For the first time in several years, it was a little easier to get into Penn
Penn admitted 5.8% of applicants, down from 4.9% last year. Its admissions dean cited a drop in applications.
The University of Pennsylvania admitted 5.8% of applicants for the fall, making it a highly selective college.
But it’s not as selective as it was last year when it accepted 4.9% of applicants, or the year before that when it accepted 5.4%.
Whitney Soule, admissions dean, said the school received fewer applications for the fall class of 2026 after years of increasing applications. Applications at the Ivy League university were down 15.5% from last year.
» READ MORE: Penn admitted 4.9% of applicants, its most selective year in its history
Soule declined to speculate on the reasons or discuss whether applications from international students or other groups were down. International student enrollments are down nationally amid immigration policies under President Donald Trump’s administration. U.S. universities saw a 20% decline in international students this past spring compared to the year before, Time reported last month.
Soule said 12.5% of the incoming class are foreign students, down from 13.7% last year.
» READ MORE: Penn appears to have its most selective year on record, accepting 5.4% of applicants
Soule released the numbers during the university’s board of trustees meeting Friday.
Soule said Penn received 61,264 applications, down 72,544 last year.
The school admitted 3,575 students including 19 off the wait list, she said.
Of those admitted, 2,435 or 68.1% have committed to attending Penn, Soule said. That was similar to last year.
Pennsylvania residents account for 15% of the class and 167 are from Philadelphia.
» READ MORE: Penn will reinstate its standardized test requirement for admission after a four-year pause
The incoming class is the first since Penn began requiring standardized test scores again. The requirement was paused during the pandemic. Soule said applicants middle 50% SAT scores were 1440 to 1550.
“It’s an exciting group of students,” Soule said. “They are coming from all over the world and throughout the United States and they’re ambitious and curious.”
At Friday’s meeting, the board also agreed to designate former president Liz Magill as president emerita, a prestigious title granted to former leaders. Magill led the university from July 2022 until December 2023 when she resigned amid a bipartisan backlash over her congressional committee testimony regarding the school’s response to antisemitism complaints.
