While a downturn in the national economy is usually associated with an increase in applications to graduate schools, only a handful of the schools at Penn have witnessed a change in application rates.
Although schools like Penn Law and the School of Dental Medicine have seen tremendous increases in application rates over the past several years, others like the School of Veterinary Medicine and the Annenberg School for Communication have seen more stable numbers.
As the economy continues to recover, Penn Law has seen a 50% increase in early applications this year compared with last year's numbers. Approximately 6,000 students applied for just over 250 spots in the Class of 2007.
"We are currently seeing a significant increase in applications, but this can be from many different reasons, not just the economy," Interim Assistant Director of the Law School Randi Garnick said.
But because law school is often seen as an alternative to other fields when job openings are limited, Garnick said she was not surprised by the increase.
The Dental School has several hundred more applicants this year, as well.
"We have seen a general increase in applicants, but also an increase in the amount of non-traditional students applying, such as people from the finance world and some dot-com applicants," said Director of Admissions for the School of Dental Medicine Corky Cacas.
According to Cacas, applicant rates have been steadily increasing over the last several years, and there are already 300 more applicants this year than last year, up from 1,578.
"We see this more as an increased interest in the profession," Cacas said. "There is always a demand for dentists."
While several schools have been showing improvement in terms of application rates, other schools have not witnessed such an increase.
"We only offer 25 spots in the school, and we had a lot of applications last year," said Joseph Turow, the Associate Dean for Graduate Studies at the Annenberg School for Communication. He added that last year the school received 400 applications, while this year the number dropped to 300.
Although one possibility for the drop-off could be the recovering economy and an increased availability of jobs in other fields, Turow sad that it is difficult to analyze any shift in application rates.
"It is very hard to say why we have less people applying -- maybe people realized how few are actually accepted," Turow said.
However, he also mentioned that the drop is not necessarily a bad thing as long as the quality of applicants is maintained.
"We care less about how many applicants we get," Turow said. "What we care about is, can we get 25 really good students out of the applicant pool, and can we increase diversity and enthusiasm?"
According to Veterinary School Assistant Dean for Admissions Mac Keiter, application rates have been rather stable for the past several years.
Keiter, however, does not see any connection between the economy and application rates to the school.
"Applications are not really based on the economy," Keiter said. "Pets have become very popular, and there's a terrific market for vets, and salaries have been rising."
Keiter said the nature of the profession remains isolated from economic conditions.
"Even with the economic downswing, it didn't change the attitude for having pets, which led to a need for vets," Keiter said. "There is always a high demand for pets."
