International students are drawn to the University of Pennsylvania for good reason. It’s a top-tier Ivy League university with global respect and a powerful program. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, that it isn’t easy to get in regardless of where one is applying from. In this post, we’ll break down what prospective international applicants need to know — and do — to increase their chances of admission. First, though, let’s talk numbers.
As we said, it isn’t easy to get into Penn. The overall acceptance rate, though, doesn’t really help us when assessing an international applicant’s odds. Rather, we look at the acceptance rate for international students specifically. In the 2023-24 Common Data Set, the university reported that they had received 13,310 first-year applications from international students and the acceptance rate was 3.15%. This was less than half the acceptance rate for students from the United States. The U.S. citizen and permanent resident acceptance rate was 6.7%.
This tells us that international students need to do something different to make it through the admissions process. Simply following the steps domestic students take won’t work, because it’s fundamentally a different game with different odds. So, what does work? Below we break down three necessary steps that international applicants need to start far in advance of even starting work on an application. If you need more, get in touch. We can help.
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Applying to college is a process that can be broken down into clear actionable steps. Below are the first three international applicants need to be taking.
Step 1: Plan in Advance
First, you need to have started yesterday. Seriously. Now, if the student is 12 years old that would be slight overkill — but also maybe not. Even as a young student, years out from applying to school, beginning to plan isn’t a bad idea. Obsessing over college isn’t a good idea, but setting up systems and putting plans in motion is.
By starting early, an international student can make their own life easier. Instead of rushing to the finish line and thinking of all the things they wish they’d done, students who plan ahead can focus instead on celebrating their wins and spotlighting how amazing they are in their applications.
A key part of planning ahead, too, is having a target to aim towards.
Step 2: Select Target Programs
The University of Pennsylvania is a big goal, but it isn’t a precise one. We guide our students towards getting as specific as they can by selecting one or two programs within their dream school to navigate towards. This means picking a major or program that is exciting and inspiring, but it should also be strategic.
What do we mean by strategic? Well, applying to college is not just about the applicant. There is a whole swimming pool international students wade into when they submit an application to a school in the United States that pits their application against tens of thousands of others, and how awesome the applicant truly is, ultimately, is only part of the equation. Picking a target program, then, isn’t just about what an applicant wants to study, but also must figure for the system at large. It is about playing one’s cards in the most powerful way possible.
The most popular majors at Penn for prospective international students, in our experience, are finance and business-oriented. This means that it is often beneficial as an international applicant to look outside of finance and business (or, more precisely, Wharton). International applicants should also look beyond engineering and computer science, which are also extremely popular among international applicants and subsequently harder to get into.
Instead, we direct international applicants toward majors that are outside of those focus areas, but that simultaneously build upon the applicant’s core strengths and strongest scores and set them up for a successful future in the field they want to eventually enter. The College of Arts and Sciences has the broadest array of majors to choose from, and offers majors in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Through the College of Arts and Sciences, someone interested in business could study economics and forgo the ring of hell that is Wharton admissions for prospective international first years. Or someone interested in the computer sciences could specify a major in Logic, Information, and Computation on their application instead of aiming for the College of Engineering.
Once an international applicant has a target program at Penn in mind for a possible major, they’ll want to make sure that they are taking electives and pursuing extracurriculars that underline their interest in the subject. This can start as soon as a target is picked, and should be pursued up until pressing submit and beyond. When applying to Penn, they care a lot about one doing the thing they are saying they are passionate about in the real world, not just writing about it. So do the thing. Which, in turn, brings us to extracurriculars.
Step 3: Pursue Long-Term Extracurriculars
The biggest hang-up for international student applications tends to be one thing: the activities section. On the application, Penn invites students to share a little about what they do outside of the classroom. “A little” truly means a little, as there is very little space dedicated to actually explaining each activity. The real impact extracurriculars can have comes in the essays, where meaningful long-term experiences can form the bedrock of an impactful supplement. Clearly, activities matter. So why do international students tend to struggle there?
In the United States, it’s normal for students to have access to a long list of clubs and student groups through school. Penn admissions officers know that this isn’t the case at many, or even most, schools outside of the United States. School is about school. However, international applicants can turn a dearth of options into abundance if they go in with the right mindset.
If a club doesn’t exist, start it. If a school paper went out of print decades ago, relaunch it as a website. If there is a local company relevant to a target program, ask for an internship or summer job. Most importantly, pursue things that can be turned into long-term (more than 6 month) engagements. Showing longevity on the application to Penn gives weight to any activity, internship, or job.
The more time applicants give themselves to pursue these three steps, the better, so we advise students start now. And if an international applicant wants an added boost, we can help.
We are experts at navigating Ivy League admissions for international students. Contact us to learn more.