<p>Anyone else just get an email about an extension of the regular decision deadline to January 5th? </p>
<p>I received :)</p>
<p>Also says it here:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.admissions.upenn.edu/apply/applicant_homepage”>http://www.admissions.upenn.edu/apply/applicant_homepage</a></p>
<p>Wait but on the CommonApp it still says January 1st is the deadline… Do you think it will change on Common app too?</p>
<p>I was waiting for that to change too. </p>
<p>I bet there are many people who missed that e-mail and is relying on Common App to see when the deadline is so this is really something!</p>
<p>If January 2nd rolls around, and some of us are still waiting to submit our apps, then what’s going to happen with the Common App (which still has Jan 1 as the deadline)?</p>
<p>Why did Penn extend the deadline? I thought this happens when there is bad weather or technical difficulties.</p>
<p>The deadline changed on the common app to the 5th. </p>
@lslmom I think it’s just because they wanted us to enjoy the holidays
Or they automatically reject everyone who applies after the 1st for procrastinating :-h
Cynically, I would say that their overall number of applications was perhaps a bit soft and they need to up those numbers so they can show a higher reject % in May.
That’s possible, but they had a historically high number of ED applicants this year, and that usually also means an increase in the number of RD applicants, or at least the overall number of applicants. Additionally, it’s doubtful that extending the deadline by 5 days at the last minute would increase the number of RD applicants in an appreciable way. Does it really make sense that potential applicants who hadn’t already decided to apply to Penn would, a day or two before the original January 1st deadline, suddenly decide that they’re going to apply because the deadline has been pushed back by 5 days?
I hear you @45 Percenter but the alternative explanations don’t make a lot of sense…they wanted to make the holidays less stressful for applicants? i’m sure that good people work in their admissions office but I find it hard to believe that this goodwill would be generated now. On the other hand, this is my first journey through college admissions and perhaps extending the deadline is not unusual… on the same day UPenn announced this, Vanderbilt also pushed their deadlines to January 5… I’ll admit, though, that it’s tough for me not to see a strategy of more applications built into this…
I understand what you’re saying, but I doubt that a mere attempt to goose up applicant numbers is the reason. It just wouldn’t be worth it without some other extenuating circumstance (as when deadlines were pushed back in the past because of inclement weather, Common App issues, etc.). I suspect that something else may have caused this, and the fact that the Penn Admissions staff’s winter vacation ends on the same day as the new deadline (Monday, January 5th) may not be coincidental.
The extension was obviously intended to goose the numbers. The Penn Admission’s office was well aware of its winter vacation many many months ago. The last minute decision to extend the deadline was based on the last minute news regarding applicant numbers. If they were soft, the Admission’s office only strategy was to pump demand any way they can – which meant extending the deadline. U Chicago and Dartmouth did the same thing. My sympathies lie with all of the earnest applicants who sacrificed their time over the past month or two to get their applications submitted on time and play by the rules.
Sorry, but I’ve been an observer of Penn Admissions for decades, and I just don’t buy that they extended the deadline simply to goose the numbers. There have been rises and falls in the applicant numbers many times, including under current Admissions Dean Eric Furda, and it’s just not something they’ve done absent other extenuating circumstances (inclement weather, Common App processing issues, etc.). AND, perhaps more significantly, it’s never been something that Penn would do unilaterally. Even this year, we’ve heard so far that apparently Vanderbilt, Chicago, and Dartmouth–and perhaps others–have also extended their deadlines which, again, hasn’t happened before absent some extenuating circumstance. Not to mention that I’ve read or heard Dean Furda comment several times over the past several years that he’s not very concerned about the individual variations from year to year of overall applicant numbers or acceptance rates, as his actions have borne out since he became Admissions Dean almost 7 years ago.
I mean, seriously? Does it really make sense that Penn, by itself, would choose to suddenly extend the admissions deadline by a mere 5 days in the middle of everyone’s winter break, just to possibly bring in a few more applications when it’s been bringing in well over 30,000 applications for several years now? And after it just had a record-breaking ED applicant pool? And again, do this for the first time in its history? Based on all that I know about Penn Admissions over many years, I’d need more evidence before jumping to that rather tenuous conclusion, which runs contrary to all other evidence and common sense. 
UChicago changed their deadline way in advance – at least 7-10 days, so I believe they did want to let everyone enjoy the break a bit just like their website says.
I wondered if Penn being named #1 party school by Playboy affected the applicant pool in any way.
I suspect that The Daily Pennsylvanian will run a story about this after the break, so perhaps we’ll get some answers then. 
It’s also very possible that Penn extended its deadline in response to some of its peers having done so. THAT, I could see it doing.