The School of Arts and Sciences will increase admission rates for Ph.D. programs for the 2026 admissions cycle, according to multiple department and graduate chairs.
In statements to The Daily Pennsylvanian, three faculty members wrote that the change was communicated to graduate chairs during a meeting with the school’s Graduate Division earlier this year. The notice follows the school’s February decision to reduce admissions by one-third amid uncertainty over federal funding.
“The School of Arts and Sciences remains deeply committed to graduate education,” Associate Dean for Graduate Studies Beth Wenger wrote to the DP. “At present, we are targeting a modest increase in the number of graduate admissions for the coming year, although we are unable to return to historical norms.”
English professor Paul Saint-Amour — who also serves as the interim chair of comparative literature and literary theory — told the DP that he has received instruction from the University on how many graduate students his department will “be permitted to admit” in the coming admissions cycle.
“That number is somewhere between the cut level and the historical norms,” Saint-Amour said. “We’re not back up to where we were, but we’re not cut as severely.”
Multiple graduate chairs present at the meeting confirmed in statements to the DP that admission rates for their respective departments were increased.
According to Saint-Amour, the policy will remain “pending any decisions to the contrary” due to new funding cuts or uncertainty.
In February, then-Interim SAS Dean Jeffrey Kallberg described the admissions cuts as a “necessary cost-saving measure to help mitigate the impact of these new funding realities.” Shortly before Penn’s announcement about the decision, the National Institutes of Health announced a funding cut that would have cost Penn $240 million.
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Other peer institutions have recently announced markedly different approaches to handling admissions in light of funding constraints.
On Oct. 21, Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences reduced upcoming Ph.D. admissions for its Science division by more than 75%. The school’s Arts & Humanities division was also cut by 60% for the next two years.
The Brown Daily Herald reported on Oct. 15 that at least six humanities and social science departments at Brown University — including Anthropology and Classics — were notified that admissions for their Ph.D. programs would be paused.
In September, the University of Chicago also issued a temporary pause on Ph.D. admissions for programs in the humanities.
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Isha Chitirala is a News Editor at The Daily Pennsylvanian and can be reached at chitirala@thedp.com. At Penn, she studies economics and political science. Follow her on X @IshaChitirala.
Finn Ryan is a News Editor at The Daily Pennsylvanian and can be reached at ryan@thedp.com. At Penn, he studies English and political science. Follow him on X @FinnRyan_.
