Four of Penn's graduate schools placed in the top 10 of the latest U.S. News and World Report graduate school rankings.
The results, officially released last week, were similar to those of last year, though the School of Engineering and Applied Science dropped three spots to 29, putting it in a tie with Rice University.
Wharton ranked third, the School of medicine ranked fourth, the Law School and the School of Education each ranked seventh.
Only five of Penn's graduate schools were studied this year. Rankings for the other seven graduate schools at Penn are not updated yearly.
The rankings system is based on a variety of factors, including retention rate, job acceptances after graduation and starting salaries for graduates.
The Law School found itself in seventh place again -- though no longer tied with the University of Michigan -- and the School of Medicine maintained its spot at fourth for research, behind Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University and Washington University in St. Louis.
The Wharton School remained behind Harvard and Stanford.
The Graduate School of Education moved up two spots to seventh from its position last year. It is currently tied with The University of California, Berkeley, and is trailing Harvard, UCLA and Stanford, among others.
"All of these rankings must be taken with a big grain of salt," Penn Law Dean Michael Fitts said. "It is important not to obsess over small differences."
However, Fitts still believes that the yearly rankings hold some importance.
"The key is that you are in the top group of schools, and I think Penn Law gives the best legal education in the country," Fitts said.
Susan Fuhrman, the dean of the Graduate School of Education, was pleased with the school's improvement in the rankings.
"I always feel good when we move up, but some of this is to be expected based on the changes in methodology and margins of error," Fuhrman said, noting that the structure of U.S. News and World Report's survey sometimes changes from year to year.
The Graduate School of Education has made dramatic improvements in the rankings in years past.
"It is great that we are firmly ensconced in the top 10, but I hope that people make their decisions on much more serious criteria," Fuhrman added, suggesting that graduate school applicants look beyond a school's ranking when determining where to apply.
Some schools claim to take the rankings even less seriously.
Following last year's rankings announcement, the Wharton School announced that it will no longer be actively participating in any public rankings system.
Though the school still appears in the rankings, Wharton discourages students from participating in any part of the survey. Harvard officials engage in a similar practice. No one at the Wharton School could be reached for comment.
For the School of Nursing and several others at Penn, the surveys are conducted at longer intervals, every two or three years, and new results are not published annually.
