Yield predicted to reach record 67 percent

With preliminary results for the Class of 2011 in, another new record could be in store.

About 66 percent of accepted students have chosen to attend Penn thus far - in line with last year's yield rate - but Dean of Admissions Lee Stetson expects this year's yield to swell to a record 67 percent when the class is complete.

The results come as a surprise in Penn's first year using the Common Application; yield rates tend to drop when a school switches over.

"Our best guess was that the yield would dip to 64 or 65 percent because of the Common Application," Stetson said, explaining that the yield rate increased even though two-thirds of students used the Common App.

The increased yield also comes after the University experienced its lowest acceptance rate ever, admitting 15.9 percent of 22,634 applicants.

The University "continues to be able to attract a high percentage of students that are accepted," he said.

Stetson emphasized the success of interdisciplinary programs, which experienced the greatest increase in yield rates.

The Huntsman Program in International Business enrolled 87 percent of accepted students, up from 69 percent last year. The Jerome Fisher Management and Technology program's yield rate rose 15 percentage points to 71 percent, while the Vagelos Program in Molecular Life Sciences remained steady at 65 percent.

"It is encouraging that students are turning down significant offers from Harvard, Yale and Princeton for these programs," Stetson said.

The new Civics Scholars program, which integrates community service with academics, enrolled 13 students.

"Some of these students were recruited away from Princeton and Duke," Stetson said.

Anthony Schuller, a pre-freshman from Sterling Heights, Mich., said a combination of the Vagelos program and a large financial aid package drew him away from Johns Hopkins University to Penn.

"I was all Johns Hopkins until my junior year," he said. "After that, it has been a battle between the two."

He said the Vagelos program was the deciding factor.

Academic-related scores are not yet available for the incoming class, but Stetson said that the group as a whole is "stronger than last year."

Once again, all 50 states are represented in the Class of 2011, with about 60 percent of the class hailing from the Eastern Seaboard.

Alumni student acceptances are strongly represented once again, increasing from 326 students last year to 369 this year. In total, 85 percent of accepted alumni students chose to matriculate.

The University also proved strong once again outside American borders. The number of international students rose from 278 to 317, making up 13 percent of the class, a number that will be, according to Stetson, "right at the top of the Ivy League."

Even though the waitlist numbers 900 students, Stetson expects to only admit 20-25 applicants, bringing the class to a total of about 2,400 students.

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