Although it's known for having one of the largest freshman classes in the Ivy League (about 2,400 students), the University of Pennsylvania is still tough to get into with acceptance rates below 6%.
Once admitted, however, Penn students clearly thrive: Nearly 90% of students graduate in four years, giving Penn one of the highest graduation rates in the country. Among the most elite departments within Penn are business and economics, which are notoriously demanding. Students in introductory economics hold a midnight "Econ scream" just before midterms where they gather and scream ahead of the test in the name of stress relief. It may all be worth it, however, given how highly employers value degrees from the university. The median salary for students who graduated from Penn is over $124,000 four years after school — so it’s no wonder that the university scores so well on Money’s measures of student outcomes.
For fun, Penn hosts Spring Fling the last week of classes. Touted as the largest college party on the East Coast, the weekend-long event draws thousands of students and has featured musical guests including Rina Sawayama, Metro Boomin and Lauv in recent years.
