Last week, about 2,600 regular decision applicants all vying for a place in the Class of 2006 discovered that they were the few admitted into Penn this year, representing the most selective admissions cycle in Penn's history.
Of the 15,745 students who applied using the regular decision option this year, only 2,635 people were admitted, comprising only 16.7 percent of all regular decision applicants.
Last year, Penn accepted 18.2 percent of the regular decision applicants -- the previous regular decision selectivity record.
These candidates join the 1,182 accepted under early decision, who together make up only 21.1 percent of all applicants -- down from last year's record low of 21.5 percent of total accepted applicants.
"We are very fortunate to have a pool to choose from that allows us to be as selective as we were [this year]," Undergraduate Admissions Dean Lee Stetson said.
Stetson added that this year's batch of applicants was the most academically talented pool in Penn's history, and that this made it difficult to separate one student from another.
"The number of admits has dropped because our yields have gone up," Stetson said. "We are projecting that the yield will continue to go up."
Last year, 58 percent of those accepted under regular decision matriculated -- another record for Penn -- but Stetson said he believes that this year's yield may push 60 percent.
He added that the admissions committee had to be particularly conservative this year in making decisions, but that they plan to use the wait list to fill in potential gaps in the class.
Stetson said there will be a projected 400 to 450 students accepting a place on the wait list, with probably 25 to 40 being accepted depending on the yield at the end of the month.
"We want to make sure that the yield off the wait list is quite high," he said.
The target class size this year is 2,385 students -- the same as last year. Accepted students have until May 1 to decide whether or not to come to Penn.
This year, 2,496 of the 11,989 College of Arts and Sciences applicants were admitted, representing 20.8 percent of the applicants. Last year, 21.7 percent of the applicants were accepted.
The Wharton School received 3,577 applicants, accepting 520 or 14.5 percent, up from last year's 14 percent.
However, the School of Engineering and Applied Science experienced a drop in applicants -- contributing to an overall drop in applications to Penn this year -- receiving 3,018 compared to last year's 3,380. SEAS accepted 851 students for an acceptance rate of 28.2 percent. This compared to an acceptance rate of 27.1 percent last year.
And the School of Nursing accepted 93 of its 198 applicants, or 47 percent -- down from last year's 57.1 percent.
Stetson said that the numbers for the incoming class are as competitive as any in Penn's history.
The average SAT I score jumped seven points this year to a composite score of 1419. The average math section score went up six points to 722, while the verbal score underwent a modest increase of one point to 697.
The average SAT II score went up five points from last year to 715, and the average high school GPA for the Class of 2006 is between 3.65 and 3.7.
This year, 9.5 percent of the acceptance letters went to students representing 78 foreign countries.
Slightly more than 40 percent of the candidates are minority students, with 8.8 percent being of black or African-American descent and 7.5 percent are Hispanic.
About 57.2 percent of those accepted attend public school, 37.3 percent attend private school and 5.4 percent attend parochial schools.
Stetson spoke of Penn's growing competitiveness and attributed this to many factors.
"Penn is becoming more widely publicized by prospective students and parents," he said. "Penn is making progress compared to our peer institutions."
He added that prospective students like Penn's campus environment and Philadelphia's improving image.
Those who applied to be a part of the Class of 2006 represent the first pool of applicants to discover admission decisions online.
This year, 11,670 of the regular decision applicants checked their decisions through the Penn Admissions Web site on April 3.
"That venture was very successful," Stetson said. "We had many calls thanking us for doing it that way."
Associate Vice President for Finance Frank Claus said that the Student Financial Services office and the admissions office both independently decided to move their operations online.
"The most interesting thing people find out is [their admission decision] and the next thing they want to find out is how to pay for it," Claus said.
Admitted students are able to click on links to their financial aid packages if applicable.
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