University of Pennsylvania
Penn publishes 5.4% (Fall 2024 entering class). Early Decision applicants got in at 14%; everyone else at 4.0%.
Acceptance rate
What Penn's 5.4% is made of
The published rate averages groups with very different odds. These are the splits Penn reports itself.
By application round
Fall 2024 entering class (Class of 2028)
Read the full decomposition →Early Decision advantage
14% of 8,683 ED applicants were admitted (1,235), against 4.0% for everyone else.
Fall 2024 entering class (Class of 2028) · as of August 2026
See where Penn ranks →Part of Real Acceptance Rates, our series decomposing published rates from each school's own Common Data Set.
Testing
Required for 2026-27
- Policy
Penn requires SAT or ACT scores (or an approved hardship waiver) starting with the 2025-26 admissions cycle, continuing for 2026-27. Scores may be self-reported at application time (recruited athletes must submit official scores); there is no minimum score.
- SAT middle 50%
- 1510–1570sum of section 25th–75th percentiles
- ACT middle 50%
- 34–36
- Average HS GPA
- Not published by the school
Applying
Deadlines, essays and AI policy
- Early deadlines
- Nov 1, 2026 (ED)
- Regular decision
- Jan 5, 2027Source
- Supplemental essays
- 3 required
3 required essays for College of Arts & Sciences applicants (50-200 words each, per admissions.upenn.edu: a thank-you note, a 'community at Penn' essay, and a CAS-specific curiosity essay). Applicants to Wharton, Engineering, Nursing, and joint/dual-degree programs (Huntsman, M&T, LSM, VIPER, etc.) face additional or different program-specific prompts beyond these 3.
- AI use in essays
Limited Use Allowed — applies to Undergraduate application materials, essays, and activities/responses
“Using a tool, including an AI tool, to organize your thoughts or check your grammar, doesn't compromise your application certification. What would compromise your application is submitting work, ideas, or experiences that aren't authentically yours, whether that means someone else wrote your essay, an AI tool generated your responses... If you couldn't explain, in an interview or conversation, how you arrived at what you wrote, or speak to it in your own words, it isn't ready to submit.”
Full cycle calendar: Application Deadlines.
At a glance
Size and cost
- Undergraduate enrollment
- 10,650
- Tuition (out-of-state)
- $68,686
- Category
- Ivy League
- Admissions site
- www.upenn.edu
Dewey Smart
Dewey students who got into Penn
Mentors who got into Penn
Our mentors who go to Penn, or just graduated from it.
What should this school mean for your list?
A published rate is one input. Working out what it means alongside the rest of your list is the part that actually changes an application. Free 25-minute call, no commitment.
Sources
- Penn test policy (2026-27)
- Penn deadlines
- Penn AI-use policy
- Penn admissions pages
- Penn admissions pages
- Acceptance rate, test-score percentiles, enrollment and tuition: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, pulled 2026-08-19.
Test policy and deadlines last verified 2026-08-17.
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