Grad schools rank high in annual survey

Five of the University's graduate schools received top-tier rankings in a survey of the nation's graduate schools published in a special issue of U.S. News & World Report, which hits newsstands today. Jumping up from its fourth place ranking last year, the Wharton School's graduate division came in a close second to Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School with a 99.8 percent ranking, compared to Sloan's 100 percent. "We are pleased that Wharton consistently ranks at or near the top of virtually every independent measure and ranking," Wharton Dean Thomas Gerrity said in a statement released Friday. The Nursing School dropped from from its first-place slot last year to third place. The Medical School maintained its position at seventh place, and the Law School tied with Northwestern University at 11th place. Last year, the Law School received a ninth place ranking. "We care about being viewed in the top tier," University President Judith Rodin said. "That's the important part of it -- we do want to be viewed as a top-ranked institution." The rankings are based on student selectivity, placement success, faculty resources, research activity and institutional reputation. However, criteria do vary for each area of graduate education. But the various schools do not take the rankings as seriously as prospective students do, Rodin said. Law School Dean Colin Diver attributed the Law School's significant increase in the number of applicants that matriculated last year to its high ranking in U.S. News & World Report. "The result is that we don't look as good [this year] because we have more students," Diver said. "It shows how sometimes you get victimized by your own success." The criteria used in the rankings are also questionable since formulas change from year to year, Diver said. This was the first year U.S. News & World Report surveyed graduate schools of education, and the University's Graduate School of Education tied for 10th with the graduate education school at the University of California at Los Angeles. "I thought what a coup for Penn," University spokesperson Barbara Beck said. "And then when you think of a new dean, Fuhrman from Rutgers, coming in for Penn, I expect them to be in the top five next year if not number one in the country." Several concentrated programs received national recognition -- including the Medical School's programs in women's health and pediatrics, which placed in the top three. "That we are consistently ranked in the top 10 in this nationwide survey attest to our enduring commitment to excellence," Medical School Dean William Kelley said. The School of Engineering and Applied Sciences improved slightly from 33rd last year to 31st place this year. Although graduate schools of arts and sciences are not evaluated, individual departments are. The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Department of Economics was rated eighth and the Department of English placed ninth. "If you take a look at that [the rankings] in the whole you have a group of graduate schools that are a superb academic training ground," Beck said. According to Rodin, the University will continue to establish its own academic standards. "If we set our mission and goals clearly and then set a set of strategic goals to get there we will be very successful and that's what I want to see the schools in the process of doing," she said. Daily Pennsylvanian Staff Writer Lisa Levenson contributed to this article.

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