Penn student-athletes hail from 40 states and more than 30 countries.
The Daily Pennsylvanian analyzed data available from Penn Athletics to investigate the geographic and educational backgrounds of Penn’s student-athletes. Using the rosters for each of Penn’s 31 NCAA Division I sports, the DP compiled demographic data on the 848 student-athletes currently competing on campus.
Geographic background
Of the student-athletes with a hometown in the United States, 40 states are represented. New Jersey is the most common, with 95 student-athletes hailing from the Garden State. Pennsylvania and California follow with 94 and 91 student-athletes, respectively. West Virginia is the only state neighboring Pennsylvania without student-athlete representation.
Of the current crop of student-athletes at Penn, 98 — or 11.6% — are listed with hometowns outside of the United States. 40 international student-athletes came from Europe, followed by 29 from North America, 10 from Africa, nine from Asia, eight from Oceania, and two from South America.
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Although all continents except for Antarctica are represented, Penn’s international student-athletes come primarily from English-speaking countries. There are 29 individuals from Canada, the largest number for a single country outside of the United States. Currently, excluding Canada and the United Kingdom, no single country has more than six student-athletes at Penn.
The proportion of international student-athletes varies by sport. Nine teams do not have a single international student-athlete listed on their rosters. Penn women’s squash has the highest percentage of international athletes — as nearly half of the team’s players are listed with hometowns outside the United States — followed by field hockey and men’s squash.
12 of 31 sports teams have a rate of international student participation higher than Penn’s total undergraduate population, 13.9%.
Educational background
There is significant variation by team in the types of schools attended by student-athletes who went to U.S. high schools. Public and private schools dominate, although some teams include athletes from other educational backgrounds. Sprint football and men’s track and field, for example, each have one athlete who attended charter school, while gymnastics and men’s swimming and diving both have a home-schooled athlete.
The women’s squash team has the highest percentage of student-athletes from private schools, at 90%. On the men’s swimming and diving team, 80% attended public school.
Once they arrive at Penn, student-athletes attend one of Penn’s four undergraduate schools. Just like Penn’s general undergraduate population, most teams enroll the largest number of student-athletes in the College of Arts and Sciences. The only exceptions are men’s golf, men’s squash, and men’s swimming and diving — all of which have significantly higher percentages of athletes in the Wharton School compared to Penn’s overall population.
Women’s tennis is the only team where every athlete is enrolled in the same school, the College.
Only five teams — wrestling, men’s track and field, men’s cross country, lightweight rowing, and men’s fencing — have all four schools represented on their rosters. The only student-athlete enrolled in two schools, Wharton and the School of Nursing, is on the lightweight rowing team.
Staff reporter Ariel Zhang and senior reporter William Grantland contributed reporting.
Jack Guerin leads data and enterprise reporting and can be reached at guerin@thedp.com. At Penn, he studies philosophy, politics, and economics. Follow him on X @JackGuerin_.
