During the 2024-2025 admissions cycle, the University of Pennsylvania, or Penn, had an acceptance rate of 5.4% – their lowest ever. But what does this actually mean? Where does that number really come from? Schools like Penn may openly publish some of the statistics that make up this number, but to really understand “why” and “how,” we need to look at more. We dig into the numbers of elite schools every year to help our clients have the best shot at success.
Where do we find these numbers? The majority of colleges and universities in the US fill out the Common Data Set (also known as the CDS). The Common Data Set initiative was started to provide publishers like US News & World Report, College Board, and Peterson’s with the most accurate data possible to help with rankings. There are a lot of sections of the CDS, but we’re going to dive into just one part of Penn’s 2024-2025 CDS: first-time, first-year admissions.
Trend Spotting: Five Years of Penn Admissions
Before looking at this year specifically, let’s look at the broader trend forming at Penn. Like most Ivies, application numbers are going up, and acceptance rates are down.
| Year | Total Applicants | Number of Admitted Students | Acceptance Rate | ED Acceptance Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 65,236 | 3,523 | 5.4% | 14.22% |
| 2024 | 59,465 | 3,489 | 5.87% | 14.85% |
| 2023 | 54,588 | 3,549 | 6.5% | 15.5% |
| 2022 | 56,332 | 3,304 | 5.87% | 14.86% |
| 2021 | 42,205 | 3,789 | 8.98% | 19.47% |
Why This Matters: Penn is only becoming more competitive over time. While ED does give you a slightly better chance, more and more students are applying ED each year.
To set yourself up for success, you need to make yourself one of the most competitive applicants in a pool of over 60,000 students. And the reality is that so many of those 60,000+ applicants are just as qualified as you are.
C1: First-Time, First-Year Admission, Applications
Let’s look at the specific data breakdowns for 2024-2025 admissions:
| First-Time, First-Year Applicants | Total | Admitted | Acceptance Rate | Enrolled | Yield |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men | 30,339 | 1,634 | 5.38% | 1,108 | 67.8% |
| Women | 34,887 | 1,889 | 5.41% | 1,287 | 68.1% |
| Another Gender | 10 | 0 | 0% | n/a | n/a |
| First-Time, First-Year Applicants | Total | In State | Out of State | International |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Applied | 65,236 | 5,219 | 44,290 | 15,727 |
| Admited | 3,523 | 440 | 2,644 | 439 |
| Acceptance Rate | 5.4% | 8.43% | 5.96% | 2.79% |
| Enrolled | 2,395 | 348 | 1,733 | 314 |
| Yield Rate | 67.98% | 79% | 65.5% | 71.5% |
Key Takeaways for Acceptance Rates:
International acceptance rates are much lower than their counterparts
The applicant most likely to enroll after gaining admission is from Pennsylvania
More women applied, were admitted, and enrolled than men
Penn is very hard to get into. You knew that, and so did we. The most interesting part of this data, to us, is the in-state and international acceptance rates. International students often have the lowest acceptance rates at top-tier schools, as preference is given to students within the United States, but at Penn, that preference extra-extends to Pennsylvania residents. Most Ivies do not give preferential treatment to in-state students, but Penn historically always has – which might be a good sign for any Pennsylvanians hoping to become Quakers.
C9-C2: First-Time, First-Year Profile, or Scores and Grades
Next year, Penn will be returning to a test-mandatory policy, following in the footsteps of many other Ivies. Schools have started realizing that those who were accepted test-optional have some of the lowest academic performance in their cohort in college – not a great sign for the school or for those students. However, we can still glean a lot about Penn’s testing preferences by taking a look at their score breakdowns of enrolled students:
| Percent | Number of Students Enrolled | |
|---|---|---|
| Submitting SAT Scores | 50% | 1,204 |
| Submitting ACT Scores | 17% | 416 |
Why This Matters: Even though Penn is now test-mandatory for the foreseeable future, 67% of students were submitting scores anyway – and they were nearly perfect as you’ll see below.
Most enrolled applicants—67%—submitted test scores even though it was optional. And as you’ll see below, their scores were high. We could argue that the scores are high because only the highest-scoring students are submitting, but when 2/3 of your class submitted scores, we don’t expect those numbers to change much.
| Test | 25th Percentile | 50th Percentile | 75th Percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAT Evidence-Based Reading + Writing | 740 | 760 | 770 |
| SAT Math | 770 | 790 | 800 |
| ACT Composite | 34 | 35 | 36 |
| ACT Math | 34 | 35 | 36 |
| ACT English | 35 | 35 | 36 |
| ACT Science | 33 | 34 | 36 |
| ACT Reading | 34 | 35 | 36 |
Now, we’ll look at the first-time, first-year student’s score range of admitted and enrolled students for the SAT:
| Score Range | SAT Evidence-Based Reading + Writing | SAT Math |
|---|---|---|
| 700-800 | 96% | 98% |
| 600-699 | 4% | 2% |
| 500-599 | 0% | 0% |
Here is the first-time, first year score range of admitted and enrolled students for the ACT:
| Score Range | ACT English | ACT Math |
|---|---|---|
| 30-36 | 99% | 96% |
| 24-29 | 1% | 4% |
| 18-23 | 0% | 0% |
Standardized Test Score Takeaways:
The average Penn admit is scoring a 1550+ or 35+ on their standardized tests
Students with section scores under 700 for the SAT and 30 for the ACT have incredibly low chances of being admitted to Penn
The 75th Percentile for SAT Math and for all sections of the ACT is a perfect score
When the 25th percentile for a school is in the 99th percentile for all test takers, then yeah, you can assume you’ve got some stiff competition. To be a viable (not even competitive!) applicant to Penn, you need a 1550+ or 35+ on your standardized tests. That may seem really high, and it is because it is! We don’t say this to scare you. We are realists, and the same logic that applies to test scores applies to GPAs, too. Here are the GPA ranges for admitted and enrolled students:
| GPA Range | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 4.0 | 59% |
| 3.75 - 3.99 | 31% |
| 3.5 - 3.74 | 5% |
| 3.25 - 3.49 | 5% |
| 3.0 - 3.24 | 0% |
| Average high school GPA of all degree-seeking, first-time, first year (freshman) students who submitted GPA | 3.9 |
|---|---|
| Percent of total first-time, first year (freshman) students who submitted high school GPA | 91%% |
Key GPA Takeaways:
Anything less than a perfect GPA greatly reduces your chance at admission to Penn
Students with GPAs between 3.25-3.74 are the exception, not the rule
Let’s get something out of the way here: the 1% of students getting between a 24-29 on the ACT or 5% of students with a 3.25-3.49 GPA are always going to be the exception. You should not look at those numbers and think “oh, I have a 1% chance of getting in!!” The reality is, you have no idea who those students are but they are absolutely the exception to the rule. If you are reading this, we promise you aren’t the exception. You want to align yourself with the majority, which means having perfect, or nearly perfect, grades AND scores.
