Despite steep competition, Penn’s steady effort to recruit students from around the globe has been reinforced by a world ranking.
This year, same as last, Penn came in the 12th spot in the World University Rankings published by worldwide career and education network QS Quacquarelli Symond. The University’s favorable global reputation is a result of many factors, including traveling admissions officers, academic reputation and a general rise of interest in a U.S. college education.
Penn’s international recruitment program has established itself over the last 30 years — “a longer time than most universities,” according to Dean of Admissions Eric Furda. The countries that consistently send the most students to Penn are Canada, China, India, Korea and the United Kingdom.
Recruitment has been more competitive lately, according to Furda, because more schools have begun recruiting abroad. A lot of countries like China have been building up their own university infrastructure, Furda said.
“This is a dynamic field, and we’re lucky that Penn has been forming these relationships with secondary schools and alumni around the globe for decades,” he added. These relationships explain why 12- to 14-percent of the undergraduate student body is international.
Admissions produced a new brochure this year for international students that “really represents not only the richness of what the students can find by coming, but how they can contribute to Penn as well,” Furda explained.
Vince Pizzoni, head of professional guidance at The Cheltenham Ladies’ College, said that interest in U.S. universities has never been lacking in the United Kingdom.
However, in the three years Pizzoni has worked at CLC, the number of applicants to American universities has doubled.
Pizzoni partially attributes the rise to his students’ interest in taking a wider breadth of courses.
“In the UK you tend to choose to study a subject or combination of maybe two or three subjects only,” he said. “In most systems outside of the U.S., students are choosing professions right as they’re going into college if not earlier.”
Penn, in turn, tries to shed light on the opportunities of a diverse curriculum.
“In India they are forced to claim majors at the beginning of college,” Engineering sophomore Hardik Kotecha said, referring to the universities near his home in Mumbai.
“There are a lot of benefits in coming to the United States for college,” he said. “I chose Penn because of the flexible curriculum and wide range of classes.”
According to Furda, Penn admissions representatives are currently in Europe, the Middle East and Canada, and will be heading to Africa soon.
College senior Sieraaj Francis said he made his final decision to apply to Penn when he met Associate Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Elisabeth O’Connell near his home in Cape Town, South Africa.
After she came to visit his school, Francis felt “safer and much more welcome” at Penn. “When I saw pictures and heard great stories about Penn students, I knew this was where I wanted to be.”
Although Africa is not one of the top regions that Penn recruits from, Francis is helping to raise the numbers. As a member of Penn World Scholars program, he travels to Africa to tell students about his positive experiences in the U.S. and to answer questions.
“Most of the students I talked to ended up coming here,” he said.
