Penn admitted 3,345 out of 44,960 applicants for the Class of 2023 — the lowest acceptance rate to date at 7.44 percent.
Acceptance rates have steadily declined over the past few years, with 8.39 percent of applicants admitted for the Class of 2022, 9.15 percent for the Class of 2021, and 9.41 percent for the Class of 2020.
Penn received 44,960 applications for the Class of 2023, the largest applicant pool to date and a more than one percent increase from last year's total of 44,482 applications.
December’s early decision results yielded the lowest acceptance rate in history, with 18 percent of students admitted to the University. In 2017, the ED rate was 18.5 percent, dropping from 22 percent for the previous class. The ED applicant pool for the Class of 2023 plateaued after several years of steady growth.
[As the process wraps up, prospective students reevaluate admissions at elite colleges]
According to Dean of Admissions Eric Furda's blog, 15 percent of students in the incoming class, around 500 individuals, identify as first-generation. For the Class of 2022, one in seven students self-identified as such.
For others, Penn has been a part of their families for generations. 13 percent of students in the admitted class have a parent or grandparent who has attended Penn.
In the Class of 2023, 51 percent of admitted U.S. students self-identify as students of color, with 53 percent the year prior.
Members of the class hail from all 50 states as well as Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. The states with the most representation in the incoming class include Pennsylvania, New York, California, New Jersey, Florida, and Texas.
There are 100 countries represented in the admitted class, with 14 percent of students hailing from foreign nations.
Each year, the University admits approximately half of the incoming class through the Early Decision Program. Penn plans to enroll a class of 2,400 after admitting 1,279 students through Early Decision.
"As admissions officers, we are excited about the opportunity of bringing these distinctive student voices together, hoping they can realize an even stronger collective identity through the curriculum and community spaces on our campus and in the city of Philadelphia," Furda said in his blog.
Regular Decision applicants to Penn and other Ivy League schools can view their admission decisions starting Thursday, March 28, at 7 p.m. Eastern Time.
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