Tryouts
Tryouts
Our tryouts will take place in September of 2026! Until our signups are posted, you can fill out our interest form. Email mt@princeton.edu with any questions and follow us on Instagram (@princetonmocktrial) for updates!
Tryouts for Princeton Mock Trial are open to all students at Princeton University, regardless of class year, major, or prior experience. Whether you’re interested in law or acting, want to improve your public speaking, or are looking for a community of welcoming and supportive friends, we encourage you to try out for our program.
Mock Trial is a competitive activity that mimics real-life courtroom trials. Students rely on a mix of public speaking, debate, argumentation, and acting skills to compete against other collegiate teams across the country. Some competitors are attorneys, who make legal arguments, and some are witnesses, who portray characters to tell a story. Everyone on a team works together to argue their side as strongly and convincingly as they can!
Our program is one of the top teams in the country and we compete at high level tournaments. Just last year, we placed 2nd in our Nationals division! Other than our proven competitive success, we help our members develop their critical thinking, research, and time management skills, and our program has an intensely strong sense of community. We also offer leadership opportunities and a robust network of current and past PMT members, and we do it all while having fun! Essentially, we are a family that wins.
Not at all! So many of our members joined without ever having done mock trial, debate, or public speaking before. We make sure that our tryouts process is accessible for people who aren't familiar with the activity of mock trial, and we're always happy to answer questions. Conversely, if you do have experience with mock trial, we're happy to have you try out as well! We welcome people of all experience levels.
Our members commit to spending 4-5 hours a week on mock trial, which includes practice time with your team and time spent on your individual work. Members also commit to attending tournaments on three weekends per semester, where you'll be gone from Friday evenings to Sunday evenings.
September of 2026! We will post more specific dates as school approaches. For now, enjoy your summer!
We will post the signup sheet here on our website, and we'll send it out over email to those who fill out the interest form, which can be found here.