Penn ranked No. 6 in the U.S. News and World Report’s 2023-2024 list of Best National Universities, moving up one spot from last year.
Penn came in fourth among Ivy League schools, with Princeton University topping the list. Harvard University and Stanford University tied for No. 3, followed by Yale University at No. 5.
The Wharton School once again took the top spot in the best undergraduate business program ranking. Penn's School of Nursing tied with Duke University for the best bachelor of science in nursing program. Moving up three spots from last year, the School of Engineering ranked at No. 19 in a tie with Columbia University, Duke University, Penn State University, the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Maryland.
U.S. News made significant methodology changes for this year’s list. In addition to considering Pell-recipient graduation rates, the rankings accounted for first-generation graduation rates and performance to assess a college’s impact on social mobility.
The 2023-2024 list also calculated new metrics regarding faculty research, such as citations per publication and field-weighted citation impact.
Five factors — proportion of graduates with federal loans, high school ranking, alumni donations, the terminal degree of faculty members, and class size — were eliminated from the calculations. Of the preexisting criteria, only two factored into the rankings with the same weight as last year: peer assessment at 20% and SAT and ACT test scores at 5%.
These changes came after several schools opted out of the rankings in recent years. About 80% of the nearly 1,500 schools surveyed submitted relevant data, down from 84% of almost 1,750 schools last year. Of the top 100 schools ranked in the National Universities list, one did not participate in the 2024 rankings.
Along with the U.S. News and World Report, Penn recently ranked No. 7 on the Wall Street Journal’s list of best colleges nationwide and No. 1 in its assessment of salary impact.
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