The Daily Pennsylvanian analyzed the data from Penn’s 2022-23 and 2023-24 Common Data Sets.
Credit: Abhiram JuvvadiPenn admitted 72% fewer students off the waitlist for the Class of 2027 than the previous year’s admissions cycle and has updated its most heavily considered criteria in assessing applications, an analysis conducted by The Daily Pennsylvanian of Penn’s most recent Common Data Sets found.
Alongside the notable change in waitlist admits, Penn’s 2022-23 and 2023-24 Common Data Sets revealed that the University reported in-state acceptance rates for the first time and indicated a shift in the “relative importance” of factors influencing admissions decisions.
For the Class of 2026, Penn placed 3,351 students on the waitlist, with 2,508 accepting a spot. Ultimately, 147 students were admitted off the waitlist. The following year, 3,010 students were offered a spot on the waitlist, 2,288 accepted the spot, and 40 students were admitted by the University.
The number of waitlist acceptances for the Class of 2027 is the lowest across the past five admissions cycles for which data is available — except for the 2020-21 cycle, when more students were admitted off the waitlist due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Laurie Kopp Weingarten, a 1986 Wharton graduate and director of One-Stop College Counseling, wrote to the DP that the low number of students accepted off of the waitlist for the Class of 2027 indicates that “the Penn admission office did a terrific job predicting their yield last year.”
“It’s really hard for colleges to predict yield,” Weingarten added. “They have all sorts of metrics in place … and many use outside data companies to help, but in the end, it’s part art, part science.”
Brian Taylor, the managing partner of college counseling service Ivy Coach, said that Penn will turn to the waitlist as it looks to fill any open seats.
“The bottom line is that if a school has an open seat, you can bet they’ll fill that open seat with a waitlisted candidate,” Taylor wrote in a statement to the DP. “It will not remain an open seat for long — they need those tuition dollars.”
“We have enrolled more students by the May 1 enrollment deadline in recent years, so we've had fewer spaces to fill from the waitlist,” a spokesperson for Penn Admissions wrote in a statement to the DP.
Both Weingarten and Taylor said that the lower number of waitlist acceptances from the most recent Data Set would not change how they advise students waitlisted to Penn.
“This past cycle, Penn simply admitted fewer students out of limbo. But the game is the same,” Taylor wrote.
This year’s Data Set also added a new category for schools to report their in-state, out-of-state, and international acceptance rates. For the Class of 2027, Penn’s in-state acceptance rate was 8.8%, the out-of-state acceptance rate was 6.4%, and the international acceptance rate was 3.1%. The overall acceptance rate for the Class of 2027 was 5.9%.
419 students were admitted from Pennsylvania to the Class of 2027, the same number of students admitted from all international countries, despite more than 8,000 more international student applications than in-state ones.
In the section of the Data Set discussing the “relative importance” of academic and non-academic factors in admissions decisions, there are several differences between the most recent Data Set and the one from the previous year.
While the overturning of affirmative action in college admissions did not go into effect for the Class of 2027, the 2023-24 Common Data Set template removes the “racial/ethnic status” category from the list. The previous year, schools were required to explain how much weight “racial/ethnic status” received in the admissions process. For Penn, this factor was listed as “considered.”
The Penn Admissions spokesperson wrote that following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn affirmative action, admissions practices were “reviewed and revised … to ensure we fully complied with the law.”
“What has not changed — and will not change — is our commitment to creating a diverse community of students who bring their unique experiences, interests, and perspectives to Penn,” the statement read.
In the 2023-24 data, the interview is listed as “not considered,” while last year, it was listed as “important.” The DP previously reported that for the 2023-24 admissions cycle, for which Common Data Set data is not yet available, interviews are now called “alumni conversations” and have historically been offered to applicants solely based on alumni availability.
According to the Penn Admissions spokesperson, these alumni conversations have always been optional, but that the aim is to “be explicit that these conversations are available to applicants but not required.”
The Penn Admissions website reads that after an alumni conversation, the alumni volunteer spoken with will write a summary of the conversation, which will be added to the student’s application.
Standardized test scores, which were listed as “important” in the 2022-23 Data Set, are now listed as “considered.”
This change comes as Penn extended its test-optional application policy for the 2024-25 admissions cycle, despite several peer institutions recently reinstating their standardized testing requirements.
Additionally, volunteer work and work experience are both listed as “important” in the new Data Set; they were previously labeled as “considered.”
Penn Admissions wrote to the DP that these components “highlight how our applicants spend their time, interact with others, and manage responsibilities,” and the new label aims to help “bring clarity to the college application process” and “reduce anxiety for students.”
Students now can also defer their enrollment for up to two years as opposed to one.
The Daily Pennsylvanian is an independent, student-run newspaper. Please consider making a donation to support the coverage that shapes the University. Your generosity ensures a future of strong journalism at Penn.
Donate
