Penn graduate programs earn top rankings in U.S. News & World Report

Penn Law School, Perelman School of Medicine, and the Wharton School have all ranked within the top 10 institutions on their respective U.S. News & World Report ranking lists for 2023.

On the 2023 U.S. News list, Penn Law ranked No. 6 of all law schools in the United States — the highest ranking the school has achieved to date. Penn’s Medical School also received a boost in the rankings at No. 6 for medical schools for research, tied with Duke University. Wharton secured the No. 1 spot in the U.S. News rankings for top full-time MBA programs, tied with the University of Chicago.

This year marks the first time that Penn Law has been the sole occupant of the sixth-place spot on the U.S. News list. The school shared the spot with New York University's School of Law last year, which had marked the first time the school had not been ranked No. 7 for over a decade. 

Many of the Penn Law's specialty programs also earned a boost in the rankings, including Criminal Law & Procedure, which climbed from No. 7 on last year's list to No. 3. The school also ranked No. 5 in Business and Corporate Law, and No. 7 in Contracts and Commercial Law.

U.S. News evaluated law schools based on employment outcomes, faculty resources, academic achievements of entering students, and the opinions of law schools, lawyers, and judges on the program’s quality. The rankings evaluated 192 law schools across the country. 

Penn Law Dean Ted Ruger said that the school's "upward mobility" speaks to its commitment to create a more inclusive and engaging community for its students. 

“I am encouraged by our amazing growth and progress, spearheaded by the unwavering work of our extraordinary faculty, students, staff, and alumni supporters, and what it means for the future of the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School,” Ruger told Penn Law News. 

The Medical School — which was tied for No. 6 in the nation overall — also received a number of high specialty school rankings. The school ranked No. 1 in Pediatrics, No. 3 in Radiology, and No. 4 in Surgery.

U.S. News evaluated medical schools based on factors such as peer assessment, residency directors, test scores and GPA of the student body, faculty resources, research activity, and primary care production. It evaluated 130 medical schools for the 2023 list.

Wharton, which tied for best full-time MBA programs out of the 134 schools evaluated nationwide, received a perfect score in the rankings. The score was calculated based on factors such as peer assessment, recruiter assessment, employment rates, and starting salaries for its graduates. 

In 2020, a Wharton report found that 93.5% of MBA students from the Class of 2020 received full-time job offers — the lowest percentage in a decade.