Early decision admission rates drop by less than 1 percent

Just under one quarter of applicants to Penn’s early decision program will be admitted when decisions are posted Wednesday at 6 p.m.

This year’s admit rate of 24.9 percent is a drop of less than one percent from last year’s rate of 25.4 percent.

Each of the 4,812 early decision applicants — the highest total in the University’s history — committed to attending Penn if admitted. The 1,196 students who are accepted Wednesday will make up just under half of the target class of 2,420, Dean of Admissions Eric Furda said.

“Despite the 6 percent increase in applications and delayed materials due to Hurricane Sandy, decisions will still be released according to plan on December 12,” Furda said in an email.

Approximately 1,000 applicants will be deferred to the regular decision round and will receive a final decision on March 28, 2013.

While this year’s admit rate is not a significant departure from the numbers of the past several years, Bev Taylor, the founder of The Ivy Coach, a New York-based college consulting firm, said that the higher number of early acceptances underscores the difficulty of getting in through the regular round.

“You think about all the kids who are applying regular decision, and they only have 51 percent of the class to fill with all those tens of thousands of applications,” Taylor said. “It just goes to prove that Penn appreciates the early decision application.”

While Furda did not provide specific numbers, he did comment on the academic strength and diversity of the incoming early decision class.

“The admitted class will post the highest academic achievement and broader diversity than all previous classes admitted in the early round,” Furda said.

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