Total application numbers steady in 2009 | Interactive graph

Penn received slightly more regular-decision applications for the class of 2013 than in past years, while the total number of applicants remained about steady, the Admissions Office announced this week.

The University received 19,179 regular-decision applications, up slightly from last year's 19,023. Early decision applications were down 6 percent this fall.

Overall, Penn received 90 fewer applications than last year, totalling 22,845. Dean of Admissions Eric Furda noted that this number is subject to change slightly over the next few weeks.

Most other Ivy League schools saw growth in the size of their applicant pools.

Princeton's increased by 2 percent, Harvard's by 5.6 percent, Dartmouth's by 7.5 percent and Yale's by 8.5 percent. Brown saw the largest increase, a full 21 percent.

Penn's applicant pool has grown 25 percent since 2004, when 18,282 students applied for admission.

This is not exceptional, however, compared to its peer institutions. The Dartmouth applicant pool has increased about 50 percent since 2003, and Brown's has gone up 65 percent.

When asked about the increased number of applicants at other schools - Harvard received a record 29,000 applications this year - Furda responded that more is not always better.

"At at certain point, we can't give each applicant a sufficient amount of attention if there are too many of them overall," he said. "Right now, we're at a great point. We're basically even with last year."

Although specific demographics on this year's applicant pool will not be available until mid-March, Furda noted, "Early insight points to the fact that this year's pool is even stronger than last year's record-breaking one."

As with the early decision pool, average SAT scores and grade point averages have gone up, he said.

"Penn is as competitive as ever," Furda said. "Right now we are working to pick the strongest possible class, and then we will work to keep our yield high when students are making their choices in April."

Officers are currently reading applications online from home. All information is filed via the Common Application or the Universal College Application, as Penn no longer offers its own application.

Selections will be made primarily from March 6 to 27, and Ivy League decisions will be posted online at 5 p.m. on Mar. 31.

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