@DeepBlue86 HYP do not have a choice of letting S out of the club. Stanford has surpassed Yale and Princeton in overall selectivity and desirability and it is (and more importantly perceived to be ) stronger as an overall university both domestically and abroad. Many tri-state area/New England prep school kids are increasingly ditching even Harvard (let alone Yale, Princeton) for Stanford.
@northwesty @DeepBlue86 Penn definitely gained ground since the 80,90s when it was considered along with Cornell the ivy safeties. It did this in part by aggressively pursuing ED. However, its rise was also in huge part because of the actual and very substantial changes done by President Judith Rodin to the school. She unlocked the huge potential the school had but was wasting due to incompetent administrators. She revamped liberal arts, research, the cohesiveness and synergies between the different schools of the university, pursued active engagement with the West Philly community and revamped the campus and surrrounding area. Gaming the rankings alone will not cut it, at least not for the long term. Real changes must also be implemented and these are what will sustain a schools rise.