Early decision apps increase 10.4 percent

Another class, another record. For the fourth consecutive year, Penn's admissions office has seen its number of early decision applicants surpass all previous highs. Penn received 2,833 applications for early admission into the Class of 2005, a 10.4 percent increase over last year's total. Three of the four undergraduate schools also received more early applications than ever before. The College of Arts and Sciences had 1,704 early applicants, an 8.3 percent increase over last year, while the Engineering School received 375, a gain of 12.5 percent. The Wharton School had a similar boost with 720 candidates, 12.1 percent more than applied for the Class of 2004. Only Nursing saw a decline, dipping to 34 from last year's total of 47. These figures follow last year's 19 percent growth. Early applications have continued to rebound since a spate of high-profile crimes in 1996 caused a 10 percent plunge. Penn's joint-degree programs continue to be major draws, with early applications to both the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business and the Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology reaching all-time highs -- 94 and 141, respectively. The number of international students applying early made up a record 9.1 percent of the total, according to Admissions Dean Lee Stetson. Nationally, Penn received applications from students in 46 states -- as compared to 48 last year -- with 10 states, including California, Texas and Pennsylvania, setting individual records. Penn had unprecedented success in attracting minorities, with 1,051 early applicants. The number of Asian Americans rose to 857 from 719 last year, Latinos were up to 74 from 59 and the number of African-American applicants remained steady at 69. The number of Native American early applicants dropped from four to three. Stetson noted that there were also more "legacy" candidates -- students with family members who are Penn alumni -- than ever before. This year, Penn is aiming to admit about 43 percent of the incoming class of 2,350 via the early process, according to Stetson -- roughly the same proportion as last year. Depending on the quality of the pool, Stetson envisions taking "a few more, but not much more than 45 percent [of the total class]." Stetson said he anticipates even keener competition among the regular decision group, which is expected to face an admittance rate lower than 20 percent. "If the pool continues to be as robust as we anticipate, [the acceptance rate] may be around 20 or the high teens... overall," he said. Penn and most other Ivies have binding early decision programs, in which applications received by the postmark deadline of November 1 are decided on by December 15. Accepted students are required to matriculate at the school that takes them early. However, Brown and Harvard universities both have non-binding early action programs, which they modified last year to permit multiple early applications. This change was expected to have an adverse impact on Penn's early applications, Stetson said. "We thought it was going to take more students out of our pool than it did last year," he said, explaining that students would likely wait until finding out the status of their early applications before completing their regular applications, which have deadlines around January 1.