Though Penn's incoming freshman class in many ways resembles past years', a record-setting matriculation rate, among several other differences, sets it apart from the pack.
Of the 20.8 percent of applicants admitted to Penn -- down from 21.2 percent last year -- 66 percent have chosen to attend, the highest student yield in the University's history.
Dean of Admissions Lee Stetson attributes this shift to the slight decrease in the number of students applying early decision, as well as to the increase in the number of regular-decision students who accepted admission to Penn.
"Usually the yield of the offers changes maybe a percent a year, but changing 3 percent was a significant shift," Stetson said.
The higher yield has led to what Stetson called an "oversubscription" in the number of students entering the class.
Stetson noted that despite difficulties in first securing dorms and other amenities for the incoming freshmen, "everything is coming together reasonably well. Our goal was about 2400 [students]; we may be over by 100 or so."
When compared to peer insitutions, Penn's yield rate runs down the middle.
According to Associate Provost for Admissions and Enrollment at Cornell University Doris Davis, although Cornell has not seen any noteworthy trends in the past few years, its yield rate did decrease slightly to 47 percent.
On the other hand, Yale's matriculation rate went up four percentage points to 72 percent.
Penn's Class of 2009 is composed of 2569 students, with 1614 entering the School of Arts and Sciences, 449 going into the School of Engineering and Applied Science, 405 going into Wharton and 101 going into the School of Nursing. And though California, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania continue to be the most well-represented states, Stetson noted that some states, including Georgia and Oregon, have a record number of students heading to Penn this year.
Stetson said that Penn, which is part of "Exploring College Options," a national tour of elite colleges -- Harvard, Duke and Georgetown are the others -- was able to reach a broader range of students this year.
The tour reached a "penetrated market of students, further and wider than we've ever had," Stetson said.
In addition to an increase in the number of students from certain states, the number of underrepresented minorities, namely black, Hispanic and Native American students, rose.
The number of Native American students jumped from two to 12, and the number of blacks reached an all-time high of 193, up from the 180 who came in last year. Twelve percent of the class comes from abroad, representing 63 countries.
The number of students admitted from Penn's wait list was also significantly smaller than in past years.
Stetson said that between 35 and 40 students are let in from the wait list each year, but due to the high student yield rate, only 15 students were accepted from it this year.
"It is a challenge of riches because we did so well that we ended up with more than expected," Stetson said.
Unlike Penn, Yale did not admit anyone from its wait list. However, Cornell admitted just over 100 wait-listed students, most into its engineering school.
Harvard's rate was up one percentage point this year, to 78.5 percent, while Princeton's remained relatively steady at 67.6 percent.
