The University of Pennsylvania, under new management with the departure of Dean of Admissions Eric Furda (a longtime hero of this college admissions blog), received a record number of applications to its Class of 2025. In all, 56,000 students applied to the Ivy League institution this year — a figure that combines Early Decision and Regular Decision applications. To put this figure in historical context, 42,205 students applied to UPenn’s Class of 2024, 44,960 applied to its Class of 2023, 44,482 applied to its Class of 2022, and 40,413 applied to its Class of 2021. Prior to the Class of 2021, the university never received more than 40,000 total applications in a given year. Year over year, applications to the university are up by a margin of 34%. That’s right. 34%!

A Record-Breaking Year for UPenn’s Admissions Office

As Leanna Tilitei reports for The Daily Pennsylvanian in a piece entitled “Penn receives record-breaking 56,000 applications to Class of 2025, up 34% from previous year,” “The large applicant pool, likely influenced by test-optional policies enacted in the wake of COVID-19, is set to result in Penn’s lowest-ever acceptance rate, according to Penn Admissions. ‘With just the sheer increase in application volume, and the fact that we’re not increasing the size of the class, I expect that this will be a selective year — not only more selective than last year, but probably more selective than two years ago, which was our most selective year,’ Interim Dean of Admissions John McLaughlin said…Despite the large influx in applications, the admissions office is not currently planning to increase the total admitted class size beyond the usual 2,400 student target — which McLaughlin said will likely cause Penn’s acceptance rate to fall to a record low.'”

Ivy Coach’s Crystal Ball Correctly Forecasted UPenn Would Not Expand Size of Its Incoming Class

So to those readers who suggested that Ivy Coach’s crystal ball prediction of months ago — that Ivy League schools would not expand their incoming class sizes to accommodate gap year students from the Class of 2024 — was wrong, you don’t know our crystal ball. Because Ivy Coach’s crystal ball is rarely wrong, although we own up to it when it’s off. Recently, Dartmouth College reinstated the five varsity athletic teams it cut several months ago. When an attorney threatened to sue Dartmouth because the school allegedly wasn’t in Title IX compliance after eliminating the teams, we doubted Dartmouth could drop the ball in such a way. But, thankfully, our crystal ball was wrong. It’s a rare occurrence.