Why is Jefferson not ranked by US News

[snorebel]

Jefferson is a great school with a very rich history. Before US News appeared, it was considered one of the elite medical institutions due to its excellent clinical training. In my opinion, it still is an excellent school, well regarded by many residency directors. Although I know rankings are to be interpreted with a grain of salt, this makes me extremely angry. Anyone out there with some insight or an explanation?

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[YzIa]

Jefferson is a great school with a very rich history. Before US News appeared, it was considered one of the elite medical institutions due to its excellent clinical training. In my opinion, it still is an excellent school, well regarded by many residency directors. Although I know rankings are to be interpreted with a grain of salt, this makes me extremely angry. Anyone out there with some insight or an explanation?

Insight or explanation... USNEWS explains how they rank schools, according to the set criteria Jefferson did not fall in the top 50. Hows that?
Last year, Jefferson was tied at 50 with MCW and Miami, both have also fallen off the list this year. If you notice, last years rankings actually ranked 52 or 53 schools do to a tie at 50, this year the tie at 47 took the number to 50 so fewer schools were ranked. I blame UC Irvine!

 

[gsc]

They didn't pay enough.

 

[Revolution #9]

From what I hear about this year's list, there were some moderate movement in the research rankings, and some absolutely earthshattering movement in the primary care rankings. I think the type of movement that these lists are subject to is reflective of the arbitrary nature of the rankings. Really, did UCLA really become a better medical school than Cornell in the course of a year (was Cornell actually better in the first place)? Did Boston University really become substantially better in a year (worth a nothern movement of 14 slots)? Who knows, and really, who cares? I think rankings can be useful, but not worth getting angry over.

 

[gsc]

Considering how knowledgeable and "on top of the game" many SDNers are, I'm surprised by how many still refer to -- and stress over -- US News rankings.

There are better, more meaningful rankings systems available. They just aren't marketed as effectively as US News.

 

[watermen]

Jefferson is no longer in the top 50...oh no.....

Seems like a stock market.......

Should I still go there?....Should I even bother this ranking?

 

[blump]

Considering how knowledgeable and "on top of the game" many SDNers are, I'm surprised by how many still refer to -- and stress over -- US News rankings.

There are better, more meaningful rankings systems available. They just aren't marketed as effectively as US News.

where do you get a hold of these latter, more meaningful rankings?

 

[sunnyjohn]

They didn't pay enough.

Personally I think SDN should come up with its own rankings. The pre-M.D.'s. , pre-D.O.'s, Medical students and residents who are "in the know" are all on here anyway.

Conduct surveys, interviews, etc...

 

[watermen]

But, on the other hand, why is Jefferson not taking any effort to boost its ranking?

 

[virilep]

you know it's kinda funny. i've heard a lot about jefferson. i went there to visit there and temple and drexel. most of the feedback i got from people at jefferson was about the cut thratness of the student there. this might have been an isolated incident that got spread around. I'm not too sure. but I'm definately looking forward to going to a place that has pass fail.

 

[dmk724]

you know it's kinda funny. i've heard a lot about jefferson. i went there to visit there and temple and drexel. most of the feedback i got from people at jefferson was about the cut thratness of the student there. this might have been an isolated incident that got spread around. I'm not too sure. but I'm definately looking forward to going to a place that has pass fail.

How and why do these rumors about Jefferson being cut-throat get spread? I'm a first year at Jefferson, and these are some of the most laid back people imaginable. Sure, they work and study hard, but how many med students don't? They don't work hard at the expense of others, however - everyone is so kind and eager to help other people out. Jefferson is also H/P/F, but the change was made a few years ago, so I guess it was more cut-throat until recently, but still..... I mean - between the free note service, free printable anatomy flashcards, and the constant barrage of emails that I got telling me that "this website is really helpful," or "this website has great practice quizzes," I've never met such generous people in my life.

