Engineering Essay Help

Colleges and Universities A-Z Princeton University
1

<p>Hello everyone!
I'm applying to Princeton SCEA, looking to major in Operations Research and Financial Engineering. I have a few questions about the engineering essay and would appreciate any help. :)</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Do they want a more technical-sounding engineering essay, or should I keep everything jargon-free and straightforward, or should the essay be deep and artsy like general application essays?</p></li>
<li><p>ORFE does not exactly match the traditional definition of engineering and seems to deal more with theory, optimization, and applied mathematics instead of building and designing systems. When they ask about experience in engineering, is it possible to put a research project that involved optimization and mathematical modeling, but not much engineering?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Thank you all so much! :)</p>

2

<ol>
<li>They want you to write the essay that you want to write.</li>
<li>Yes</li>
</ol>

3

<p>Thank you so much! I feel a lot more confident in progressing with my essay :smiley: Also, would anyone happen to know if the engineering essays are read by separate admissions officers from the engineering school, or is it just the regular group of admissions officers? I’m sorry if this is a stupid question.</p>

4

<p>^bump same question here:)</p>

5

<p>I don’t know if the essays are read by separate admissions officers from engineering, but I do know your math and physics preparation is reviewed by the engineering department separately from admissions. I always assumed this involved looking at coursework and test scores. The rationale is that it is very difficult to be successful in engineering at Princeton (or probably anywhere else) without a strong math and physics background.</p>