Princeton University. Undergraduate Admission Office.

Until the middle of the nineteenth century, admission decisions were based primarily on an oral examination given at Princeton. The president made the final admission decisions and sometimes administered the exam himself. Written examinations gradually replaced oral examinations, and after 1888, they could be taken at a number of locations throughout the country.

A flood of applicants after the First World War forced the University to limit enrollment and institute a selective admission policy. The trustees decided to create the Admission Office in 1922 and charged it to apply the new admission policies. Until that year, students who passed the exams--proving competency in classical languages, mathematics, and other core subjects--were admitted automatically. From the establishment of the office until 1950, director Radcliffe Heermance shaped modern admission procedures (such as mailed applications, consideration of standardized assessment scores, and alumni interviews) and established lasting relationships between the Admission Office and secondary schools, alumni, and the faculty admission committee. Since 1950, Admission Office directors have overseen the recruitment of disadvantaged and minority students (since the mid-1960s), the introduction of women into the applicant pool (in 1969), and the soaring application rates of the late twentieth century.