<p>Although it seems like the almightly US News and World Report rankings have so much influence in our society, do you think that maybe it has no effect on the prestige of a school? For instance, UPenn and Duke are ranked as highly as HYPS, and yet they aren't as prestigious or well known. Many people know Penn State more than they know UPenn, and many people on the west coast have never even heard of DUke before. MIT fell one place in the rankings, and yet its yield rate is as high as ever. Princeton is ranked higher than Stanford and Yale, and yet it isn't as well known as the latter two. Perhaps people give more credit to US News than is due?</p>
<p>OMG OMG THAT DRUNKEN HILLBILLY ON HWY 8 HAS NEVER HEARD OF DUKE OR UPENN!!!!!</p>
<p>Oh Lord, what are we to do?</p>
<p>I think rankings have an effect on pretige. For example, WUSTL has rapidly risen in the rankings, and has obviously benefited from it. The very best public schools like UMich and UVA, which normally would have a good reputation, have worse prestige than the privates because of their low ranking on US News.</p>
<p>"OMG OMG THAT DRUNKEN HILLBILLY ON HWY 8 HAS NEVER HEARD OF DUKE OR UPENN!!!!!</p>
<p>Oh Lord, what are we to do?"</p>
<p>It's not only drunken hillbillies that have never heard of UPenn. Generally those two schools aren't as highly known as the HYS superstars. Perhaps Duke and Upenn haven't benefited that much from their high US News rankings, but they are an exception to the rule. Many other schools have indeed benefited or suffered.</p>
<p>Duke and Upenn are pretty good schools. I don't necessarily think UPenn should be ranked above Stanford and MIT, but it's still up there.</p>
<p>Here is a link for you:</p>
<p>So, obviously someone important has heard of Duke and Upenn.</p>
<p>In fact, after HYPS....Duke is the best feeder school into Harvard Law. With Upenn I can see your point, but seriously...who doesn't know what Duke is? I seriously see no point to this thread.</p>
<p>Penn is most likely ranked so high because of Wharton. It attracts a lot of capable students who would otherwise go to HYPS if not for the fact that they want to pursue business.</p>
<p>that is probably true, but I would love to go to Penn regardless of Wharton, idk what it is, it has and always be my dream school!</p>
<p>"OMG OMG THAT DRUNKEN HILLBILLY ON HWY 8 HAS NEVER HEARD OF DUKE OR UPENN!!!!!"</p>
<p>yea i've heard of penn state. good school with good football team. and i've heard of duke. who hasn't? great basketball team. </p>
<p>perhaps UPenn is an anomaly cuz rankings haven't reversed the fact that to a big chunk of the US population,
penn state > UPenn</p>
<p>someone else mentioned WashU. i have a question. it's POPULARITY has increased, but do you really think its PRESTIGE has increased? do the vast majority of parents go "wow your kid goes to WashU, he must be really smart"?</p>
<p>Yeah, its prestige has increased. When I was in high school (1998) people thought WUSTL was in the same league as Emory, now people are comparing it to Northwestern, etc. Penn also was a safety school, I remember my friend distinctly saying why would someone choose it over Brown (which was more prestigious then). So, yeah, it has a huge impact.</p>
<p>I think US News has a definite effect on prestige. The only reason US News doesn't boost the prestige of Duke and UPenn is because those two schools are WAY overranked. People tend to not believe the absurd.</p>
<p>Yeah, people seem to think Penn is up there with HYPS when its clearly not, just because of the ranking.</p>
<p>I wish Penn was the way it was back in 1998, b/c then I would have gotten in. This is B.S. to the nth degree. I was reading an article saying that Penn in 1992 had a 85 percent admit rate ED and a 40 percent regular admission rate.</p>
<p>It is so defintely true that many of Penn's alums would not be able to get into Penn today. I mean my math teacher is a Cornell alum and when I told him that I was going to Cornell and not to my dream school--Penn, he said Cornell is just as good if not better than Penn. Back in his day, that was defintely the case, and Penn was a run down place and was not that selective in comparison to other places. Things have changed--in part thanks to US News.</p>
<p>Wow, that was the most blatantly ignorant post I have ever read. Upenn as a school has improved dramatically over the years. First off, Upenn has excellent economics AND nanotech programs/facilities. It also has TREMENDOUS placement into some of the best schools in the country. Moreover, I hate to bring WSJ into this, but are Upenn and Duke not trouncing Cornell on those ranks? Upenn is such a great school, and usnews has not inflated that. </p>
<p>One last thing: Where should Upenn and Duke be on USNEWS? I am just curious to know because all I hear is conjecture.</p>
<p>Just my opinion lol:</p>
<ol>
<li>Harvard</li>
<li>Princeton</li>
<li>Yale</li>
<li>Stanford</li>
<li>MIT</li>
<li>Caltech</li>
<li>Columbia</li>
<li>Duke</li>
<li>Dartmouth</li>
<li>Penn</li>
<li>Brown</li>
<li>Cornell</li>
<li>Northwestern</li>
<li>Chicago</li>
<li>JHU</li>
<li>Rice</li>
<li>Michigan</li>
<li>WashU
etc...</li>
</ol>
<p>That's fine with me. Although I am not too flattered with Caltech in general.</p>
<p>um, Devil, am i ignorant for saying that Upenn has dramaticallllllllllly improved in the last 10 years?</p>
<p>First of all, I am praying that I am in Penn's class of 2009 lol, i really like the school.</p>
<p>I think its absolutely correct to say its dramatically improved, although I think its improved from clearly one of the last to solidly in the middle. Its not HYPS.</p>