Wharton graduate program ranked fourth by magazine

The graduate program of the Wharton School was recently ranked fourth nationally in a survey of M.B.A. programs conducted by U.S. News and World Report magazine. In 1993, Wharton was ranked third -- with 95.5 percent -- behind top-ranked Harvard University. This year's ranking placed the University's Masters in Business Administration program closer than ever to the number one slot -- with only one percentage point separating the top five schools. According to Isik Inselbag, vice dean of the Wharton School and director of the graduate division, the U.S. News survey is based on a weighted average of admissions rates, placement rates, and rankings by university deans and chief executive officers of major businesses. The magazine gave Wharton a 98.8 percent, placing it fourth behind Stanford University which received 100 percent, Massachusetts Institute of Technology at 99.7 percent and Harvard University at 99.1 percent. "Last year, the top five schools were separated by 8 percentage points," Inselbag said. "This year it's much more packed. It shows that the competition among our peer institutions?has intensified among the last few years." Wharton Dean Thomas Gerrity attributes this close outcome to Wharton's increasingly positive reputation. "The editor told us that a couple of responses would have swung the responses on the top schools," Gerrity said. "If we keep moving ahead, it will ultimately show up in the rankings." U.S. News and World Report also ranked the graduate business schools in 12 specific categories. Wharton placed among the top five in seven of these areas. Wharton ranked first in Finance and Entrepreneurship, second in Global Management, third in Marketing and fifth in Accounting, Non-Profit Organizations and Quantitative Analysis. Wharton's undergraduate division is not currently ranked by U.S. News and World Report. "Statistics clearly show that it [would be] ranked number one in the world," Gerrity said. "We're hopeful that they may consider ranking the undergraduate schools in the near future." And for the Wharton graduate division, the school's top five rating for the second straight year produces tremendous excitement. "I think it's always a little bit like a trip to Las Vegas," Gerrity said. "We are the leading school that's really on the move."