A daunting winter notwithstanding, Jonathan Goodman, a freshman in the College, left the beaches in San Diego last week for Penn's campus in West Philadelphia.
Like Goodman, more California high-school seniors than ever before are hoping to make the move out east to attend Penn.
According to Dean of Admissions Eric Furda, the class of 2012 marked the first year that the state of California had the highest number of applicants to the University, superpassing both New York and Pennyslvania.
California had 2,620 applicants, with New York coming in at 2,550 and Pennsylvania close behind at 2,508.
However, Pennsylvania continues to be the state with the most enrolled students.
Adjusting to the changing demographic and population distribution, Penn is emphasizing California in its recruitment tour this year.
Furda is scheduled to speak at a number of events in the Golden State this coming month, beginning with a presentation in Los Angeles on Sept. 8.
Penn will continue to join Harvard, Stanford, Duke and Georgetown universities in the Exploring College Options tour as it has done in the past. However, the first few events in Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange County are Penn-only presentations.
But these recruitment efforts will not necessarily translate into a higher number of Californians on campus.
"Representation in the class will depend on the strength of the pool, not just the size and our yield efforts" Furda wrote in an e-mail.
Furda said he expects the number of applicants from California to continue to grow "due to birth rates and population migrations internal to the county and from outside the United States."
Michele Hernandez, president and founder of Hernandez College Consulting, also said the increasing number of worthy applicants is making admission into the University of California state schools increasingly competitive.
"Students used to see Berkeley as a safety school," Hernandez said.
However, Hernandez said California has always sent a large number of students to Ivy League schools.
The trek out east has not seemed to be much of an issue for some students.
What drew Goodman across the country? The balance between academics and a social life and Penn's strong Orthodox community, he said.
