<p>Regarding moving higher, within the last few years Penn has been as high as #4 in USNWR, behind HYP. Going higher than 4 would be hard to conceive but I would guess that Princeton is the most vulnerable since it is is the smallest of the Big 3.</p>
<p>I realize people who choose to be English majors are self-selecting and not motivated by $, but at this point what % of the population of applicants fits (and can afford to be) in this category? Last yr. Wharton got 7,000 apps for 600 spots - what is the ratio of apps to seats in the fuzziest of the fuzzy liberal arts majors? It’s not that these spots are UNdesirable in the market (all Ivy seats are highly sought after), it’s just that the Wharton seats are MORE desired by more people. It’s not rocket science to figure out that a lot of people (not all) prefer making more $ over making less $. I don’t know why people are so sensitive about admitting what is a fairly obvious situation. This was not always so - in the past the Wharton undergrad program was more of a feeder for big accounting firms and was not a particularly high prestige degree - think of say Lehigh’s B-school today - a Penn English degree is more prestigious than a Lehigh business degree. Now the desire of Wall St. to throw big $ at Wh. undergrads has changed the balance of prestige.</p>