The number of regular decision applicants topped 20,000 this year, breaking last year's mark and continuing Penn's run of strong admissions numbers.
More than 20,300 students have applied regular decision to the Class of 2010 -- about 8 percent more than last year. The University also saw a 21 percent increase in early applications this year.
An applications increase "bodes well for the actual selection period and the fact that Penn's visibility continues to rise, and hopefully we'll be able to reinforce that with an excellent class admitted come the end of March," Admissions Dean Lee Stetson said.
Applicants hail from all 50 states, with a record number of applications from 23. The West Coast boasted the greatest increase, at 15 percent. California contributed 2,434 applicants -- leapfrogging New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania to become the best represented state.
Sandy Padgett, director of college counseling at the Harker School in San Jose, Calif. -- which had three of its students accepted early -- attributes the University's rising popularity on the West Coast largely to Bruce Chamberlin, Penn's admissions officer for Washington, Oregon and northern California.
Padgett said that on his high school visits he connects well with students, promoting an image of Penn as a "superstar" school. She also cited the University's competitive dual-degree programs as making it "terribly popular" at Harker.
International applications rose nearly 7 percent to 2,913, with 117 countries represented. This number is likely to increase, Stetson said, as foreign students are often among the last to apply.
Penn fared particularly well among many racial minority groups. Applications from black students increased 17 percent from last year to 1,441, and the number of Latino applicants rose 12 percent to 1,201 -- both record figures. A 15 percent increase brought the number of Asian applicants to 6,432. Applications from Native American students increased slightly to 74. Women represent 49 percent of the applicant pool.
Legacy students submitted 1,259 applications, a 7 percent increase.
Stetson said that applicants generally responded favorably to a new short essay on the application asking students to discuss which University professor they would like to study or conduct research with. Admissions officials will decide whether to keep or modify the question this spring.
"It's forced [applicants] to do research on Penn's faculty and on courses that are offered here and develop a little bit more of an interest in Penn, and I would say so far it's worked well," he said.
Though the new SAT, which includes a writing section and is graded on a 2,400-point scale, makes it hard to compare this applicant pool with previous years' academically, Stetson said this group is similar to last year's applicants and to this year's early-decision pool in testing strength.
The regular decision applicants averaged a score of 671 in Critical Reading, 675 in Writing and 704 in Math. Their average SAT II score is 713, and the average class ranking is in the 96th percentile.
To avoid a repeat of the housing shortage caused by the surprisingly high rate at which accepted students matriculated last year, Stetson said the Admissions Office will be very conservative, keeping the admission rate for regular decision low at 12 to 14 percent and using the wait list heavily.
"We'll be able to choose very carefully and then we'll let the wait list play out in the spring" to reach the target of a 2,400-member class, he said.
