Wharton is standing firm behind its decision to withhold student contact information from news organizations.
The school recently denied a request from Business Week magazine to e-mail students a link to its survey. The publication will release its first-ever ranking of undergraduate business schools this spring, and student responses from the survey will make up a large portion of the magazine's ranking system.
Wharton officials say that concerns for student privacy outweigh the risk of exclusion from the Business Week rankings.
Earlier this year, the London-based Economist magazine dropped Wharton from its ranking of MBA programs, and other magazines have done the same.
While the school stopped providing student contact information in April 2004, it will in no way impede publications from contacting students on their own, Wharton Vice Dean Barbara Kahn said.
She added that officials will continue to provide data such as average salary upon graduation, the school's enrollment and the complete list of concentrations.
Business Week will try to contact students without the help of Wharton administrators, Business Week B-Schools Editor Louis Lavelle said.
But if the magazine cannot get enough responses, Wharton may be dropped from the rankings.
This "was a risk that was explained to Wharton, and they were OK with it," Lavelle said.
Wharton's undergraduate program was ranked No. 1 by U.S. News and World Report in September. Those rankings use surveys from business-school deans but do not contact students.
"You shouldn't be choosing Wharton because of its ranking, you should be choosing it because it's right for you," Kahn said.
MIT's Sloan School of Management is currently undecided about whether it will participate in the Business Week survey. The University of California at Berkeley's Haas School, another top-rated business program, will e-mail students the link but does not necessarily forward all requests.
"We take [students] privacy very seriously, and we consider such requests on a case-by-case basis," said Ute Frey, a spokeswoman for the Haas School.
Of the 92 schools Business Week hopes to rank, 64 will forward students the survey, Lavelle said.
For Wharton sophomore Kyle Goldman, Wharton's policy is in students' best interests.
"Even though I don't mind filling out a survey, I don't [think the school should be in] the business of selling its students to outside publications," he said, adding that publications could still come up with successful rankings without surveying students.
Because of Wharton's reputation for excellence, he said, exclusion from the rankings will not make the school less attractive to students.
Goldman added that although rankings are important for figuring out which schools are at the top, he decided to apply to Wharton after browsing its Web site and visiting campus.
Wharton junior Kelvin Kwong, who frequently fills out quick surveys, does not think that forwarding students links to outside surveys is a violation of their privacy.
"I feel like [Wharton is] trying to make a statement that we don't need ranking to be No. 1," he said.
Privacy concerns Wharton officials release some information, just not anything personal about students: - Released: average salary upon graduation, complete list of concentrations, total enrollment - Not released: contact information for students
