Penn Fast Facts

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Students (Fall 2011):

• Full-time:     21,329
• Part-time:     3,503
• Total:         24,832

Full-time Undergraduate: 10,301
Full-time Graduate/professional: 11,028

Historic Roots:

The University of Pennsylvania has the distinction of being the first university in the United States, created by founding father, Benjamin Franklin. Dr. Amy Gutmann was inaugurated as Penn’s eighth President in October 2004.

The Mascot:

Penn’s sports teams are nicknamed the Quakers after the religion adopted by William Penn, who established Pennsylvania as a Quaker province. Today, we see the Quaker at Penn football and basketball games.

Hey Day:

In 1916, Hey Day was established as a “Moving-Up” celebration to mark the advancement of each class. Hey Day has represented the official passage of the junior class to senior status and is characterized by thousands of marching students parading around campus wearing red T-shirts, carrying canes, and biting into fake straw hats.

Ivy Day:

In 1873, the first graduating class on Penn’s West Philadelphia campus established Ivy Day as a new tradition set aside for the senior class. As a vine was planted and an invocation pronounced, ivy became a lasting symbol for each year’s graduating class

Study Abroad:

Penn offers opportunities to undergraduate and graduate/professional students to study abroad in more than 60 countries. Penn ranks 1st among the Ivy League schools and 12th nationwide among doctoral/research institutions in the number of students studying abroad, according to the most recent data (Institute of International Education, 2011).

Internationalism: 

A total of 5,338 international students applied for admission to Penn’s undergraduate schools for Fall 2011 admission. More than 12 percent of the first year class consists of international students.

Academics:

As of Fall 2011, total undergraduate majors currently being pursued: 87 (Fall 2011). In addition, 15 undergraduates were pursuing individualized majors

Community Service:

Approximately 13,000 University students, faculty and staff participate in more than 300 Penn volunteer and community service programs.

Athletics and Recreation:

A charter member of the Ivy League, Penn offers intercollegiate competition for men in 17 sports and intercollegiate competition for women in 16 sports. Penn is home to the Penn Relays, the most consecutively held collegiate track meet in the country that routinely draws more than 100,000 spectators and more than 22,000 entries.

Research:

With 165 research centers and institutes, research is a substantial esteemed enterprise at Penn. As of fiscal year 2011, the research community includes over 4,000 faculty, over 1,100 postdoctoral fellows, and over 5,400 academic support staff and graduate student trainees as well as a research budget of $901 million.

Faculty:

In the past two decades, the faculty has been home to 7 MacArthur Award recipients, 5 National Medal of Science recipients, 4 Nobel Prize recipients, and 5 Pulitzer Prize recipients.