity for your daughter to show her interest to Princeton in an essay. The better approach is for your daughter to write two essays (1 Common App essay and 1 supplemental essay) that tell two different unique stories about who SHE is and what SHE believes in. Her goal is to give an Admissions Director a glimpse into her soul that will allow them to say “Yes, we want HER because she’s a really smart, interesting and special kid!”
Just adding: there doesn’t need to be a Why Us for them to look for the student’s awareness and sense of match. The main essay can show the strengths, attributes, perspective etc, the college seeks, without proclaiming anything. Same with short answers. If they like type X, it can come through.
Thank you @gibby and @lookingforward; I appreciate the different perspectives. I just took a look at Princeton’s application (finally!) and I see how D can respond to both short answers and their supplemental essay to best show how she’s special and a great fit for their school. It looks like she’s going to be very busy over her Thanksgiving break! 
Building off of what gibby wrote: yeah. That was much better advice, sorry. I guess I wasn’t really trying to say that anyone should write an essay ‘trying to demonstrate interest’ in a direct way. It’s more about demonstrating interest in an indirect way. That was really my point. Write an essay that actually responds to the prompt versus trying to game the system by saying “I will be great here because.” My son did not write an essay to P about why the school would be great for him, or him for it. It really was just letting his personality and interests hang out there, and see if the school liked what it saw/read (for the variety of reasons that any school chooses to accept X over Y). Some schools did (like Princeton), some didn’t. And if it helps, my son did not apply early but only regular decision.