<p>Since being admitted to Penn off the waitlist recently, I've been reading a lot about the University in my free time. One topic I keep encountering is the immense success it has seen within the past decade or so compared to earlier on in its history.</p>
<p>So I've been wondering...where exactly was the university before this? What has been the cause of its success, and what does this mean for the future of the University?</p>
<p>Maybe there's a thread or article that details this that I've not been able to find. If you have a link or two, I'd love to check them out.</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“Penn: Page not found”>Penn: Page not found]Gazette</a> | Gazetteer: News & Sports<a href=“see” title=“Stetson To Retire as Admissions Dean”>/url</a></p>
<p>That’s a lot of reading, but should be quite informative. :)</p>
<p>Penn has always been a good school, however 30 years ago it was more of a just barely in the top 25 school whereas now it is pretty solidly within the top 10.</p>
<p>Well, to respond to the OP, I think maybe UPenn’s success lies in Wharton. Maybe it’s not as distinguished in other areas compared to HYPS, etc. but Wharton is legendary.</p>
<p>When I visited the campus last year, I noticed that the buildings related to Wharton (or at least one–I think it was the study hall? I can’t remember, but it was definitely related to Wharton) were extremely well built and had all kinds of amenities and facilities, meaning that the university is investing heavily into that program. Lucky Wharton students! XD (But I digress.)</p>
<p>I also agree that UPenn is a dark horse. ;D It’s going to surprise people some day.</p>
<p>^A major reason that particular building, Huntsman Hall, is so well built is because much of the $50 million Jon Huntsman has donated to Wharton was used to help pay for the construction of that building. So, it’s not really that Penn favors Wharton per se, it’s more that Wharton has extremely generous alumni.</p>
<p>This is purely speculation on my behalf, but I would suggest that since Penn’s increase in prestige roughly corresponded to the booming stock market and finance sector in the 1980s and 1990s, perhaps this economic environment led students to value a business education at Wharton more highly, which in turn increased the quality of the other academic departments at Penn. </p>
<p>And as 45 Percenter’s links pointed out, as of late Penn has been very successful raising capital to strengthen the university’s endowment. (However, it is important to note that their endowment is still significantly smaller that of HYP, especially when looked at on a per student basis)</p>
<p>^ I don’t think thats very likely, however, I think that HYP are stuck in the past, schools like Stanford, Penn, duke e.t.c which are constantly innovating their education will replace HYP (more likely YP) and become the new group with the ultimate undergraduate education.</p>
Last year 1/3 of billionaires who graduated from Penn were wiped out. Number of billionaires graduated from Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Stanford increased last year.</p>
<p>The article you are citing is from 2009, which in my opinion is a little old. True, Penn might have lost a chunk of their billionaire alumni from the financial meltdown, but we are still ranked 3.</p>
<p>And honestly, you’re judging a school’s future by how many billionaire alumni they have churned out?</p>
<p>The recent Wall Street mess was caused largely by Harvard alum, such as John Thain and Stan O’Neal from Merrill Lynch. It was facilitated by Harvard alum such as Hank Paulson who learned the system at Goldman Sachs before becoming Treasury Secretary. ANd a few years ago, a Harvard alum named Jeffrey Skilling, the Enron CEO, created financial ruin for hundeds of thousands of innocent victims. And who can forget that Ted Kazinski was a Harvard alum. </p>
<p>In contrast, Bob Jones University has no alumni who caused the current economic collapse or who killed people randomly while living as a recluse in the woods. </p>
<p>The only conclusion we gugupoites can reach is that Harvard is in trouble and that Bob Jones University provides a better education. </p>
<p>Do I correctly understand your methodology, gugupo?</p>