University of Pennsylvania Overview
Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania is a private not-for-profit institution. The location of UPenn is great for students who prefer living in an urban area.
What Is University of Pennsylvania Known For?
- Students who want to work more closely with their professors have an easier time at UPenn since the student to facuty ratio is 6 to 1.
- Students at UPenn have an easier time paying back their loans. The school's student loan default rate is only 1%, compared to the national rate of 10.1%.
- The highest award offered at UPenn is the doctor's degree.
- For the 2017-2018 academic year, 74% of the faculty were full-time.
- A student who earns a bachelor's degree from UPenn makes roughly $85,900 a year. This is 111% more than their peers from other colleges and universities.
- The average UPenn student graduates in 4.1 years. That's better than the national average of 4.4 years.
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University of Pennsylvania Rankings
UPenn landed the #19 spot in our 2021 ranking of best colleges. We analyzed 2,320 colleges and universities across the nation to determine this ranking. This puts it in the top 1% of all schools in the nation! It is also ranked #2 out of 137 schools in Pennsylvania.
Our rankings are based on an outcomes-based approach rather than subjective ones used by other media outlets. As such, we utilize data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard, among other sources. Visit our rankings and methodology section to learn more.
UPenn has also been awarded the following overall awards by our latest rankings.
Rank | Ranking Name | Share |
---|---|---|
#8 | Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools | Tweet It - Post It |
#12 | Best Master’s Degree Schools | Tweet It - Post It |
#12 | Best Graduate Certificate Schools | Tweet It - Post It |
#14 | Most Popular Master’s Degree Schools | Tweet It - Post It |
#18 | Most Popular Doctor’s Degree Schools | Tweet It - Post It |
#22 | Best Doctor’s Degree Schools | Tweet It - Post It |
#153 | Most Popular Bachelor’s Degree Schools | Tweet It - Post It |
Program Level Awards
These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at UPenn.
Awards From Around the Web
The following table lists some notable awards UPenn has earned from around the web.
Rank | Ranking Name | Source |
---|---|---|
#1 | Best Colleges for Philosophy & Religious Studies | College Factual |
#3 | Best Colleges for Social Sciences | College Factual |
#4 | Best Colleges for Business, Management & Marketing | College Factual |
#4 | Best Colleges for History | College Factual |
#5 | Best Business Schools | Business Degree Central |
#9 | Best Colleges for Computer & Information Sciences | College Factual |
Where Is University of Pennsylvania?

Contact details for UPenn are given below.
Contact Details | |
---|---|
Address: | 34Th & Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6303 |
Phone: | 215-898-5000 |
Website: | www.upenn.edu |
Facebook: | http://www.facebook.com/pages/Philadelphia-PA/University-of-Pennsylvania/98508878775 |
Twitter: | http://twitter.com/Penn |
How Do I Get Into UPenn?
You can apply to UPenn online at: www.admissions.upenn.edu/apply/
Admission Requirements for UPenn
Submission | Required? |
---|---|
High School GPA | required |
High School Rank | neither required nor recommended |
High School Transcript | required |
College Prep Program | recommended |
Recommendations | required |
SAT or ACT Scores | required |
TOEFL | recommended |
How Hard Is It To Get Into UPenn?
Approximately 46% of accepted students are men and 54% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 9%, and the acceptance rate for women is 10%.
Average Test Scores
About 46% of students accepted to UPenn submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 700 and 770. Math scores were between 720 and 790.
Can I Afford University of Pennsylvania?
The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.
Student Loan Debt
Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At UPenn, approximately 13% of students took out student loans averaging $7,842 a year. That adds up to $31,368 over four years for those students.
The student loan default rate at UPenn is 1.1%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.
University of Pennsylvania Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are also 14,803 graduate students at the school.
Gender Diversity
Of the 10,448 full-time undergraduates at UPenn, 47% are male and 53% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity
The racial-ethnic breakdown of University of Pennsylvania students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity | Number of Grads |
---|---|
Asian | 2,273 |
Black or African American | 783 |
Hispanic or Latino | 1,041 |
White | 3,996 |
International Students | 1,575 |
Other Races/Ethnicities | 780 |
Geographic Diversity
Pennsylvania students aren't the only ones who study at University of Pennsylvania. At this time, 49 states are represented by the student population at the school.
Over 138 countries are represented at UPenn. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, India, and South Korea.
Online Learning at University of Pennsylvania
The following chart shows how the online learning population at UPenn has changed over the last few years.

This school is the 37th most popular in Pennsylvania for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2017-2018.
Online Growth Rankings of UPenn
The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at University of Pennsylvania was 252.5%. This is the #217 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at UPenn regardless of major.
The following table shows the 1-year growth rate of UPenn majors that offer at least one online course. This table only includes majors with positive growth.
Major | 1-Year Growth Rate |
---|---|
Other Health Professions | 10% |
Public Administration & Social Service | 16% |
Social Work | 5% |
The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at UPenn ranks compared to all other partially online schools that offer a specific major. Note that the majors may or may not be offered online at UPenn.
Major | Growth Rate Rank | |
---|---|---|
Nursing | #33 | |
Health Professions | #59 |
When we speak of partially online, we are referring to schools whose online population is less than 50% of its total student body. Mostly online refers to those with online populations greater than or equal to 50%.
University of Pennsylvania Undergraduate Concentrations
The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.
References
*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.
- College Factual
- National Center for Education Statistics
- Image Credit: By WestCoastivieS under License
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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