Penn admitted 4.9% of applicants, its most selective year in its history
The board of trustees also reelected its chair to a new four-year term
Despite challenges that the University of Pennsylvania faces, the demand for its education as indicated by its applications has never been stronger.
Penn admitted 4.9% of its applicants for fall 2025, its most selective year in history. Last year, the Ivy League institution admitted 5.4% of students.
The school received 72,544 applications and admitted 3,530 students, Whitney Soule, dean of admissions told the board of trustees at its meeting Friday. The school also took 20 students off its wait list for a total incoming class of 2,420 students, she said. More than two-thirds of students, or 68.6%, who were admitted decided to enroll.
» READ MORE: Penn appears to have its most selective year on record, accepting 5.4% of applicants
“The higher ed admissions landscape again experienced a year with complex issues,” Soule said. “With all of this, we are especially impressed with the accomplishment, resolve, and ambition demonstrated by the students we have admitted.”
Also at the meeting, the board reelected Ramanan Raghavendran to another term as chair of the board. Raghavendran, managing partner and co-founder of Amasia, a global venture capital firm, became chair in January 2024 after Scott L. Bok suddenly resigned. Bok’s resignation coincided with the resignation of former President Liz Magill, whose testimony on antisemitism before a congressional committee drew a bipartisan backlash.
Rahavendran, who has been on the board since 2014 and has three Penn degrees, was appointed to a four-year term.
“I feel a sense of tremendous duty and responsibility in this moment, toward the university,” Raghavendran, who is from the San Francisco Bay Area, said in a brief interview following the meeting.
He declined to comment further.
Julie Beren Platt, a full time volunteer fundraiser in Los Angeles, was reelected as vice chair through December.
It means the top leadership of the board, along with President J. Larry Jameson, who stepped in after Magill’s departure and whose term runs to June 2027, will remain in place as the university, along with the rest of higher education, faces among the most significant challenges in history.
» READ MORE: Penn president J. Larry Jameson gets the ‘interim’ removed from his title and a term extension
At committee meetings Thursday, Penn leaders discussed the impact of President Donald Trump’s policies on international students, including the recent travel ban on 12 countries that are home to 200 Penn students.
Penn also faces uncertainty over federal research funding, a potential steep increase in the endowment tax, and multiple probes. The Trump administration is investigating Penn over foreign funding and its inclusion of a transgender athlete on the women’s swim team in 2021-22.
» READ MORE: Penn has 200 students from travel ban countries and is facing ‘constant issues’ with Trump administration
On Penn’s incoming class, Soule said they come from 49 states, six U.S. territories and 95 countries. About 15% are from Pennsylvania and 155 are from Philadelphia.
International students comprise 13.7% of the class, and 13.6% are legacy students, meaning they are either a child or grandchild of alumni.