Med School Rankings

[gary5]

Is there a comprehensive ranking of medical schools? I realize that rankings are not absolute. I haven't seen much ranking discussion on sdn.

Thanks.

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[ewing]

There's some news magazine that publishes a ranking of medical schools every so often. I think it's Newsweek. Sports Illustrated and Playboy also rate universities...most of which have medical schools.

 

[AverageMan]

It's US News & World report which publishes rankings of all the schools every year. It can be found at http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/med/medindex_brief.php . They rank schools by research and by primary care. The only problem is that if you want all of the in depth information they provide, you have to pay for it, but it does give the ranks of the first 50 schools. Magazines like Playboy rate schools under different criterion, like which ones have the hottest girls and the best parties

 

[moops]

when does the new one come out?

 

[coachB]

playboy usually comes out about the end of each month

 

[moops]

anyone have a real response to when it comes out?

 

[skypilot]

The problem with those rankings is its only ranking by research or primary care.

Research is not necessarily relevant to undergraduate medical students is it?

What about curriculum, teaching, and clinical training?

 

[normalforce]

You guys, ranking of schools is absolutely worthless. Pick the schools that you will be happy attending. Not the ones that US News and World Report say are the "best". It is absolutely ridiculous to attend a school ranked 4th in research thinking that the school is the 4th best school in the nation. There is no best school. Excellence in Medical school education is achieved by the "student" not the $$$ of research money at the school. Moreover, schools with lots of $$$ for research tend to have physicians who enjoy research much more than teaching. Whereas schools with less research tend to have faculty that simply love to teach. Pick a school based on tuition, location, facilities, and YOUR comfort level. Not the $$$ of research or % of people who go into Primary Care. This is the best advice you ever get about this issue. Trust me!

Normalforce

 

[Rendar5]

unless you're looking to do a lot of research at school. Then go by the US World & News. Because research is a lot easier to do at extremely well-funded schools like Harvard and JHU.

If you just want to be a doctor, take those US World & News rankings and flush them down the toilet. Then look for schools and locations that you would be happy at. If you want to go by stats, look at how well schools match their students up with residencies, and ask doctors at hospitals or clinics what they think (i.e. how well-trained) of graduates from various med schools

 

[skypilot]

Originally posted by Rendar5
and ask doctors at hospitals or clinics what they think (i.e. how well-trained) of graduates from various med schools

I wish there was a ranking based just on this.

 

[essbe]

Originally posted by skypilot
I wish there was a ranking based just on this.

There is. On the US News premium online edition, you can sort the rankings by residency director assessment scores. Most high scorers are unsurprising, and lots of schools share the same assessment scores. Which suggests that you'll get a great education at most US schools, irrespective of research/primary care rank.

 

[usmaple]

Usnews has categories for "peer assessment" and "assessment score by residency directors". They aren't perfect, but they're the only things I really pay attention to in those rankings.

 

[moops]

can you paste that on here? the one about the residency director rankings and whatnot?

that'd be awesome.

u'd get some mad moops.

 

[usmaple]

doin' it for the moops and whatnot:

School / Overall Score / Peer Assessment Score / Assessment Score by Residency Directors

Harvard University (MA) 100 4.9 4.7
Johns Hopkins University (MD) 97 4.9 4.7
Duke University (NC) 93 4.6 4.5
Stanford University (CA) 89 4.6 4.4
University of California?San Francisco 92 4.6 4.4
University of Pennsylvania 93 4.6 4.3
Washington University in St. Louis 97 4.6 4.5
University of Michigan?Ann Arbor 89 4.4 4.4
University of Washington 86 4.4 4.2
Yale University (CT) 87 4.4 4.1
Columbia U. College of Physicians and Surgeons (NY) 90 4.3 4.2
Cornell University (Weill) (NY) 85 4.2 4.1
University of California?Los Angeles (Geffen) 8 3 4.2 3.9
U. of Texas Southwestern Medical Center?Dallas 81 4.2 3.9
University of Chicago 77 4.1 4.0
Baylor College of Medicine (TX) 85 4.0 3.8
University of California?San Diego 81 4.0 3.8
Vanderbilt University (TN) 83 4.0 4.0
University of Alabama?Birmingham 75 3.9 3.8
University of North Carolina?Chapel Hill 77 3.9 4.0
Case Western Reserve University (OH) 75 3.8 3.7
Emory University (GA) 78 3.8 3.9
University of Pittsburgh 79 3.8 3.8
Northwestern University (Feinberg) (IL) 77 3.7 3.9
University of Iowa (Roy J. & Lucille A. Carver) 75 3.7 3.8
University of Virginia 74 3.7 3.9
Mayo Medical School (MN) 78 3.6 4.0
Mount Sinai School of Medicine (NY) 72 3.6 3.5
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center 70 3.6 3.4
University of Rochester (NY) 71 3.6 3.5
University of Wisconsin?Madison 72 3.6 3.6
Yeshiva University (Albert Einstein) (NY) 70 3.5 3.3
Dartmouth Medical School (NH) 69 3.4 3.5
New York University 73 3.4 3.5
Oregon Health & Science University 70 3.4 3.3
Boston University 65 3.3 3.4
Indiana University?Indianapolis 66 3.3 3.5
Tufts University (MA) 64 3.3 3.5
Ohio State University 67 3.2 3.3
University of Maryland 65 3.2 3.3
University of Minnesota?Twin Cities 67 3.2 3.3
University of Southern California 69 3.2 3.3
University of Utah 64 3.2 3.5
Wake Forest University (NC) 65 3.2 3.4
Brown University (RI) 64 3.1 3.4
University of Florida 64 3.1 3.2
Univ. of Texas Health Science Center?Houston 57 3.1 3.2
Georgetown University (DC) 63 3.0 3.4
Tulane University (LA) 58 3.0 3.1
University of California?Davis 59 3.0 3.2
University of Cincinnati 63 3.0 3.1
Jefferson Medical College (PA) 61 2.9 3.1
Medical College of Wisconsin 61 2.9 3.1
UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School 56 2.9 3.0
University of Miami (FL) 57 2.9 2.9
Stony Brook University 58 2.8 2.9
University of California?Irvine 60 2.8 3.0
University of Massachusetts?Worcester 61 2.8 3.0
University of Vermont 54 2.8 3.0
Va. Commonwealth U.?Medical Col. of Va. 55 2.8 3.2
George Washington University (DC) 52 2.7 3.0
Medical University of South Carolina 54 2.7 2.9
University of Connecticut 55 2.7 2.9
University of Nebraska College of Medicine 51 2.7 2.9
St. Louis University 52 2.6 2.9
UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School 51 2.6 2.8
University at Buffalo (NY) 53 2.6 2.7
University of Oklahoma 51 2.6 2.8
Wayne State University (MI) 52 2.6 2.8

