Materials and Deadlines for Early and Regular Decision
(2020-2021 Admissions Cycle)
(2020-2021 Admissions Cycle)
Early Decision
November 1, 2020
Regular Decision
January 5, 2021
Application Fee
$75 or fee waiver for those who qualify.
- Common Application or Coalition Application & Penn-specific Essay
- Official High School Transcript
- Must be submitted directly from the school
- School Report
- Counselor Recommendation
- Academic Teacher Evaluations (2)
- Early Decision Agreement (only if applying for Early Decision)
- Mid-Year Report
- Early Decision: Required February 15, 2021 if student is deferred
- Regular Decision: Must be submitted directly by the school as soon as mid-year grades are available
- Final Report
- Required in June for matriculating students
COVID-19 Update: In response to COVID-19, Penn will not require applicants to submit the SAT, ACT, or SAT Subject Tests for the 2020-21 application cycle. This applies to first-year and transfer applicants. Applicants who do not submit SAT, ACT, or SAT Subject Test scores will not be at a disadvantage in the admissions process. Students who are able to take the SAT, ACT, and/or SAT Subject Tests and wish to report them may continue with that plan.
For more information on our testing policies, please visit our Testing page.
- Early Decision: Last Test Dates Accepted—October 2020 (ACT) or November 2020 (SAT)
- Regular Decision: Last Test Dates Accepted—December 2020 (ACT) or December 2020 (SAT)
- Early Decision: Last Test Dates Accepted—November 2020
- Regular Decision: Last Test Dates Accepted—December 2020
- Early Decision: Mid October–Early December
- Regular Decision: December–Early March
Deadlines for portfolio submissions are 10 days after the application deadlines.
Additional Letter of Recommendation (1)
- Early Decision: November 1, 2020
- Regular Decision: January 5, 2021
View the financial aid checklist for all required documents and dates.
Notification of Decision
- Early Decision: Mid-December 2020
- Regular Decision: April 6, 2021
Admitted Student Reply/Enrollment Confirmation
- Early Decision: January 6, 2021
- Regular Decision: May 3, 2021
Read more about the 2021 Decision Release Update
The University of Pennsylvania reserves the right to evaluate an application and render a final decision even if all pieces of the application have not been received.
No student who has been denied admission under any of our decision plans may apply again to any undergraduate division of the University in the same academic year.