<p>On the front page of today's Philadelphia Inquirer, there was an interesting article about the new student and high-end housing projects being developed near the Penn campus. The article also includes some enlightening discussion of the general residential market in Penn's University City neighborhood, including the fact that it is now "the second-most-expensive neighborhood in Philadelphia after Center City for single-family homes," with an average house price of $304,000. Perhaps the MOST intriguing part of the article for people here, however, is the following (bold emphasis added by me):</p>
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The new apartments have become an additional marketing tool. Penn president Amy Gutmann said the university received a record 22,000 undergraduate applications this year for 2,400 slots. There was also a 25 percent uptick in the number of campus visits this summer, according to the office of the dean of admissions.</p>
<p>"They're coming from all over the country and all over the world to Penn," Gutmann said at the Radian's ceremonial groundbreaking earlier this month. "This will be another part of what we can show them when they come to campus."
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<p>Full article:</p>