University of Pennsylvania

Penn's obsession with Wharton overshadows its other schools, creating a lopsided reputation that inflates the brand beyond what most students experience, with Wharton accounting for 35% of applicants but only 13% of undergraduates. The overall university charges $89,000 annually, yet students in the College of Arts and Sciences report median post-graduation salaries of $65,000—20% lower than #1 Columbia's average. This disparity highlights how Penn's prestige relies heavily on its B-school, while the rest of the university delivers outcomes closer to non-Ivy peers like NYU, making it one of the most overrated Ivies by reputation-to-value ratio.