Penn for the first time in years becomes less selective, slightly

You might have missed this bit of news among the flood of coronavirus developments:

It was a little easier to get into the University of Pennsylvania this year, according to statistics released by the Ivy League institution this week.

Penn accepted nearly 8.1%, or 3,404, of its 42,205 applicants, up from 7.4% last year. The slight decrease in selectivity comes after several years of increases and a drop in applications.

» READ MORE: Penn gets even more selective, accepts only 7.4 percent of applicants

The highest concentrations of accepted students are from Pennsylvania, California, New York, New Jersey, Florida, and Texas, the school said, and 168 students live in Philadelphia. About 14% are international. The school will enroll a class of 2,400.

» READ MORE: Colleges stand to lose millions because of the coronavirus

Meanwhile, Princeton University in New Jersey admitted 1,823 of its 32,836 applicants, about 5.5% — the same percentage as in 2018. Last year, the school accepted 5.8% of applicants. The accepted students come from 48 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and 64 other countries, the school said. Princeton expects to enroll a class of 1,296.

Students have until May 1 to decide if they will enroll.