Penn slips one spot in rankings to number six

Penn has fallen from the top five in this year's U.S. News & World Report national university rankings.

Now ranked as the sixth best national research university, Penn ties with with the California Institute of Technology and places right behind Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which are tied for fourth.

This marks the 12th year in a row that the University has been ranked between fourth and seventh in its category, which includes 262 other schools.

"Penn's ranking has been relatively stable compared to some of the annual shifts among institutions," Dean of Admissions Eric Furda wrote in an e-mail.

Penn's drop in the rankings "means very little, if anything," said Robert Morse, U.S. News & World Report director of data research. "There is usually a little bit of movement each year."

This year, for example, Harvard displaced Princeton for the top spot.

Of the seven categories used to measure academic quality, the report gives the greatest weight - 25 percent of the total ranking formula - to the peer survey section.

However, fewer schools are choosing to participate in the peer rankings, in which presidents, provosts and deans of admission review other schools' academic programs.

Only 46 percent of institutions returned the reputational survey this year.

In May 2007, 12 college presidents signed a petition from the Education Conservancy stating that the rankings are "misleading and do not serve well the interests of prospective students in finding a college or university."

Since then, 65 college presidents have signed the letter, pledging not to fill out the reputational survey and to refrain from using the U.S. News rankings to promote their institutions.

Penn President Amy Gutmann said she has considered not returning the survey, but decided that the ranking "exists and it carries influence. We can treat it with a grain of salt, but it exists."

She added that she was happy with the University's ranking.

Morse said it is unclear if the Education Conservancy petition is discouraging prospective college students from utilizing the rankings.

"It is not having any impact on what we publish," he said.

Only colleges that are dissatisfied with their rankings are protesting the U.S. News system, said Michele Hernandez, a private college consultant.

But Robert Massa, vice president for enrollment and college relations at Dickinson College, disagrees.

Dickinson, which is ranked in the top 50 liberal-arProxy-Connection: keep-alive Cache-Control: max-age=0

schools, was one of the original 12 schools to sign the Eduction Conservancy petition.

"We believe strongly that the measure or value of the institution is the educational experience that the individual student receives there," Massa said. "Rankings are counterproductive."

Massa added that colleges and universities that are ranked highly "haven't spoken out to any large extent because they benefit from the rankings."

While Hernandez said that school rankings can sometimes be helpful, she warns her clients not to make any decisions based on them.

Morse, of U.S. News, agreed, saying, "The best way to use the rankings is as one tool in the application process."

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