The Daily Pennsylvanian :: Total application numbers steady in 2009

Penn received slightly more regular-decision applications for the class of 2013 than in past years, while the total number of applicants remained about steady, the Admissions Office announced this week.

The University received 19,179 regular-decision applications, up slightly from last year's 19,023. Early decision applications were down 6 percent this fall.

Overall, Penn received 90 fewer applications than last year, totalling 22,845. Dean of Admissions Eric Furda noted that this number is subject to change slightly over the next few weeks.

Most other Ivy League schools saw growth in the size of their applicant pools.

Princeton's increased by 2 percent, Harvard's by 5.6 percent, Dartmouth's by 7.5 percent and Yale's by 8.5 percent. Brown saw the largest increase, a full 21 percent.

Penn's applicant pool has grown 25 percent since 2004, when 18,282 students applied for admission.

This is not exceptional, however, compared to its peer institutions. The Dartmouth applicant pool has increased about 50 percent since 2003, and Brown's has gone up 65 percent.

When asked about the increased number of applicants at other schools - Harvard received a record 29,000 applications this year - Furda responded that more is not always better.

"At at certain point, we can't give each applicant a sufficient amount of attention if there are too many of them overall," he said. "Right now, we're at a great point. We're basically even with last year."

Although specific demographics on this year's applicant pool will not be available until mid-March, Furda noted, "Early insight points to the fact that this year's pool is even stronger than last year's record-breaking one."

As with the early decision pool, average SAT scores and grade point averages have gone up, he said.

"Penn is as competitive as ever," Furda said. "Right now we are working to pick the strongest possible class, and then we will work to keep our yield high when students are making their choices in April."

Officers are currently reading applications online from home. All information is filed via the Common Application or the Universal College Application, as Penn no longer offers its own application.

Selections will be made primarily from March 6 to 27, and Ivy League decisions will be posted online at 5 p.m. on Mar. 31.

Related StoriesEarly admit rate rises to 32 percent this year | Interactive graph - NewsEarly decision applications drop 8 percent | Interactive Feature - NewsTotal application numbers steady - NewsApplications increase 10 percent - News

Comments (8)

Dear Amy Gutmann, I wish you hadn't feuded with Dean Stetson and caused him to leave Penn and take his admissions magic with him. Now Penn is sliding backwards to Cornell levels...

The stagnation--and even slight erosion--in Penn's applicant numbers over the past couple of years is disappointing, especially when compared to those of its peers. Even more disappointing is Dean Furda's apparent attempt to rationalize this situation. I, for one, had hoped that the new Admissions Dean--who presided over an enormous expansion in the breadth and depth of Columbia's applicant pool--would bring a similar zeal to continuing the expansion of Penn's applicant pool as begun under Dean Stetson. Instead, Dean Furda appears to be satisfied with the status quo. If this is not the case, then how does he plan to expand the applicant pool?

We really need another new dean of admissions if Furda actually thinks that it is GOOD to not increase the applicant pool. Ugh. Penn should be doing much better than this. Don't judge Furda yet. Give him another year, he only just settled in. He did a lot for Columbia let's hope he does the same here.

[QUOTE id="5ed2bd30-c428-4e70-a55c-c5fc139aeea5"]Hey now, in terms of research quality and societal contributions, Cornell is on par with its Ivy League peers. Although I undertand why the three Ivy League schools with the largest endowments would attact 20,000 to 25,000 applicants (i.e, financial aid), Brown's surge in popularity surprises me a bit. Until recently, I was told that Brown (with its small endowment) didn't have a need-blind policy. Are there still that many high school students who can afford to attend a college with neither a core curriculum nor a standard grading system?[/QUOTE] Brown implemented a need-blind admissions policy for the class of 2007. More info: https://financialaid.brown.edu/Cmx_Content.aspx?cpId=58

Hey now, in terms of research quality and societal contributions, Cornell is on par with its Ivy League peers. Although I undertand why the three Ivy League schools with the largest endowments would attact 20,000 to 25,000 applicants (i.e, financial aid), Brown's surge in popularity surprises me a bit. Until recently, I was told that Brown (with its small endowment) didn't have a need-blind policy. Are there still that many high school students who can afford to attend a college with neither a core curriculum nor a standard grading system?

Such hippie nonsense as no curriculum is great for attracting applications, not so much for educating scholars and citizens...damn hippies!

Penn better not slip again in U.S News Rankings...

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