Bucking Ivy trend, U. reports increase in applications

Penn reported an eight percent increase in 1998 admissions applications, second only to Columbia. The University must be doing something right. Bucking a trend of steady or declining applications at the eight Ivy League schools this year, Penn's 7.5 percent jump in undergraduate applications in 1998 ranks second in the elite group only to Columbia University. Brown University also posted a significant increase, while applications decreased at three other schools: Yale and Princeton universities and Dartmouth College. Harvard and Cornell universities also posted tiny increases over last year's numbers. Still, this year's numbers are an improvement over 1997 for the Ivies. Last year, only Columbia's applications increased, while applications at the other seven schools decreased, with Princeton taking the biggest hit at 9 percent. According to Penn Admissions Dean Lee Stetson, the Admissions Office is projecting an 8 percent increase in applications over last year. So far, the University has received 16,617 applications, compared with 15,464 last year -- and they are still trickling in, Stetson said. Columbia University, the only Ivy League school to receive more applications than Penn, reported a 9.8 percent increase in applications. According to Director of Undergraduate Admissions Eric Furda, the New York City school has received 14,382 applications so far, up from last year's total of 13,094. The only other member of the Ivy League to see a sizeable increase in applications was Brown. Assistant Coordinator of Admissions Julie Bengochea said the Providence, R.I., school received 15,450 applications this year, an approximately 4 percent jump from 14,900 last year. Both Harvard and Cornell are on par with last year's figures. Harvard Admissions Officer Christine Kelley said the Cambridge, Mass., university had received 16,783 applications so far, a slight increase from last year's count of 16,597. Cornell Director of Admissions Lani Wheeler-Franklin also reported a holding pattern. The Ithaca, N.Y., school received 19,842 applications this year, only 18 more than last year's 19,824. Although Dartmouth, Yale and Princeton all posted high rankings in this year's U.S. News and World Report college rankings, applications at all three fell this year. Dartmouth's Admissions Office said the Hanover, N.H., school received about 6 percent fewer applications this year than in 1997, with the number decreasing from 10,647 to 10,030. On Tuesday, the Yale Daily News reported a decrease in application numbers to the New Haven, Conn., university by about 1.4 percent -- down from 12,046 last year to 11,880 in 1998. The admissions office did not return repeated phone calls for information. Princeton Dean of Admissions Fred Hargadon declined requests for the school's applications numbers from both The Daily Pennsylvanian and the New Jersey school's own paper, The Daily Princetonian. Penn's Stetson, however, said he had received preliminary indications of a 2 to 4 percent drop in Princeton's applications. Princeton received a total of 13,400 applications in 1997. Stetson said he is pleased with the increase in Penn's applications. "It's very encouraging," he said. "We're definitely in the upper end of the Ivy League trend." Stetson attributed the significant increase in the University to a combination of factors including greater visibility in the media and aggressive recruitment efforts. "Penn's high U.S. News ranking certainly made a difference and President [Judith] Rodin has also been highly visible," Stetson said. "Penn also tends to recruit more heavily and comprehensively than other schools." Rodin also expressed excitement about the rise in applications, noting the University's unique cross-disciplinary and other special programs as contributing factors. "More and more students are recognizing that Penn is an extraordinary place," Rodin said last week. "The bottom line is that we have really satisfied undergraduates here." Rodin added that Penn undergraduates are "our best salespeople."