“Penn consistently, and more recently, has been seen as an environment that is supportive and welcoming across the board of LGBT students and allies,” Furda said. While the Common Application does not include a check box for applicants to indicate their sexual orientation, many students may choose to self-identify as LGBT through their essays and other written material.

About thirty-five years later in the digital age, the Common App announced last month that its online system is scheduled for a makeover in 2013 to better handle the projected increases in application volume.

Recently, Wharton’s MBA program opted to send its admissions officers around the world to interview applicants who cannot physically attend an on-campus interview, replacing alumni who previously filled this role.

The Admissions Dean’s Advisory Board — which Dean of Admissions Eric Furda brought together last year to involve undergraduates in the University’s recruitment process — is currently piloting a program for academic likely letter recipients.

Dean of Admissions Eric Furda believes there may be more to the numbers than meets the eye.

As part of an effort to remain in compliance with the federal Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, the University released its own version of the calculator in late October.

Last spring, the Common Application — the organization that provides the application platform for more than 450 colleges and universities worldwide, including Penn — implemented a 500-word limit for essay length.

Penn received 31,127 overall applications to its Class of 2016 — a 1.7-percent drop from last year’s total, Dean of Admissions Eric Furda announced on Tuesday.

Last week — for the second time ever — Furda contributed a post on The New York Times’ “The Choice” blog, which provides news stories and advice to college applicants and their families.

Admissions officers in the Ivy League watched as many universities, including Penn, saw some slowing in their previously nosediving early admission rates, as both Harvard and Princeton universities reinstated early action programs for the first time since 2006.

This year, Penn’s early decision acceptance rate declined by almost 1 percent, from 26.1 percent last year to 25.4 percent, Dean of Admissions Eric Furda announced on Friday. INTERACTIVE: Penn early decision

Today, more than 4,500 early decision applicants will find out whether they have a place in Penn’s Class of 2016.

Last Friday, President Barack Obama’s administration urged higher-education institutions to promote diversity on their campuses — a move that Penn administrators say will benefit the University, as well as colleges nationwide. WORD ON THE WALK: Racial Diversity

This is the largest first-time applicant pool since it began tracking in 1989, according to AAMC. Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine has not yet released its application numbers for this year. WORD ON THE WALK: Med school popularity

This fall, the reinstatement of Harvard and Princeton universities’ early action programs, which were eliminated in 2006, may have contributed to diminished applicant pools for many of their competitors, including Penn. INTERACTIVE: 2012 early admissions at peer schools

Prompted by a series of opinion pieces that appeared in the Penn Almanac earlier this school year, the panel — which is part of Ware College House’s ongoing “Dinner with Interesting People” speaker series — will take place at 5 p.m. on Tuesday in McClelland Hall. INTERACTIVE: Pell grants around the Ivies

Yes, I did get accepted into Penn because of affirmative action. But so did you — and everyone else.