Club selectivity has long been a topic of discussion at Princeton and other peer institutions.The Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students (ODUS) is now requiring clubs to complete a selectivity registration form. The new policy was enacted in response to increasing competitiveness among student groups, according to a representative of the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) consulted by ODUS ahead of the change.
The new registration process, required for student organizations sponsored by ODUS, includes a confirmation of club information, missions, and members; an officer training video; and a selective club request form.
According to a written statement from a University spokesperson, this new process was launched after a “review of student organizations, which included broad-based surveying of students, focus groups, and consultation with USG’s student org. working group.”
The USG Clubs and Organizations Selectivity Working Group was founded in September 2023, U-Councilor Anuj Krishnan ’27 told The Daily Princetonian in an interview. “We had a collective understanding that, as class sizes increase, clubs are only going to get more competitive,” he said.
The Class of 2028 is the third class in a five-year plan created by the University to increase the number of undergraduates by 500. The Class of 2026 was the first expanded class with 1,500 members — more than the University planned. To reflect that change, the Class of 2027 was reduced to 1,366 students. In terms of enrollment, the Class of 2028 falls in between the two, with 1,411 members.
In a written statement to the ‘Prince,’ the University claimed that the larger class sizes were not a factor in the decision to implement the new re-registration and selective application process.
Last year, to reevaluate club selectivity in light of growing class sizes, the USG working group carried out a qualitative and quantitative survey of club officers, receiving over 300 unique responses. The survey found that, of the clubs that responded, 96 clubs use interviews, 128 have auditions, 120 send out interest forms, and 132 require applications. According to Krishnan, the general feedback section of the survey yielded three major ideas for reforming the club application process. Club officers mentioned the need for clubs on campus to be less selective, more transparent, and tell applicants what they need to be successful.
The change in ODUS policy did not seem to immediately impact the competitiveness of clubs. Organizations that spoke with the ‘Prince’ reported varying application volumes. The highly-selective improvisational comedy group Fuzzy Dice received 69 audition sign-ups this year, compared to 77 in 2023 and 49 in 2022. This year, however, the group only accepted one member, whereas it accepted two in 2023 and three in 2022.
“It just came down to there being one main front-runner,” Fuzzy Dice Artistic Director Tyler Wilson ’26 told the ‘Prince.’
Ashley George ’26, the publicity chair of the Princeton Chapel Choir, told the ‘Prince’ that it seems “new members outnumber old members three-to-one.” Though she did not share concrete audition data, George claimed that auditions increased significantly this year.
BodyHype, one of the larger dance groups at Princeton, had about the same number of applicants as last year, according to President Victoria Koretsky ’26.
Over a year ago, the group changed its audition procedures to allow first-round applicants more time to learn the required dance combination and mimic the actual rehearsal process. According to Koretsky, since enacting the policy, the club has received fewer applicants because some people who learn the dance combination then decide not to follow through with the audition, and its numbers have stagnated there since.
Because of the highly competitive nature of many clubs’ application processes, students often apply to multiple clubs.
Chase Greppin ’28 told the ‘Prince’ that Tiger Capital Management had four separate, selective rounds: a résumé drop, a short essay submission, a case study interview, and finally a dinner, social event, coffee chat, and behavioral interview. Greppin, who was rejected in the final round, estimated that the process took about 12 hours.
Tiger Capital Management is not listed as a student organization on MyPrincetonU and notes on its website that it is not affiliated with the University.
Tiger Capital Management declined to comment on this article.
“You get into Princeton, and it’s a 4 percent acceptance rate. You’re so happy to get in, but when you try to apply to some clubs, they have a 10 percent acceptance rate … It’s kind of annoying that some of the niche interest groups are so selective,” Greppin said.
Nikhil Kuntipuram ’28 told the ‘Prince’ he applied to the University Orchestra, Sinfonia, a jazz ensemble, the Model UN Team, NAACHO (a South Asian dance group), and Princeton South Asian Theatrics.
“I felt a lot more pressure for the [activities] I did have experience in,” Kuntipuram said in an interview. “There’s this kind of expectation that you should get in.”
Elaine Gao ’28 also applied to many clubs, including the Princeton Debate Panel, Mock Trial, Model UN, Princeton Legal Journal, the Nassau Weekly, Solidaridad, and the Lichtenstein Institute of Self-Determination.
Gao said that she felt much more comfortable at tryouts for the activities she had done in the past, such as debate and mock trial. During the tryouts for Model UN, which she had not previously participated in, she sometimes felt confused by the rules.
“For the first round, we had adequate instructions, so I was prepared. For the second round, they didn’t tell us anything,” she said. “It was a group setting, so the people who knew the activity were leading the rhythm, and the others were just trying to keep up.”
Kuntipuram said that he maintained a positive outlook on club applications, telling the ‘Prince,’ “Here, especially, you can kind of get clouded in the acceptances, the rejections, the low acceptance rate of clubs.”
“I tried to have the mindset of just going in and trying something new. Have fun, right?”
Krishnan told the ‘Prince’ that the USG working group will continue to evaluate how selective clubs function on campus.
“All that we can do is make the process more transparent and hopefully provide more guidance to student groups about how they can best be selective in an equitable way that's accessible to the entire student body,” he said.
Nico David-Fox is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’ He is from Washington, D.C., and also writes as a Features contributor.
Please send corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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