Admissions accepts 31% of applicants

Of the 4,793 students accepted to the class of 2001, slightly less than half will enroll in September. Studio City, Ca. The Admissions Office sent letters of acceptance to 31 percent of the applicants for the class of 2001 this year. The 2,333 students who accepted the University's offer of admission represent 49 percent of the total number of admitted applicants -- the same yield as last year. Stetson said that the high matriculation rate again means that few students be admitted off of the wait list. Penn had accepted 4,793 of its 15,459 applicants this year. Applications to the University's class of 2001 dropped 2.7 percent from last year's high of 15,771, when 30 percent of the applicants were admitted. Every Ivy League school except for Columbia University saw a similar decline in applications, and most Ivy universities accepted slightly higher percentages of applicants than in recent years. Admissions officials across the Ivies suggested that applications to many top schools declined this year because students are being more realistic in evaluating their chances of acceptance. And Stetson maintained that he was not worried about the decrease in Penn's applications, stressing that he was "encouraged" by the small size of the decrease since applications tend to fall substantially when institutions are plagued by the type of crime problems that the University experienced last semester. The matriculating students include 1,487 in the College of Arts and Sciences and 354 in the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Stetson said these schools may admit some students off the wait list to meet their goals of enrolling 1,500 and 370 freshmen, respectively. Both the Wharton School of Business and the Nursing School enrolled more students than had been anticipated. Wharton had a goal of enrolling 390 new students, but 417 have already matriculated, while Nursing had a goal of 70 matriculants and 75 enrolled. The dual degree programs remained popular, with 38 students enrolling in the International Studies in Business program between Wharton and the College and 46 choosing the Management and Technology program between Engineering and Wharton. Five freshmen also enrolled in the new Nursing and Health Care Management program. Members of the class of 2001 will come to the University from 48 of the 50 states. Idaho and Wyoming are the only states not currently represented. But while there were no applicants from Wyoming this year, Stetson said that he hopes to enroll a student from Idaho as soon as financial aid issues are resolved. Additionally, 209 international students will make up almost 10 percent of the class. And Stetson said the number of minorities in the incoming class increased from 769 to 802, including 535 Asians, 141 African Americans, 118 Latinos and eight Native Americans. A record-high 189 matriculants are from California. Virginia, Georgia, Colorado, Minnesota and Utah are also represented in unprecedented numbers. Students from the traditionally well-represented states of Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey comprise 45 percent of the class, a slight decrease from the 49 percent who matriculated into the class of 2000. Stetson attributed the decline to a decrease in applicants from these states. The matriculants into the class of 2001 had an average Scholastic Assessment Test score of 1363, six points higher than the 1356 average for the class of 2000. The average SAT II score was 675, up from 667 last year.

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