The University's prestigious U.S. News and World Report ranking isn't reflected very clearly in the choices made by the majority of black students to go elsewhere once they have been accepted to Penn.
According to a report released last week by the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, out of the 1,220 black students that applied for spots in this year's freshman class, 353 were accepted. However, only 144 of those accepted actually enrolled, resulting in a 40.8 percent yield rate -- the percentage of students accepted that actually choose to matriculate -- among black students. This is dramatically lower than the University's overall yield rate of 62 percent.
"It is disappointing looking at these statistics," Black Student League Social Committee Co-Chairwoman Allison Carryl said. "I would have to say that it obviously reflects poorly on the University, because we are assuming these students are going to other Ivy League institutions instead."
Penn's National Society of Black Engineers President Melanie Mbida-Mengue said she believes the problem lies within Penn's financial aid packages. The Engineering junior said that in order to resolve this problem, financial aid increases should go hand in hand with the yearly hikes in tuition.
Black Wharton Undergraduate Association Vice President Shimika Wilder, a Wharton junior, agreed, stating, "There are just not enough scholarship opportunities, and many blacks are probably choosing lower-priced public universities."
But Wilder also pins a large portion of the problem on the University's name.
"Penn needs to reach out to the urban communities in order to get its name out," she said. "I didn't even know that Penn was an Ivy League institution until I applied my senior year."
Even now, as Penn has steadily risen in rankings, Wilder says many high school students mistakenly associate the nationally-renowned institution with Penn State.
She added she believes the University should expand its marketing effort and demonstrate that Penn's rankings have skyrocketed since University President Judith Rodin stepped into office in 1995.
Many students say they believe that one of Penn's premier boasts, a highly diverse student body, may need to be reevaluated after the data presented in this annual report.
What surprised Carryl, a College senior, the most about the Journal's study is Penn's location -- right in the middle of a rather large and diversely-populated city. Other schools, whose neighboring cities cannot compare with Philadelphia's diversity, size and large black population, have nonetheless demonstrated strikingly higher numbers, she continued.
Mbida-Mengue is equally stunned that Penn's placement within Philadelphia has not boosted Penn's statistics. At the same time, Dartmouth College, located in small-town Hanover, N.H., still rides four spots ahead of Penn in black enrollment percentage.
"Maybe the school isn't aggressive enough," Mbida-Mengue surmised.
When Carryl applied to go to Penn, she said she had every intention of attending. But at the same time, she understands why this attitude didn't catch on within this year's freshman class, citing poor black student visibility on campus.
When Carryl visited her two brothers at Harvard and Yale universities -- each ranked higher in black enrollment percentages than Penn -- she noticed that the black students were more visible on campus. She claims that while Penn may have had the numbers, black students lack of prominence on campus may have deterred visiting prefrosh from making the school their top choice this year.
Penn was the first choice for BSL Social Committee Co-Chairwoman Chantelle Aris as well. But the College sophomore guesses that many black students believe they will not feel "at home" in the Penn community.
Alternately, BSL United Minorities Council Representative Jerryanne Heath, a College junior, said that diversity prompted her to choose Penn over Yale. She added that her visit during the annual Minority Scholars weekend may have also given given Penn the added boost.
As the diversity of the University comes into question, Wilder maintains that the University has done an excellent job of encouraging multiplicity within the black community, pointing to, among others, the Caribbean and South African populations.
Still, BSL members claim that there is more to be done. Heath and Carryl are quick to point the finger at Penn's lagging yield levels. They claim that the BSL's premier goal is to concentrate on bolstering these numbers, which will in turn translate into higher future yields among black students.
"The acceptance rate has gone up, which says something about Penn's ability to attract and retain students," Heath said.
