U. jumps to 7th place in "U.S. News' rankings

Jumping into seventh place, the University received its highest ranking ever in this year's U.S. News & World Report list of the nation's best colleges -- a dramatic change of six places from last year's ranking of 13th. The newest ranking, in the magazine's September 1 issue, placed the University fourth in the Ivy League -- in a tie with Dartmouth College and ahead of Brown, Columbia and Cornell universities. University President Judith Rodin expressed enthusiasm about the rankings -- which mark the University's first top-10 finish -- which she said indicates "consistent upward acceleration." "Penn has been going up in the overall scores for the past several years," she said. "Our overall rise (in total score) has been steady. Penn is an institution that is on the move." The University's total score improved to 96, up from 95.2 last year. Prior to last year's 13th-place ranking, the University placed 11th in 1995, 12th in 1994 and 16th in 1993 The total scores are not directly comparable from year to year, though, because the magazine's editors tinker with the criteria annually. This year, Harvard and Princeton universities tied for first place, followed by a tie between Duke and Yale universities. The increased number of ties was due to a change in the ranking presentation. As a concession to many educators who complained about the ranking procedures, U.S. News eliminated decimal rankings and instead rounded the final scores to the nearest whole number. Although Admissions Dean Lee Stetson said an accurate rating system is difficult to develop, he explained that the changes in the ratings system make it "more accurate." "U.S. News has made an effort to respond to the concern of educators about the level of specificity of the rankings," he said. "They've made an attempt to soften that precision and place emphasis on critical issues." But Rodin stressed that she still considers the ranking system to be "very imperfect," especially in its comparison of public and private institutions and specialized schools with other schools. "The fact that rankings move around isn't surprising," she said. After Penn's drop in the list last year, Rodin questioned the accuracy of the ranking system, noting that the rankings "are comparing apples to oranges in many respects." The Ivy Council, which represents the student governments of the eight Ivy League institutions, also criticized last year's U.S. News, describing them as "inconsequential" in a March statement. The magazine bases its evaluation on several criteria, including academic reputation, graduation and retention rank, faculty resources and student selectivity. The University's leap in the rankings can be traced to several ongoing initiatives, Provost Stanley Chodorow said. "The ranking shows that the work we've been doing on the 21st Century Project and other efforts to make Penn one of the top undergraduate institutions in the country are being recognized," Chodorow said. Rodin's five-year strategic plan for campus, the Agenda for Excellence, states a top-10 ranking as a goal, though it does not refer to the U.S. News list specifically. Stetson said a high ranking helps boost the University's image, calling the rankings "encouraging news" that will likely encourage more prospective students to apply to the University. "I believe this will help us in our attempt to enroll students because they will look more seriously at Penn," he said. "But I'm always cautious about being too excited." Also over the summer, the magazine ranked the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania among the top hospitals in the nation. HUP placed 14th on the list of the best hospitals in the country, and was one of 16 hospitals in the nation and the only hospital in the region to be named to the "Honor Roll" hospitals.