TL;DR? For the best shot at admission, you need perfect grades and scores. That’s it.
Early Decision
Penn has historically been consistent about Early Decision. The acceptance rates hover in the 14-15% range, but that number has been getting smaller and smaller by the year. We assume that students have seen their relatively high ED acceptance rate (relative to their peers, of course) and think that’s the ticket in. However, in reality, the more students apply for the same number of spots, the lower that acceptance rate is going to be.
| Number of ED Applications | 8,638 |
|---|---|
| Number of ED acceptances | 1,235 |
| ED acceptance rate | 14.22% |
Why This Matters: Penn’s ED acceptance rate is almost 3x their overall acceptance rate. While it’s no guarantee, students with an already competitive application may benefit from applying Early Decision.
Waitlist
One thing we love about Penn is they publish everything. Every data point they can give us, they do – and waitlist is no exception. Most Ivies will not publish this (or ED/REA, for that matter) data, but we think it gives important insight to the process.
| Students placed on waitlist | 2,958 |
|---|---|
| Students accepting a spot on the waitlist | 2,288 |
| Students admitted off the wailist | 66 |
| Waitlist acceptance rate | 2.88% |
Why This Matters: Getting off the waitlist at Penn is hard – but it’s not impossible. We help students get off the waitlist and into their dream schools every single year. Reach out to us if you need help with a waitlist letter.
When students get waitlisted, we see reactions oscillate from the too-negative “this is impossible,” to the too-positive “oh… so they DO want me, and I WILL go here.” The truth is somewhere in the middle. If you’re waitlisted, it means you are qualified for a spot – there just aren’t enough spots. Unfortunately, few spots typically open up for Penn. However, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to get off the waitlist, and we help students do that every year.
Considerations
One of the more subjective parts of the CDS (and admissions overall) is the “considerations” a school, well, considers. There are academic factors, like grades and scores, but then there are the more nebulous nonacademic factors.
| Academic Factors | Very Important | Important | Considered | Not Considered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rigor of secondary school record | x | |||
| Class rank | x | |||
| Academic GPA | x | |||
| Standardized test scores | x | |||
| Application Essay | x | |||
| Recommendation(s) | x |
Key Takeaways for Academic Factors:
Unsurprisingly, GPA, class rigor, your essays, and recommendation letters are “very important” to Penn
Surprisingly, test scores are only listed as “considered,” but in our experience, they are very important when submitted
Not all high schools track or publish class rank, which is most likely why they’ve only listed it as “important”
| Nonacademic Factors | Very Important | Important | Considered | Not Considered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interview | x | |||
| Extracurricular Activities | x | |||
| Talent/ability | x | |||
| Character/personality qualities | x | |||
| First Generation | x | |||
| Alumni/ae relation | x | |||
| Geographical residence | x | |||
| State residency | x | |||
| Religious affiliation/commitment | x | |||
| Volunteer work | x | |||
| Work experience | x | |||
| Level of applicant's interest | x |
Key Takeaways for Nonacademic Factors:
Penn does not track demonstrated interest
These should be taken with a grain of salt – these are impossible to quantify and all factors besides those “not considered” should be taken seriously.
As you can see, the nonacademic factors include straightforward things like “geographical residence,” which is fairly easy to ascertain, and then more abstract concepts like “character.”
We’d also like to call out Penn for listing extracurriculars as merely important. If you’re a competitive applicant to Penn, the things that set you apart from all the other qualified applicants are the subjective things – and the most competitive applicants to Penn aren’t just joining some clubs, being on student government, and playing a sport. They develop interesting, niche activities that accurately reflect their academic interests and passion and dedication to their stated future. And we help students create those killer profiles every year!
Conclusion
Without a doubt, Penn is widely recognized as highly selective. We’ve all been aware of that, but now you have specific guidelines and benchmarks to guide you as you pursue Penn.
That said, the data doesn’t capture everything about Penn’s core values, nor does it reflect who you are personally. When advising applicants, whether they come from legacy backgrounds, are applying ED, are actively being recruited, or otherwise, our strategic guidance remains consistent. Our advice is tailored to each student’s unique interests and strengths. No two students are identical, and there isn’t a single, foolproof way to gain entry to Penn. But there are some things you’ll need to do to give yourself the best shot possible.
One way to increase your odds? Working with college consultants who are experts in the field and have a high rate of success getting students into Penn.
We help countless students gain admission to top universities every single year – reach out to us today to get started.