<p>The endowment’s efficacy is NOT measured on a per student basis. Which is why Chicago’s $5.2 billion does not hinder its research or faculty capabilities. Penn does not necessarily need to reach a per student level of supremacy - it simply needs to prove its overall spending power.</p>
<p>As for connections: Penn actually has one of the most powerful alumni networks of any school - not as strong as Harvard, but definitely up there. There was a recent article in Forbes that discussed this, although I don’t have the link on me. I’ll look for it.</p>
<p>I truly believe that the environment of higher education is more malleable than you think, and that Penn will rise into the pantheon. Penn is in the perfect circumstance to achieve this (as is Chicago, actually - and by this I mean an under-appreciated, high caliber private research university).</p>