Wharton dropped one spot to No. 3, but other Penn schools stayed the same or moved up. The annual U.S. News and World Report rankings of the best graduate schools in the nation moved four of Penn's schools into higher positions this year, but dropped the Wharton School to the No. 3 business school in the country. The Wharton graduate program slipped from second to third on the list, following Harvard and Stanford universities. Ten of Wharton's 11 specialties were ranked in the top 10, with the Finance Department occupying the No. 1 spot. Bruce Allen, vice dean and director of the Wharton graduate division, said he was not concerned by the slight drop. "If you look at the top five schools, they're all within one point of each other," Allen said. "And historically, we're in the top three or top five of anyone's rankings." The rest of Penn's graduate schools either remained the same or moved higher in the ratings. The Graduate School of Education jumped to the No. 11 spot -- up from No. 20 last year but down from No. 10 two years ago -- and the School of Social Work climbed to No. 11, seven spots higher than when ranked for that category were last done in 1997. And the School of Veterinary Medicine moved from third to second, a position it shares with Colorado State University. Cornell University was named the top vet school in the country. The Law School stayed at No. 12, with Yale, Stanford and Harvard filling the top three slots. The Medical School remained at No. 3, and six of its eight specialties were ranked in the top 10. Pediatrics came in second, Women's Health third and Drug and Alcohol Abuse was ranked fifth. And the Nursing School was tied with the University of California at San Francisco for second, coming after the University of Washington. The Engineering School ranked 33rd on the list, up from No. 35 last year. University President Judith Rodin praised the various schools in a written statement issued yesterday. "While the U.S. News and other rankings should not be taken overly seriously," she said, "the editors of the magazine have affirmed once more that our graduate and professional schools are among the finest in the nation." Officials from the various schools had mixed reactions to the rankings. Medical School Deputy Dean Arthur Asbury said he was pleased with the school's rank, but that he considers such rankings "relatively artificial," pointing out that schools that are ranked high tend to put more faith in the rankings than lower scoring schools do. And Law School Dean Michael Fitts also challenged the validity of the rankings. "I think we're much better than No. 12," he said. "Penn has a great law school. The rankings change from year to year and [prospective students] shouldn't focus on any one year." Nancy Streim, associate dean of the Graduate School of Education, attributed the school's jump to Penn's increased attention to educational policy, school evaluation and school reform. But Streim also expressed skepticism as to the validity of the rankings, considering the school's drop from No. 10 in 1998 to No. 20 in 1999. "Any kind of rankings that can produce such wild swings has to raise questions over what is being evaluated," she said. According to Education Dean Susan Fuhrman, the fluctuations are due to a change in the magazine's methodology concerning education school rankings. U.S. News and World Report also ranked individual doctoral programs. In the sciences, Penn ranked 23rd in the biological sciences, 20th in chemistry, 25th in computer science, 21st in mathematics and 18th in physics. In the social sciences and humanities, Penn scored ninth in Economics and Psychology, 11th in English and 12th in History and Sociology. Penn was also ranked ninth in Architecture. University spokesman Ken Wildes said the rankings should not be given too much weight. "You can't ever take them too seriously," Wildes said, explaining that the magazine ranks schools without considering their size or whether they are public or private institutions. "It's like trying to compare apples and oranges," he said. "You have to take [the rankings] with a grain of salt."
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