After Harvard and Princeton eliminated their early-application programs last year, many students scrambled to apply early to another institution.
Penn's numbers of early-decision applicants and admitted students, however, remained steady and were seemingly not affected.
Because Penn has a binding program, "students who apply early are clear that Penn is their first choice," said Interim Dean of Admissions Eric Kaplan.
"Someone who aspires to ultimately enroll at Harvard or Princeton" would have waited, Kaplan added.
Michele Hernandez, president of Hernandez College Consulting, says she's not surprised that Penn's numbers didn't see a great impact, explaining that Harvard's and Princeton's decision likely did not have much influence on early-decision schools.
However, many experts expected Ivies or peer institutions to have a higher number of early applicants than in years past, especially at schools with non-binding programs.
"I think everyone sort of understood that some of the other colleges in that tier would see a rise in the number of ED applications," admissions counselor Deborah Landon, based in Minneapolis, said. "My sense is that many of them [still] did."
For example, Yale, Georgetown and the University of Chicago - all schools with non-binding early-action programs - saw surges in early applicants.
This year, Yale's early-applicant pool was 36 percent larger compared to last year. Georgetown's increased by 31 percent, and Chicago's number of applications grew by 42 percent.
Still, the admissions department at Yale said Harvard's and Princeton's decisions did not affect the surge in applicants.
"I do not think that what one college does with respect to early admissions has much effect on other colleges," Yale Dean of Admissions Jeff Brenzel wrote in an e-mail.
But many students who still want to attend Harvard or Princeton but felt pressure to have an early acceptance letter saw non-binding programs as an ideal option.
"Kids are just looking for a school to apply early to and it's unfortunate if that school doesn't offer early admissions," said Katie Sanders, an incoming Penn freshman from Massachusetts.
While the long-term effects of Harvard's and Princeton's decisions are still unclear, because Penn offers only a binding commitment, the students who applied early to Penn appear to have done so solely because Penn was their first-choice school.
"I really like the balance that Penn has between a city life and the campus and suburban life . and the balance of life for all the students," said Nikita Jeswani, an incoming freshman from San Jose, Calif. The change in Harvard's and Princeton's policies, "didn't matter for me," she said.
For the time being, Penn has no plans to discontinue its early-decision program, Kaplan said.
"ED is an extraordinary benefit for Penn and for its students," he said.
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