Penn has the second-lowest rate of students earning prestigious graduate fellowships among Ivy League schools.
After consulting Penn’s Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships, The Daily Pennsylvanian’s analysis accounted for nine programs: the Rhodes Scholarship, the Marshall Scholarship, the Gates Cambridge Scholarship, Schwarzman Scholars, the Harry S. Truman Scholarship, the Churchill Scholarship, the United States Fulbright Student Program, Knight-Hennessy Scholars, and the Luce Scholars Program.
According to previous fellowship data analyzed by the DP, Penn ranks second only to Harvard University in the total number of student recipients of these awards. However, when adjusted for the size of its undergraduate population, the University falls near the bottom of the list.
In 2025, 27 Penn undergraduates received fellowships from the selected programs, compared with 31 at Harvard. For awards received per capita, Penn places second-to-last in the Ivy League — ahead of only Cornell University.
The DP analyzed data from 2011 to 2025, representing 15 years of scholarship cycles. Not all scholarships were offered every year. The Schwarzman Scholarship, which sends students to Tsinghua University in Beijing, was first awarded in 2016, and the Knight-Hennessy Scholarship to Stanford University was first awarded in 2018. Selection for the Mitchell Scholarship, which funds graduate study in Ireland, was paused in 2024.
Penn demonstrated a trend of slight growth over the 15-year period, with slight fluctuations from year to year.
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The Fulbright Program makes up the largest share of scholarships awarded to Penn students each year. On average, the program accounts for roughly half of the total fellowships awarded. In 2025, the Fulbright Program alone awarded 146 scholarships across the Ivy League, which is more than the other eight major scholarships combined.
The Fulbright Program is a worldwide program supporting both graduate study and teaching positions in over 160 countries. Some scholarships fund study at a specific institution, while others support study within a particular country or region, including the Marshall Scholarship in the United Kingdom and the Luce Scholars Program in Asia.
CURF is responsible for advising Penn students interested in applying to these fellowships. In many cases, applicants must meet with a CURF advisor and undergo an internal nomination process before they can be selected as program finalists.
“CURF serves as the University of Pennsylvania’s information hub and primary support office for Penn students and alumni considering applying for major grants and fellowships,” a CURF spokesperson wrote to the DP.
The spokesperson added that “CURF aims to demystify these opportunities, providing resources available to all undergraduate and graduate students and alumni.”
Senior reporter Jack Guerin contributed reporting.
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Staff reporter Ariel Zhang contributes to data and enterprise reporting and can be reached at zhang@thedp.com. At Penn, she studies international relations. Follow her on X @arielchuyan.
