Penn sees slight rise in applicant numbers

(See below for correction.) Penn's total number of applicants has risen to 18,979 this year, marking a slight increase over last year's 18,784. The number of regular decision applicants is down from 15,745 to 15,396 students. However, the overall increase in numbers reflects a surge in early applicants, which totaled 3,401 this year. Penn's regular decision applicants are competing for the class of 2007's remaining 2,600 seats, as 1,122 students were already admitted early decision. According to Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Lee Stetson, the number of early decision applicants has seen a considerable rise in recent years, whereas the regular decision pool has not seen significant increases. "It appears as though large numbers of students are shifting to early decision," Stetson said. "Although a large percentage of the class was accepted early decision, we will give 70 percent of our offers regular decision," he added. "Still, it is a very selective regular decision process." Stetson said that one reason for the lack of increases in the regular decision group is the increasing strength of the applicant pool. "The strongest students are still applying, and it seems that students with less chance of acceptance are backing out," Stetson said. Eight years ago, the average SAT score of the applicant pool was about 1317, while this year it reached 1372, according to Stetson. Average SAT II scores for the applicant pool have also seen considerable increases. This year's average SAT II score was 692, while eight years ago it was 648. Under both early and regular decision combined, a total of 12,372 students applied to the College, up from 11,988 last year. The School of Engineering and Applied Science saw a slight increase in applications as well, receiving 3,028 applications up from last year's 3,020. The Nursing School received 282 applications this year, also an increase over last year's 199. The Wharton School received 3,114 total applications. This figure is down from last year's 3,438. However, according to Stetson, this number will likely increase as students who applied to the Huntsman or Management and Technology joint degree programs are often transferred over to the Wharton pool if they are not accepted. Although the number of applicants overall was comparable to last year's, Penn saw a considerable increase in international and minority students in the applicant pool this year. The number of international applications was 2,645, an all-time high for Penn. "This is a terrific increase," Stetson said. "Given the world situation, it is really encouraging." Applications from minority students also increased to 8,048 up from 7,966 last year. Of these applications, 1,181 were from African Americans, 902 were from Latinos and 5,733 were from Asians. Penn also saw an increase of about four percent in legacy applications overall, although most of these students applied early decision. 1,079 legacy students applied, up from 1,026 last year. The admissions office will also be reviewing the applications of 980 students who were deferred under the University's early admission program. Stetson said he expects to accept between 10 and 14 percent of these applicants. "We still consider that Penn was these students' first choice when we look at their applications again," Stetson said. "A number of them will write to us, telling us Penn is still their first choice, and they haven't become discouraged. That's always helpful."

Correction

This article incorrectly notes the total number of applicants to Penn and the remaining seats in the Class of 2007. In fact, there were 18,797 total applicants this year and are 1,263 remaining seats in next year's class.