 

[skypilot]

Are the residency directors reading US News too?

 

[donnyfire]

Originally posted by moops
when does the new one come out?

it's out now. I just went to barnes and noble, looked at what I needed to see, and put it back.

Don't waste your money.

 

[postbacc]

So, by looking at the scores given by residency directors and peers, the overall research rankings correspond pretty closely. Therefore, it seems to make sense to pay attention to the research rankings, or at least to the "tier" system of top ten, top twenty, etc. because they reflect the pieces of the whole.

 

[spumoni620]

they do correspond closely but there are still a few minor shifts upward. for example, if you're being really picky about it, umich is ranked #3 by residency directors but is ranked #8 (or 9) overall by usnews. then ut southwestern, which is only #17 on the us news list, is actually ranked #8 by residency directors...an "unranked" school such as Tulane is viewed by residency directors as on par with USC and Einstein...so for me this just underscores the fact that the us news rankings sometimes can cloak a much more important measure of a medical school name's importance (if you're not interested in doing research/academic medicine).

 

[moops]

Originally posted by donnyfire
it's out now. I just went to barnes and noble, looked at what I needed to see, and put it back.

Don't waste your money.

how long has it been out? i am pretty sure that's the same one that was there for the last year- doesn't a new one come out this march?

 

[jonny_little]

i am pretty sure that it comes out sometime in the spring but maybe someone else will confirm that. they usually put them out way way in advance because 2004 was there last year i think as well

 

[surfsup]

Out of pure curiosity, can someone post the playboy rankings?

 

[moops]

bump on my ass

 

[Gleevec]

Originally posted by donnyfire
it's out now. I just went to barnes and noble, looked at what I needed to see, and put it back.

Don't waste your money.

Are you talking about 2005 rankings? The 2004 rankings are what have been around for a bit... those arent exactly new.

 

[Optimist]

Originally posted by Alleria
If people are matching in droves to some community hospital in the middle of Bumf*ck Alabama, it doesn't matter if it's 4 years of naked supermodels teaching you all your classes in a tactile manner with an infinite supply of free beer and fine wines. In my books, the place is the pits.

I think the naked supermodels would count for something.

 

[Gleevec]

Originally posted by Optimist
I think the naked supermodels would count for something.

What is this medical school that is being spoken of. TELL ME YOUR SECRETS!

 

[Optimist]

I heard Loma Linda has a program like this going on. Don't know much about it though. You might want to check out the other threads.

 

[donnyfire]

Originally posted by Gleevec
Are you talking about 2005 rankings? The 2004 rankings are what have been around for a bit... those arent exactly new.

To be honest, I really didn't look at the date. It probably was the 2004 edition. It had a hot pink cover, and that's all I really remember.

 

[Gleevec]

Originally posted by donnyfire
To be honest, I really didn't look at the date. It probably was the 2004 edition. It had a hot pink cover, and that's all I really remember.

I believe that is 2004. Im not sure, but the 2005 grad rankings wont be out til summer-ish maybe? Im sure someone on SDN wil let us know.

 

[calebho501]

Originally posted by Optimist
I heard Loma Linda has a program like this going on. Don't know much about it though. You might want to check out the other threads.

Oh boy, that's the last thing I expect at Loma Linda