powell - University of Penn Athletics

Flexible OptionsUndergraduate students at Penn choose from anincredible array of courses. Our online course catalog(www.upenn.edu/registrar/register) makes thatclear. What may not be immediately apparent,though, is the academic flexibility our programs permit.For example, double majors, dual-degree programs,and joint-degree programs enable studentsto pursue a second major in their own or another ofPenn’s four undergraduate schools.Submatriculation, another option, makes it possiblefor undergraduates to begin graduate programsat Penn while completing their baccalaureatedegrees. Other opportunities for individually tailoredstudy include the option of initiating newcourses, called preceptorials. Recent student-initiatedpreceptorials have included such offerings asAstronomy for English Majors, Ways of Etiquette inJapan, Australian and American Landscape Painting,Cyberspace 90210 and A Trip to Fallingwater.AdmissionsPenn is among the nation’s most selective and competitiveuniversities. Students who apply for admissiontypically have outstanding records of academic andextracurricular achievement. About 95 percent of thestudents in each new class have ranked in the top 10percent of their secondary school classes. If you wouldlike to receive additional information or an applicationfor admission, please contact our Office ofUndergraduate Admissions (215-898-7507 orwww.upenn.edu/admissions).StudentsUndergraduates - 9,917; graduate and professional students- 8,996. Penn received a record-high 18,784applications for admission to the Class of 2006. Ofthose applicants, 3,946 or 21 percent, were offeredadmission, making the Class of 2006 the most selectivein Penn's history and the institution among themost selective universities in America. About 43 percentof those accepted for admission to the Class of2006 are Black, Hispanic, Asian, or Native American.Women comprise 50 percent of all students currentlyenrolled.HistoryPenn traces its origins to 1740, when a groupof Philadelphians established a trust for theinstruction of children in a charity school. In1750, Benjamin Franklin combined this trustwith his Public Academy of Philadelphia,founded the year before. This institution, charteredin 1755 as the “College, Academy andCharitable School of Philadelphia,” becamethe first university in what is now the UnitedStates with the establishment of the country’sfirst medical school in 1765. In 1779, it becamethe first university in the country to formallybear the name.Bring It All HomeOne of the newest developments at Penn involvesbringing first-year students, sophomores, juniorsand seniors together in residential college houses.Of course, that in itself isn’t revolutionary, but this is— Each college house offers its members a pointof contact with Penn’s growing system of academicsupport services called “The Wheel.” The Wheelprovides residence-based support in mathematics,information technology and computing, writing,research and library resources. Available services willsoon include other core academic areas as well ascareer planning and placement. Using new technologyand the supportive environment of the collegehouses, the Wheel delivers services when and wherestudents need them — typically in each student’sroom and often late at night, when most Universityoffices are closed.Undergraduate SchoolsThe College at Penn, School of Engineering andApplied Science, School of Nursing and Wharton.Graduate SchoolsAnnenberg School for Communication, Arts andSciences, Dental Medicine, Education, Engineeringand Applied Science, Fine Arts, Law, Medicine,Nursing, Social Work, Veterinary Medicine andWharton.FacultyTotal - 4,319. Members of the faculty haveearned Nobel Prizes, Pulitzer Prizes, andFulbright Fellowships. Six current faculty membershave received MacArthur Fellowships; and21 have received Guggenheim Fellowshipssince 1990. Student-Faculty Ratio 6.4:1.Academics53 undergraduate departments; Penn is regardedas a national leader in programs that crosstraditional disciplinary boundaries and combineliberal learning with practical application,such as Biological Basis of Behavior,International Studies of Business andManagement and Technology.