Penn's waitlist activity, final yield and transfer acceptances all dropped between the academic years 2008 and 2009.
The Admissions office accepted 162 transfer students and fewer than 100 students from the waitlist this year, according to Admissions Dean Eric Furda. The final yield - the number of students who accept an offer of admission - dropped to 62 percent, as compared with 63 percent in 2008.
In 2008, 170 students were accepted from the waitlist, a significant increase from the year before: only 65 were accepted in 2007.
This rise in waitlist activity between 2007 and 2008 was due in part to the elimination of early decision programs at Harvard University and Princeton University, starting with the class of 2012. Consequently, Penn and many other schools found yield rates hard to predict, so they accepted fewer overall students and turned to waitlists as a way to control their numbers.
Furda attributed the subsequent decline in waitlist activity to administrators learning how to better control regular and early-decision rates.
Steven Goodman, an education consultant in Washington, D.C., said this year's drop in waitlist acceptance numbers is due to Penn's extensive early decision activity - usually about half of its students are accepted from the early-decision pool.
"A great chunk of Penn students [were accepted] early and a large amount of students have Penn as first choice," Goodman said. "As Penn solidifies its position in the Ivy League and outside the Ivy League, it needs less and less usage of the waitlist."
Penn's yield rate of 62 percent, despite dropping a percentage point from last year's 63 percent, is in line with Penn's previous rates. The yield has ranged from about 55 percent to 66 percent.
According to Goodman, Penn's consistently high yield is also affected by high early-decision activity.
Yield rates for next year may be affected by the current economic environment, Furda said. "The financial aid office is ready and prepared for this," he added.
Transfer numbers were also down this year. Penn Admissions accepted 162 transfer students for the 2009-2010 academic year. Last year, Penn accepted nearly 200 transfer students.
Furda attributed the fluctuating numbers to various factors, including high yields from a freshman class a few years ago or the number of students going abroad.
"Penn is always an appealing transfer option, especially for students at smaller schools or not in the city," Goodman noted.
Penn accepts more transfer students than any of its peer institutions, according to Furda.
"[This] gives us a great deal of flexibility," he said. "It allows us to take fantastic students the second time around."
