@Penn95 “@Much2learn I agree with what you are saying. I meant that Penn cares about being in the top 10 above all else when it comes to the rankings, not that this is its main overall goal of the admissions office. I meant that gaming the rankings to rise within the top 10 is not a priority for Penn and instead it chooses to stay true to its identity, i.e accepting a diverse student body all of whom have something special, not just people with super high scores. Of course things have been going really well for Penn and I m glad that the school has focused on the things that matter.”
I agree.
Penn gets underrated because the tend to select students with high gpa’s, strong EC’s, high levels of curiosity, and a clear understanding of why the want to attend Penn. To get that Penn is willing to accept a bit lower test scores, which is what US News is focussed on. In aggregate, the traits Penn focuses on identify better students, whether or not they get credit in the rankings. Stanford has the same issue, and it hurts them in the rankings too. I don’t think Stanford cares either. They are making good decisions, and top students understand all of this and are not fooled.