回复：俺觉得对UPENN and Chicage 不fair. ：)

I think this is pretty much what the high school students and counselors perceived.  Rank of Penn is about right and in the same league with Columbia.  Penn's rank was way lower in pre-1980s.  In 1980s Penn's president and admission director did a lot of work on admission part to improve to today's ranking.  It's a step lower than HYPSM for sure.  Penn is also hurt by its name since a lot of people are confused by its name.  I believe college's culture also played a role in the ranking.  For example, Emory is usually considered at the same level as Vanderbilt but when you visit both you will find that Vaderbilt is more desirable.  Location may also play an important role here with colleges in Northeast and North are more desirable.  When we choose undergraduate education, ranking of individual departments are not as important.