Updated number: 30,956 applications for Penn Class of 2015

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
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<p>30,956 applications as of January 11, 2011--a 15 percent increase over the Class of 2014--with more late-arriving print applications possibly to come:</p>

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Penn sees record high apps for class of 2015</p>

<p>by Seth Zweifler | Tuesday, January 11, 2011 at 7:40 pm</p>

<p>As Penn students begin a new semester, regular decision applicants from high schools around the world are waiting to hear if they’ll be joining them on campus in the fall.</p>

<p>According to the Admissions Office, the University received a total of 30,956 applications for the class of 2015. This marks an almost 15-percent increase from the nearly 27,000 applications received last year, and a record high for Penn.</p>

<p>A Jan. 6 press release stated that approximately 30,800 students had submitted applications to Penn; the new number takes into account additional mail-in applications that have been received since then.</p>

<p>Dean of Admissions Eric Furda believes that the rise was due in large part to Penn’s no-loan financial aid policies, which he said “enable students who qualify for aid to graduate free of debt.”</p>

<p>“Over the past year, we’ve been proactive and aggressive in our efforts to make families aware of our financial aid programs,” he said. </p>

<p>Because the University’s no-loan policies began with the Class of 2013, Furda speculated that “we’re just now beginning to see those policies impact the people who need them the most.”</p>

<p>For Michael Goran, a Penn alumnus and director of ********* — a California-based organization that specializes in admissions consulting — the financial benefits of applying to a school like Penn may play less of a role than one might think.</p>

<p>“With my population of students, the economic component really didn’t come into play as much as the general popularity of Penn’s programs,” Goran said. “A lot of my students have seemed to embrace the ‘work hard, play hard’ ethos that Penn brings to the table.”</p>

<p>Goran added that he saw an “unusually high” number of his advisees apply to Penn this year, through both early and regular decision.</p>

<p>Class of 2015 applicant Sachin Patel said he considered his personal familiarity with Penn’s academic programs as well as the school’s financial aid offerings while applying. A high-school senior at the Haverford School, Patel spent part of the past summer working at a lab on Penn’s campus.</p>

<p>“Over the summer, I realized that everything I wanted in a college was right here in Philadelphia,” Patel said. Still, “Penn’s financial aid program was just as important as its academics when I chose to apply,” he said.</p>

<p>Patel — along with all other regular decision applicants to Penn — will learn of his admissions results on Mar. 30.</p>

<p>As of Jan. 11, Penn and Dartmouth were the only schools in the Ivy League to have released overall application totals for the class of 2015. According to a Dartmouth press release, the College received over 21,700 applications, a 15.7 percent increase from last year’s rates. </p>

<p>Admissions representatives from Columbia, Cornell and Harvard universities said their numbers would likely become available in later January or early February.</p>

<p>“We felt comfortable putting out a number sooner rather than later because [that number] can only go up with late-arriving print applications,” Furda said. “No matter how you look at it, we have some very difficult decisions to make in the months ahead.”

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<p>Penn</a> sees record high apps for class of 2015 | The Daily Pennsylvanian</p>

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<p>Interesting. So between the extra ED Applicants and the extra RD applicants I can’t see Penn having an acceptance rate even close to last years…</p>

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<p>If they accept approximately the same number as last year (3,845), the overall acceptance rate this year will be about 12.4%, compared to last year’s 14.3%.</p>

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<p>I love how Furda cites the financial aid policy in every single one of these articles. I don’t like how tough it sounds like it will be to get in RD…</p>

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<p>^ If Penn ends up deferring (from ED) and accepting numbers similar to last year, the RD acceptance rate this year will be in the vicinity of 9.6%.</p>

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<p>^ Thanks, googlepo/radiosix/gugupo/Y<strong>7</strong>. ;)</p>

<p>By the way, just out of curiosity, to which Ivies were you accepted?</p>

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<p>Dartmouth received under 22,000 applications; Penn received about 31,000. Clearly, more people are interested in Penn because they know it is a better school and has a better location.</p>

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<p>Looks like our friend googlepo and his posts have been purged from this thread.</p>

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<p>@AsTheMoonBleeds</p>

<p>That’s an unreasonable deduction. Penn’s size is twice that of Dartmouth to begin with. UCLA receives almost twice the applications that Penn receives. Does that mean more people clearly know that UCLA is a better school than Penn?</p>

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<p>^ AsTheMoonBleeds was responding to a ■■■■■ whose posts–and presence–have since been purged from this thread (and presumably CC). I don’t think that ATMB was being serious in that post, but instead was merely pointing out the fallacy in the ■■■■■’s “logic,” just as you have done. :)</p>

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I’m not sure Furda can claim a correlation between no-loan FA and the increase in apps. Dartmouth reintroduced loans for the class of '15 and their applications increased by a similar percentage.</p>

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<p>@ impetuous and @45 Percenter: I definitely put my foot in my mouth, and I was trying to show the ■■■■■ the errors of his ignorance. I completely hear what you are saying and agree that number of applicants does NOT show a school’s excellence. Penn has four undergraduate schools (unsure about Dartmouth, but if it’s still a college, I am assuming one?) and Penn is in a major city. In no way can it be compared to Dartmouth, etc on that level.</p>

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<p>

I suspect that Furda is just using every opportunity for publicity to spread the word about Penn’s no-loan FA policy–staying on message, as it were. :)</p>

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<p>this is not good for me !!!</p>

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<p>I think those of us who have actually been through the process realize that at the top level its gotten so incredibly random and difficult that minor differences between selectivity are pretty much irrelevant. Penn and Dartmouth both seemed to have surged this year with Dartmouth looking at a 10% acceptance rate, and Penn about 12.4%. </p>

<p>Personally I liked the LAC feel and small town coziness of Dartmouth and wanted to get in more than anything. I got flat rejected but I got into Columbia and Brown. So you might not get what you want. After being at Brown, I think it all worked out fine for me. These are all awesome colleges.</p>

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<p>Well, that’s just splendid</p>

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<p>Gah, I know things aren’t looking good for my acceptances. First NU, then Duke, and now Penn? I’m scared I’ll get denied everywhere but my safety.</p>