42 percent let into U.'s Class of '97

The University's admissions office has sent acceptance letters to 42.3 percent of this year's 12,400 applicants, Admissions Dean Lee Stetson said yesterday. This accepted pool of 5,246 students for the class of 1997 is about three percent higher than last year's 38.9 percent acceptance rate -- which was one of the lowest in recent University history. The admissions office expects about half of these students to enroll at the University. Stetson said the higher percentage does not indicate lower selectivity. "We are perceived to be as selective as we have ever been, especially since the applicant pool has grown stonger in the last few years," he said. Of four Ivy League schools contacted yesterday, Harvard University had been the most selective in its admissions process with an acceptance rate of 15 percent. Brown University followed with a 23 percent acceptance rate with Dartmouth University tagging close behind with a 24 percent rate. And Cornell University admitted 37.2 percent of its applicants. Stetson said the new freshman class may include a television actor who was the voice of the title character in Disney's Aladdin, a violinist who has played Carnegie Hall and a Kenyan woman who will later become the first woman to attend a Kenyan medical school. Acceptances of minority students also increased for the Class of 1997 -- by 10 percent -- from 1,800 last year to 1,986 this year. Although the number of black students accepted remained steady at 374, other minority groups experienced significant growth in acceptance numbers. This year, 1,289 Asian-Americans were accepted, up from 1,153 last year. The number of Mexican-Americans and Hispanics increased from 321 last year to 384 this year. The number of accepted Philadelphia residents rose 33.9 percent from 133 last year to 178 this year -- which Stetson attributed to recent publicity surrounding the Mayor's Scholarship case -- although the numbers of Philadelphia high school students decreased from 129 to 126. The number of women accepted increased 8.9 percent from 2,159 last year to 2,352 this year and the number of alumni-related students rose 12 percent from 395 last year to 443 this year. Stetson dismissed a recent U.S. News and World Report poll of Ivy League attitudes which revealed that students -- both at the University and in the Ivy League -- rank the University lowest in terms of academic reputation and student satisfaction. "I don't think it'll be far and widely read," Stetson said. "From my assessment talking with students and parents of students at the University. . . I feel that our students in general are more satisfied with Penn than any of the other Ivy League institutions."

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