Physics GRE Discussion Forums

Hi,

I am actually thinking of applying to Penn State for PhD in theoretical physics. I have some confusion regarding the admissions statistics available at the gradschoolshopper. I just saw that last year Penn State accepted around 34 people out of 606 applicants, which is a huge drop from the previous year. In the previous year, Penn State had accepted around 92 people out of 676 applicants. I am wondering why this happened and is there any chance this low acceptance rate will continue this year as well ? This is kind of strange as well. Gradschoolshopper link is below for last year. For the previous year, I have saved the statistics but I do not think it is available anymore on the website.

http://www.gradschoolshopper.com/gradsc ... ?q=2&cid=3

Thanks

I think you may face the similar trend in this year since the Pennsylvania is one of the most preferred states for phd studies both for domestic and international applicants. If you think that the ongoing research at Penn State match your research interest and background just apply. In addition, check the applicants' profiles from previous years who were admitted to there.

Perhaps there simply was a low number of students graduating; often the absolute number of admits entering in year X is correlated to the number of graduates the year before...

Please notice that the numbers of admitted and enrolled are the same. This can't be right.
Even in Top 10 schools the yield (the percentage of enrolled out of the admitted) is lower than 50%.
For Penn State I would guess that the yield is somewhere in the ~25%-33%

Still, 34 who enroll out of 92 who are admitted is probably closer to the truth...

That's what I said. The correct number of admitted should be 90~120.