<p>In an article in the latest issue of "The Pennsylvania Gazette," Penn's alumni magazine, Eric Furda discusses his first year as Dean of Admissions, and his expectations for Penn Admissions during the next few years. I found the following paragraph intriguing:</p>
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Looking back on his first year as dean, Furda calls it challenging, but with lots of opportunities. As the University continues to expand its outreach and to implement new technologies, he believes that Penn is poised to make a breakthrough in admissions. For one thing, Franklins vision combining the theoretical and practical is likely to resonate especially well in tough economic times. I think the academic content is there, he adds, and our students are genuinely happy with their experience here. He expects the impact on the applicant pool to be felt next year and even more the year after, since were reaching out to rising juniors and seniors.
<p>penn is such an amazing school but they don’t play it right. i mean did they even cap the class of 2013??? that creates a lot more prestige. i also propose the elimination of early decision cuz i bet it ****es some people off that their classmates got in ed, got in the easy way whereas they got in against greater odds. capping the class at least would be a start. also, most colleges don’t give so much advantage to kids who went there over the summer. penn needs to stop making it so easy. whenever i meet someone going to penn who did a summer program, i start to question the person’s genuine intelligence. same goes with ed sometimes b/c that’s a different pool. maybe they should take less kids also. locust walk is really crowded.</p>
<p>Not a decline in total applicants, just ED applicants. There was a slight increase in RD applicants, so that the total number of applicants was slightly higher than last year. Still, Penn’s peers enjoyed significantly greater increases this year, while Penn’s applicant numbers essentially remained flat. It sounds like this was basically a regrouping year for Furda and the Admissions Office, and that ground work was being done to signficantly increase applications in the next couple of years. At least let’s hope so.</p>
<p>Yeah, I know what you mean. As much as I LOVE Penn, it frustrates me that a lot of, in my opinion, less qualified applicants are being admitted there ED.</p>
<p>Actually, it’s a complete myth that ED admits are less qualified than RD admits. In recent years, the average stats of the ED admits have been as strong or stronger than those of the RD admits. For example, see the top of page 6 regarding the Class of 2011:</p>
<p>I’m just referring to the seniors who were admitted from my own school. A lot of them weren’t even in the top 20% and I’m not sure how well they did on the SAT, but the were admitted ED. I never really considered them Penn-material, but I guess they were? So yeah, my comment was more of a personal one.</p>
<p>jrs1125- same thing happened at my school. i felt stupid choosing upenn wharton over yale cuz ppl from my school who got into penn ed would probably have been wait listed had they applied rd. honestly, there is definitely a difference in intelligence or at least in accomplishments. the ppl who applied ed needed to apply ed, otherwise i doubt i’d be seeing them on campus next year.</p>
<p>Nychica, were you admitted to both Yale and Wharton, or did you only apply Wharton ED? If so, what made you choose Penn over Yale? Because those are my two top choices, as well! The only problem is that I’m a legacy at Penn, so I’ll lose any advantage I have if I don’t apply ED. (Sidenote: I have a 2340 SAT and am in the top 10%, so I’m not trying to “sneak my way in” ) </p>
<p>Oh yeah, and sorry to everyone else reading this thread that my post is kind of unrelated.</p>
<p>Did you read what I linked to above? Per then-Admissions Dean Lee Stetson about the Class of 2011:</p>
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<p>Plus, the stats reported in The Daily Pennsylvanian over the last few admissions cycles bear out that the average SATs, etc. of the ED admits have been comparable to those of the RD admits.</p>
<p>^ There definitely is an advantage–especially for a legacy such as yourself–to applying ED, but Penn does NOT compromise its basic admissions standards–SATs, GPAs, ECs, etc.–during ED. It just gives you increased odds versus the same credentials competing in the RD pool. Remember that almost half of the entering class is admitted ED, so Penn could hardly afford to lower standards for ED admits, and then hope to compensate with better qualified RD admits for whom it’s also competing with its peers.</p>
<p>Change its name?! That’s a whole unique thing about Penn!!! It’s a historical name referring to a time when state colleges didn’t really exist/imply a worse education. It used to bug me, but now I’m proud of the name. Confuse it with Penn State all you want, we existed BEFORE state schools. Suck it!</p>
<p>Also, to the people referring to unqualified ED’ers, they were probably in one of 2 situations:
Huge connection (i.e. $$$$$)
Huge extracurricular thing you might not have known about</p>
<p>In other news… I wish Lee Stetson was still dean of admissions… I feel like he was on a role, and I don’t care what secretaries he had affairs with or money he laundered (or whatever the reason was he got fired).</p>
<p>^ Stetson would have been gone by now, anyway. He originally announced in July 2007 that he was retiring effective June 30, 2008, and then suddenly left in a hurry at the end of August 2007.</p>
<p>^Maybe that was because he had been “found out” and thought they’d let him finish the year… and then the higher ups decided his crime severe enough to cut him immediately? I hope I someday learn what actually went down…</p>
<p>I had a 2340 SAT and was in the top 5% of my class and applied ED (engineering), so I’m inclined to disagree with those who are saying ED applicants are necessarily less qualified. I just really loved Penn and knew I wanted to attend. Plus I’m not looking to be a PhD in anything, so any of the top 10-15 schools would have suited me just fine. As for the overall reputation of Penn in the eyes of the general public, I could care less. All that matters in the end is how alumni are treated by employers/other colleges and Penn consistently performs well in placing students in top companies/grad programs.</p>
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