Sometimes, being number one isn't all it's cracked up to be. Wharton Business School's MBA program was ranked best in the world for the seventh year in a row by the London-based Financial Times. But despite retaining the premiere spot, Wharton students, alumni and faculty say that they are unconcerned with the school's rank in this, or any, publication.

For 800 unlucky students on Jan. 27, the Medical College Admissions Test proved a test of nerves rather than a test of knowledge. A testing error in the most recent MCAT examination - which was also the first computerized version of the exam - left test-takers confused and has students now concerned about the validity of the new system.

Two men were waiting in the lobby when College juniors Albert Tsai and Julietta Change entered the building at the Chestnut Street entrance. One of the suspects asked if the students wanted to buy a PlayStation, Division of Public Safety spokeswoman Karima Zedan said.

The University has received a $2 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation of Los Angeles, officials announced yesterday. The grant will be used for studying the basic cell biology of Parkinson's disease. The project involves an interdisciplinary team of researchers from Penn's Genomics Institute, including molecular biologist James Eberwine, computational scientist Junhyong Kim and imaging experts Philip Haydon and Jai-Yoon Sul.

Total crime for the University Police Department patrol zone rose two percent in the month of January, compared to January 2006, Divison of Public Safety officials said yesterday. Robbery, burglary and aggravated assault all decreased compared to the same month last year, while thefts and simple assaults were up.

The University's endowment ballooned 21.6 percent to $5.3 billion in the past fiscal year, making Penn's rate of endowment growth the highest in the Ivy League, a recent higher-education survey revealed. University officials say this year's boost is the result of shrewd strategies in investment, fundraising and internal reallocation of funds from Penn's Health Systems to the endowment - a stockpile of funds reserved for costs like financial aid and research.

Zoom in on the 'LOVE' statue. Double-click on Van Pelt. Then build it all over again. Google Earth - a computer mapping program through which users can view satellite images of Earth - recently launched a contest in which college students can design a virtual campus to match their own school's.

For East Asian Languages and Civilizations professor Nancy Steinhardt, a Yuan Dynasty building is not simply wood and stone. "It's a living scene that encompasses all aspects of life and class struggle in 13th-Century China," she says. That passion for Chinese architecture gave the National Endowment for Humanities reason enough to give Steinhardt a $24,000 grant last month, one of only 288 grants awarded across the country.

By joe vester Staff Writer jvester@sas.upenn.edu You may think cell phones are just for talking, but they could soon be used for tackling crime as well. On Jan. 23, the Philadelphia City Council paved the way for a system that will allow the public to send photographs from their cell phones to 911.

Penn president signs sustainability pledge Penn President Amy Gutmann has signed the American College and University Climate Commitment in an effort to combat global warming, University officials announced on Monday. As a result of this pledge, Penn will develop a far-reaching plan that will entail reducing campus greenhouse-gas emissions and countering emissions from other places.

One asthma workshop has quickly turned into the possibility of a larger project to improve health and well being at a West Philadelphia high school. Last year, College juniors Amanda Rubenstein and Rachel Conrad co-founded the Active Asthma Workshop, which sends Penn students to Sayre High School at 58th and Walnut streets to promote awareness about asthma and general health and nutrition.

Think about a time and place in which you feel the most comfortable. Now imagine being taken out of this comfort zone for four years. Don't like it? Well, unfortunately, that's how many African American students say they often feel at predominantly white colleges.

Wharton sophomore Leonid Markel scratched his head and laughed at the Web site's mistake: Wikipedia.org had incorrectly listed President George Bush as the Republican Party's general chairman. But it wouldn't have been so funny if that "fact" had ended up in a Political Science paper.

Burglary Jan. 29 - A staff member reported that several offices near 40th and Chestnut streets were forcibly entered and ransacked by an unknown suspect, and that one office had about $100 removed. Theft Feb. 4 - A student reported that, during a disturbance at Philly Diner, her purse - containing goods worth about $300 - was stolen by an unknown person at about 3:30 a.

Joseph Cho, the second-year Penn Law student who faces attempted murder charges, will find out today in a preliminary hearing if his case will move to trial.

For many legacy students, the benefits of having alumni connections extend beyond the reassurance gained during the application process. These connections also helped put Penn in their minds as they begun to consider various schools - even though some had doubts about following in their family's footsteps.

One year later, a plan to improve MBA life may still require a bit more work. The MBA Executive Committee - chaired by Statistics professor Ed George, composed of Wharton faculty and students and charged with setting the direction for most of the Wharton MBA program - issued a four-point plan last February.