Penn Transfer Acceptance Rate

The transfer acceptance rate to the University of Pennsylvania plummeted to an all-time low this year. Out of the more than 3,500 transfer applicants to the university this past cycle, about 165 earned admission. This marks a transfer acceptance rate of approximately 4.7% — a statistic that compares to 7.8% for the prior transfer admissions cycle at Penn. Transfer applicants were notified of their decisions in May and had to render their decisions by June 1st.

As Kevin Bryan writes for The Daily Pennsylvanian in a piece entitled “Penn’s transfer acceptance rate drops below 5% this year, a record low,” “Penn’s record-low transfer acceptance rate pales in comparison to other Ivy League schools. Harvard University, for example, typically admits around 12 out of 1,500 transfer applicants each year, yielding an acceptance rate of under 1%, the Harvard Crimson reported. In 2020, Princeton offered admission to just 13 of 905 applicants — an acceptance rate below 2%. Despite the record-low, Penn is the second most popular Ivy League school for transfer students after Cornell, reflected in its higher admissions rate and large applicant pool.”

Of those students admitted as transfers to Penn this cycle, many cited the Transfer Student Organization as a primary reason why they chose to matriculate, as Bryan reports. It can be tough for transfer students to adjust to a new school. Many students on campus have already formed their friend groups and there isn’t always a whole lot of academic support to the new students. It’s why Penn created the Transfer Student Organization in the first place.