In its sixth annual listing of top master’s of business administration programs released yesterday, the Financial Times ranked the Yale Sch ool of Management 10th-best in the United States. While the school’s U.S. ranking remained unchanged since last year, it sank from 12th to 13th place internationally.

The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business ranked first in both the United States and the world, followed by Harvard Business School. MBA programs at Stanford, Dartmouth and Northwestern were also among the top ten.

The 20 criteria for the rankings included alumni salary figures three years after graduation, diversity of faculty and students, and research performance. While the Financial Times evaluated research by tracking faculty publication rates at each school, alumni responses provided the bulk of the survey’s data.

SOM Dean Jeffrey Garten said he appreciates the upward trajectory of the Yale SOM in virtually all major rankings, with particularly strong showings in the areas of economics, strategy, finance and non-profits. He also said the school is consistently recognized for its entrepreneurialism and high ethical standards.

“I think it’s harder for a small school to really distinguish itself because the number of students and alumni will be smaller around the world,” he said. “I think these rankings do understate a lot of the school’s strengths because there are a lot of things they just can’t measure.”

Since this year’s Financial Times rankings have changed so little, SOM Director of Admissions Anne Coyle said she does not expect them to impact the number of applications the school receives.

Two admissions deadlines have already passed this year, yielding a total of 1550 applications, and two more deadlines remain. The next deadline for general applications is in March, and applications for the Silver Scholars program, aimed at recruiting Yale seniors, are due this Friday.

Coyle said the number of applications up to this point has not changed since last year, and the school plans to accept a class of between 235 and 240 students.

“We appreciate not only the U.S. readership of the Financial Times, but also the British and European readership,” Coyle said.

She said the SOM is very interested in international applicants, and numbers have remained steady this year.

Garten said the SOM considers its international reputation a high priority.

“In this particular ranking, there’s a lot of emphasis on the international focus of the school,” Garten said. “So we’re pleased that we’re recognized.”

While both Garten and Coyle said rankings play an important role in some students’ choice of an MBA program, they said such an emphasis does not always guarantee the greatest level of satisfaction.

“We’re finding that a lot of the students who are really happy here don’t pay much attention to rankings at all,” Garten said.

More women and underrepresented minorities — two other groups that the SOM aims to recruit — are also applying to the school this year, Coyle said. So far, there is a two percent increase in the number of female applicants, while the percentage of minorities has doubled from three to six percent of the pool, she said.