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Penn Admits 17.7 Percent Overall
Penn offered admission to 3,622 of 20,479 applicants to its
class of 2010, or a record low 17.7 percent. This represents a
decrease of 3.1 percent from last year's acceptance rate. The
admit rate for the regular process was 13.8 percent, while the
admit rate for the early process was 28 percent. 2,261
students were admitted to the College, 775 to Engineering, 475
to Wharton and 112 to Nursing.
Minorities represented 44.4 percent of the admits, compared
to 39.2 percent last year. Black and African-American students
represent 11.1 percent of the admits, up from 9.4 percent,
Latino students represent 9 percent of the admits, up from 7.1
percent, and Asians represent 23.8 percent of the admits,
approximately the same as last year.
Legacies represented 10.8 percent of the admits. Athletes
represented about 6 or 7 percent of the admits.
Of the 1,035 high-school valedictorians that applied, 394
were admitted; 641 were denied admission.
Penn expects about 65 percent of accepted students to
matriculate and aims for a class of 2,400 students.
Regular Applications Increase 8 Percent
Regular applications increased eight percent this year,
as more than 20,300 students applied to UPenn this year,
compared to approximately 18,800 last year. 12,999 students
applied to the College, 3,938 applied to the Wharton school,
2,924 applied to the Engineering school, and 391 applied to
the Nursing school.
Applicants hail from all 50 states, with a record number of
applications from 23. The West Coast boasted the greatest
increase, at 15 percent. California contributed the most
applicants - 2,434 applicants.
International applications rose nearly 7 percent to 2,913,
with 117 countries represented.
Most notably, applications from black students increased 17
percent from last year to 1,441, and applications from Latino
students rose 12 percent to 1,201 -- both record figures.
Applications from Asian students increased 15 percent to
6,432. Applications from Native American students increased
slightly to 74.
Legacy students submitted 1,259 applications, a 7 percent
increase.
The average SAT score was 671 in Critical Reading, 675 in
Writing and 704 in Math. The average SAT II score was 713, and
the average class ranking was in the 96th percentile.
To avoid a repeat of the housing shortage caused by the
surprisingly high rate at which accepted students matriculated
last year, the Admissions Office plans to be conservative,
keeping the admission rate for regular decision low at 12 to
14 percent and then relying on the wait list to reach the
target of a 2,400 student class.
Early Applications Increase 21%
UPenn received 4,148 early undergraduate applications for
the Class of 2010, a 21 percent increase from last year's
3,420. Penn received a record number of applications from 26
of the 46 states represented in the applicant pool, including
352 applicants from California, compared to 241 last year, 96
from Texas, up from 86, and 10 from Kentucky, up from five.
1,180 applicants were admitted early, or 28 percent. The
admitted students include 798 in the College, 202 in Wharton,
151 in Engineering, 29 in Nursing, 24 in the Huntsman Program
in International Relations and Business, 18 in the Jerome
Fisher Program in Management and Technology and 14 in the new
Vagelos Program in Life Sciences and Management between
Wharton and the College. Although several more students were
admitted early this year than last year, the percent admitted
was down from 34 last year and the year before that.
Accepted students include 89 Latinos and 81 blacks,
all-time highs, while last year, 67 Latino and 58 black
students were accepted early.
Among 534 international early applicants, 100 were
accepted, up from 85 last year. | 
