More male volunteers need to host new admits, Dean Furda says

Male admitted students visiting Penn for Quaker Days may find themselves homeless when night falls.

Quaker Days is the newest incarnation of what used to be known as Penn Preview Days. This year, all students admitted regular decision will have the opportunity to stay at Penn overnight for the first time.

However, significantly fewer male than female students have signed up to host prospective students. “We definitely need more guys,” Dean of Admissions Eric Furda said in an email. Although the Office of Admissions has “contingencies” in case not enough male students host, they are not “ideal to try to give ... the best impression of Penn.”

The situation is severe enough that Furda “stalked Houston at lunch and launched an all-out assault on Hill and 1920 dining with admissions officers” in a bid to get more volunteers, he said. In his recruitment efforts, Furda said he “felt that so many students understood what we were trying to do — not just find a place for admitted students to sleep rather ... make yielding the class a campus-wide effort.”

“If an admitted student goes to another school because they feel another place is better for them, that is fine, but they are not going to say no to us because they feel another school is better than Penn,” he added.

Multicultural Scholars Days runs from April 6-7, which then becomes Quaker Days for all students admitted regular decision from April 7-9.

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