Eligibility
Most PiB students are American college undergraduates who have taken at least one year of college Chinese courses by the time they attend PiB. The student body is diverse. About half of our students come from Princeton. The rest come from dozens of college and universities around the world. All currently enrolled students must be in good academic and disciplinary standing. An increasing number of graduate students, high school seniors, and working professionals also apply each year.
In order to apply for PiB, you must have studied a year's worth of college Chinese by the time you attend our program in mid-June. PiB does not accept zero beginners.
Applicants must be at least 18 years old. The Princeton in Beijing summer program is a collaboration with the International Students Office (ISO) of Beijing Normal University (host university). Due to the rules and regulations of the ISO of Beijing Normal University, they do not accept applicants with Chinese citizenship (including Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan) (NOTE: Not applicable to the online program).
Application Instructions
Please read these instructions carefully before filling out your application.
Admission is competitive; please apply as soon as possible. We evaluation and notify students on a rolling basis. Before starting an application, please make sure you have all the materials needed by referencing our Application Checklist.
If you are applying for financial aid from PiB, your complete application must be received before midnight of the application with financial aid deadline of a given year. Financial aid is limited, and you must submit proof that you've applied to your home university and other sources for aid to qualify for PiB aid. If not, the due date for all applications is before midnight of March 17, 2023. All applications are considered on a rolling basis. In past years, early applicants have had higher acceptance rates than later ones, because spaces in the program tend to fill up quickly. Late applications will only be considered on a space-available basis.
In an effort to allow you to make a fully-informed decision, if you were to be admitted to PiB and are also applying for financial aid from PiB, notification of admissions will include your aid award. Therefore, after admissions has been decided, your application is subject to financial aid evaluation, which may delay your notification date.
Princeton students, please note: current Princeton freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and graduate students who want to be considered for financial aid must fill out the financial aid application form embedded in the online application. To access it, click "yes" when asked if you are applying for PiB financial aid.
Current Princeton seniors who want to be considered for financial aid are not eligible for funding from the Dean's Fund for Study Abroad and the East Asian Studies Program and must fill out the PiB financial aid application form online instead (i.e. the deadline for seniors applying for financial aid is the application with financial aid deadline).
Also, have you been subject to any disciplinary action beyond a Dean’s Warning while at Princeton? A disciplinary record does not preclude approval to study abroad, but we will review disciplinary records with the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Studies to determine if the record warrants withholding approval of admissions.
For all applicants: to apply, you will need to create an account and submit an application online. Once an account is created, you can always return to your own portal to view your application status, check financial aid award, download forms, etc. Returning applicants will not need to re-create an account in the future.