I don’t really know what’s going on here, but I’ll confirm what pretty much everyone else is saying and say go to the cheapest school.*
Penn is fantastic in that there are tons of research opportunities. We have some of the best clinicians in the world on many of our services. Our clinicians and other researchers have done and continue to do some really amazing things. But that’s true of many, many other vet schools. By virtue of being one of few veterinary schools in the country, you’ll typically have faculty that are the best of the best. Penn as a whole is a great research school, and that does extend into the vet school. But I genuinely can’t say if it’s better or worse than other schools. I just know that if you want to do research on something, you can usually find someone who’s doing it to be your PI. If that’s true of other schools, then awesome. It probably is.
The Penn name really only carries a lot of weight in the surrounding area to people who are middle aged and older who grew up only knowing about the VMD. In reality, the same is true of wherever you’re from. Usually the school that supplies the most vets to that area will be the one people know of and hold in high regard. If you live in Michigan, pet owners probably think Michigan State vets are the best vets in the country. If you live in Texas, pet owners probably think the same about TAMU.
A positive about Penn is that our match rates, from what I’ve been told, are really good. Pretty much everyone who applies matches. Again, I have no idea what it’s like at other schools. That’s kind of the theme here. People tend to know the positives and negatives about their schools but because you can only ever go to one vet school (short of transferring halfway through), you’ll only ever know your own school’s info unless it’s publicly available.
Moral of the story: Penn, like other “high ranked” schools, is a great school. But all the schools are great. You’ll be a vet at the end of the day. Just go to a school that can foster your interests and it’ll work out. Don’t focus on rank. Unlike med school, it’s genuinely not important. There are only 30 (something) schools. Whichever one you go to will make you a great vet.
*Go to the cheapest school unless there are some really, really important reasons you’ve decided outweigh the cost. For example, family support. My entire family, my girlfriend’s family, and all of my support live within an hour of me. My girlfriend was able to get her masters at a nearby school and live with me. Penn is NOT cheap. Like, at all. But it was my best option because I’m familiar with the area, love the school, and needed my family and support system with me. I don’t regret it.