Although the number of early decision applications to the University did not fluctuate greatly from last year, the quality of the applicant pool increased.
The current number of applicants is 3,387, but admissions officials anticipate the arrival of a few more submissions. Last year, the final number of early decision applicants was 3,390, according to Admissions Dean Lee Stetson.
This year, the SAT average increased from 1370 to 1380, and the grade point averages were also a "little bit stronger" -- with the average applicant in the 97th percentile of his or her high school class, according to Stetson.
The School of Nursing saw a slight rise in the number of applications from last year up to 77 applicants from 56 last year.
The College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering and Applied Science both also saw increases -- the College received 2,106 applicants and Engineering received 401 applications this year, up from 2,078 and 388 respectively.
The Wharton School, on the other hand, received only 801 applicants, a decrease from 868 last year
There were 81 applicants to the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business, a joint program between Wharton and the College, and 97 applicants to the Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology, a joint program between Engineering and Wharton.
Overall, there were 44 states represented. There were no early decision applicants from Idaho, New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota or South Dakota.
The applicants came from a variety of backgrounds as well. Children of Penn alumni represented 556 applicants and an additional 355 were international students.
"We're doing very well internationally," Stetson said, noting that eight years ago, Penn attracted only 104 international applicants for early decision.
Minority applications accounted for 1,240 of the total. Of the minority applicants, 113 were black, 939 were Asian, 157 were Latino, 17 were biracial and 14 were Native American.
About 60 percent of the applicants came from public high schools and about 40 percent came from private schools. This represents the same ratio as the applicant pool from the Class of 2007, according to Stetson.
Out of the early decision applicants, about one third will be accepted, one third will be deferred and one third will be denied.
This breakdown is a result of requests from secondary schools' college counselors for Penn to "be more decisive" in its decision-making process so that students can move on to look at other schools, according to Stetson.
Stetson expects to fill about 45 to 47 percent of the Class of 2008 with early decision applicants. Last year, 47 percent of the class was filled with early decision students. Penn emphasizes accepting less than 50 percent of its incoming class early decision.
"This pool will support doing that," he said.
The decisions will be posted online on Dec. 12 at 3 p.m. Early decision applicants have already received their PIN numbers in order to access their letter online. The decisions will also be mailed out on the same day.
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