Based on the latest rankings from U.S. News and World Report, Penn's graduate schools are climbing the charts.
The Wharton Graduate School, the School of Medicine and the Graduate School of Education all placed in the top five in the nation, according to the magazine's 2003 Best Graduate Schools list. In addition, the Law School placed in the top 10 and the School of Engineering and Applied Science graduate school rose from 30th to 28th place.
"This is a statistical survey that U.S. News has been doing for a number of years," said Richard Folkers, director of media relations for the magazine. "It includes a number of component parts, such as academic reputation -- a school's professional standing among peers."
After dropping from second to fourth in the rankings last year, the Wharton Graduate School rose to third this year, behind Stanford and Harvard universities. Wharton also placed in the top five of most of the specialty programs, ranking first in both finance and accounting.
However, Wharton Vice Dean Anjani Jain feels that these numbers have "no meaningful attribution.... Graduate programs are too multi-faceted, yet people like seeing a linear order."
"The one thing that comes through is the depth and complexity of our programs, our strong internal dynamic of excellence and culture of achievement," he added. "I wouldn't make too much of the linear order."
For the second straight year, Penn's School of Medicine finished fourth out of 129 schools in the rankings, after placing third in 2000 and 2001.
"We've been ranked in the top five for the past several years," School of Medicine Dean Arthur Rubenstein said.
"I think the metrics used are reasonable, but not great," he added. "The high ranking says this is one of the top med schools in the country, and we should be proud of our excellence, but I don't think the exact number ranking is that important."
The Graduate School of Education has made significant progress in the rankings. Over the past four years, the school has moved from 20th to 11th to eighth to finally edging its way into the top five this year with a fifth place ranking.
"This compares very favorably," GSE Assistant Dean Tom Kecskemethy said. "It means we are getting due recognition for the research and programs here."
"Whether or not the U.S. News rankings are really accurate, they're significant in terms of the degree of national esteem among our peers and our attractiveness to students and faculty," he added.
Like the GSE, Penn's law school continued its upward trend, moving from 12th to 10th to its current seventh-place position. The school is tied with the universities of California at Berkeley, Michigan and Virginia.
"You have to take the rankings with a grain of salt," Law School Dean Michael Fitts said. Nevertheless, "We are happy that we have gone up in the rankings."
"Most important, however, is the quality of education we provide -- no school in the country supplies better," Fitts added. "This is a great time for the Law School."
According to the report, the methodology for the rankings is based on two broad data types -- expert opinion on the standard of excellence of the particular program and statistical information about the quality of the school's faculty, research and overall student performance.
"We evaluate a number of factors, all statistical, such as average GPA, acceptance rates, etc. The top school receives a score of 100, and the others are listed below by percentage differences," Folkers said, adding that "there is a slim difference between the scores."
Overall, Folkers said the U.S. News and World Report rankings should be used by students as an important resource in selecting the right school for them.
"A ranking is not the way to pick a school," he said. "It's an important tool, but far from the only factor for making a decision."
