Penn’s graduate admissions cut by 10-15% after Trump’s executive order, alarming students and faculty

The University of Pennsylvania has announced significant cuts to its graduate admissions, reducing the number of accepted students across various programs by 10-15%. This decision comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on February 7, 2025, which imposed a 15% cap on indirect costs for research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Faculty members and students are expressing concern about the long-term impact of these cuts on both the university’s academic culture and the future of scientific research.
The cuts affect the School of Arts and Sciences and the Perelman School of Medicine, impacting both incoming graduate students and the university’s research efforts. According to faculty, the reductions were made after several programs had already accepted students, creating further uncertainty. As reported by The Daily Pennsylvanian, the decision has generated anxiety within the academic community, with many fearing it will diminish the quality of research and teaching at Penn.
Cuts in admissions could impact research and teaching
Marco Ruella, an assistant professor at Penn’s Medical School, voiced his concerns about the ramifications of the funding cuts. Ruella, who specializes in CAR T-cell immunotherapies and whose research heavily depends on NIH funding, described the situation as “a significant blow” to ongoing scientific projects. “If one of the major funding strategies was the NIH, we might have to revisit the way we manage our labs,” Ruella stated, adding that the recent delays in the NIH’s grant approval process would cause a “backlog of grants that are not being processed.”
For graduate students, the financial uncertainty is equally alarming. Riley Shahar, a first-year mathematics Ph.D. candidate, expressed her worries about how the cuts would impact Penn’s Department of Mathematics. Shahar noted that the reduced admissions would harm the “intellectual culture” at Penn. “It seems likely to me that [the cuts] will make the culture less intellectually vibrant than it is now,” Shahar said, as quoted by The Daily Pennsylvanian.
Growing concerns among faculty and students
Faculty members, such as one from the School of Arts and Sciences (who requested anonymity), also reported feeling heartbroken over the cuts. The professor described how they had to turn away students who had already booked flights for prospective visits, stating that the decision felt “existential” for smaller departments at Penn. “It’s slowly getting to be existential, and a University with a big name like Penn should not be able to afford this,” the professor explained to The Daily Pennsylvanian.
Additionally, the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly (GAPSA) has expressed significant concern, noting that the reduction in graduate admissions could hurt Penn’s reputation and its academic output. As The Daily Pennsylvanian reports, GAPSA highlighted that the admissions cuts might also affect the university’s reliance on graduate students as teaching assistants, which would, in turn, affect undergraduate education.
As the uncertainty surrounding federal funding continues, the long-term effects on Penn’s academic environment remain unclear. Faculty and students alike are calling for greater transparency and action to ensure the university’s research and academic mission remains intact.