Admission rates across the Ivy League: a breakdown

Penn admitted its most selective class yet on Wednesday evening — a mere 8.39 percent of its entire applicant pool.

But Penn wasn’t the only university to do so.

This year’s admissions cycle produced the lowest acceptance rates in history at every single Ivy League school, except for Yale University. 

At Yale, the acceptance rate reached its lowest points for the Class of 2018 and Class of 2020, when 6.26 and 6.27 percent of applicants were accepted, respectively. Last year’s acceptance rate increased since it admitted a greater number of students after the completion of two new residential buildings at Yale. This year, Yale's acceptance rate neared its previously-set low, by hitting 6.31 percent.

Harvard University's acceptance rate hit 4.59 percent, marking the first time that an Ivy League school’s acceptance rate has dipped below 5 percent. Its regular decision acceptance rate alone was 2.43 percent.

Princeton University and Columbia University both admitted 5.5 percent of their applicants, making them tie as the second-most selective schools in the Ivy League. Meanwhile, at 10.3 percent, Cornell University's acceptance rate was the only one in the Ivy League in the double digits this year.

The percentage of first-generation students in Penn’s admitted Class of 2022 grew by about 2 percent since last year, to about 14.2 percent. 

Six of the eight Ivy League schools have already released admissions data regarding the Class of 2022. Of those schools, Harvard comes out on top, accepting a class that’s 17.3 percent first-generation, followed by Princeton at 17 percent and Penn at 14.2 percent.

Meanwhile, Cornell had the smallest percentage — 10.4 percent — of first-generation students in its newly-admitted class.

Cornell boasts the highest percentage of students who self-identify as students of color in its admitted class — 54 percent.

Princeton, Penn, and Harvard followed closely behind Cornell, with 53.4, 53, and 52.4 percent, respectively, of accepted applicants who self-identify as students of color.

The percentages of admitted international students vary slightly between universities. Nine percent of Cornell's Class of 2022 is international students, whereas 12 percent of Harvard's and Princeton’s admitted classes are international students.

Still, Penn accepted the highest percentage of international students of all Ivy League universities; 17 percent of Penn's Class of 2022 is international students.