 

[virilep]

How and why do these rumors about Jefferson being cut-throat get spread? I'm a first year at Jefferson, and these are some of the most laid back people imaginable. Sure, they work and study hard, but how many med students don't? They don't work hard at the expense of others, however - everyone is so kind and eager to help other people out. Jefferson is also H/P/F, but the change was made a few years ago, so I guess it was more cut-throat until recently, but still..... I mean - between the free note service, free printable anatomy flashcards, and the constant barrage of emails that I got telling me that "this website is really helpful," or "this website has great practice quizzes," I've never met such generous people in my life.

then I stand correct

 

[W222]

I am also a student at Jeff and NO ONE HERE IS CUT-THROAT. We have an amazing student note service, practicals setup by fellow classmates, and everyone offers each other help. No one here is cut-throat.

 

[snorebel]

First off KY gangsta,
You didn't even apply to Jefferson and I douubt if you did they would have even offered you an interview. Why would a P/F scale ever be cut throat- and yes, its not cat thrat or however you spelled it. I don't know if you can't spell or if that's just your twang coming through. Second, if you're going to med school, please have some respect for yourself and don't have things like "keeping in gangsta" or "what it is ho" in your profile. god help me if I have to share the title of "physician" with ignorant southern bumpkins like you.

 

[dmk724]

Jefferson is a great school with a very rich history. Before US News appeared, it was considered one of the elite medical institutions due to its excellent clinical training. In my opinion, it still is an excellent school, well regarded by many residency directors. Although I know rankings are to be interpreted with a grain of salt, this makes me extremely angry. Anyone out there with some insight or an explanation?

Wow - you really seem to like Jefferson, to put it mildly. The US News rankings don't really matter, I think. If you read the methodology that they used to rank schools, it's kind of funny that so many people put so much stock in these rankings. For example, in order to rank good primary care schools, they used the number of graduating students who chose to do a residency in primary care to determine their rankings. That, to me, is pretty arbitrary, since 1) what students choose to specialize in varies very much from year to year, and 2) just because you choose to go into primary care doesn't mean that your school's primary care training program is spectacular. There are other reasons to go into primary care - debt forgiveness programs (like NHSC scholarships) and what kind of community a student happened to grow up in are big factors. For primary care, I think that US News should have measured things like "number of opportunities to interact with patients in primary care settings (such as community health clinics and homeless shelters)" and "emphasis on clinical skills during all four years." These, to me, are more important that how many students matched in primary care programs in any given year.

Anyway, these debates over "my school isn't ranked" or "my school is better than yours" tend to die down after you get into med school. The stress of med school creates a bond that far overshadows any rivalry between schools. From what I've seen, at least.

 

[ddmo]

Jefferson is not in the top 50 because it obviously must be a schitty school. The only schools worth attending are deemed worthy by the master journalists and researchers over at US News. If you liked Jefferson before, you should rethink your choice now, since there is no way you will succeed in medicine having gone to school there.


Seriously, who cares about whether it is 50 or 60 or 40, outside of the top 10 those rankings don't mean much at all. If you like a school then don't let them change your mind. You'd be surprised how different real physicians perceptions of some schools are.

 

[tigress]

First off KY gangsta,
You didn't even apply to Jefferson and I douubt if you did they would have even offered you an interview. Why would a P/F scale ever be cut throat- and yes, its not cat thrat or however you spelled it. I don't know if you can't spell or if that's just your twang coming through. Second, if you're going to med school, please have some respect for yourself and don't have things like "keeping in gangsta" or "what it is ho" in your profile. god help me if I have to share the title of "physician" with ignorant southern bumpkins like you.

Hey, I just have to defend virilep as one of the nicest, most helpful people on this forum. What he said was that he had heard Jefferson is cut throat. I'm not sure why a rumor is getting you so worked up and defensive, especially when reported as a rumor. He even said he isn't sure if it's true!

 

[dmk724]

then I stand correct

I'm glad that the misunderstanding/rumor got cleared up. Good luck next year at Kentucky!

 

[W222]

One reason we may not be ranked as highly as one would like/think is because we aren't researched focussed. We have research here but I would say that is only about 25% of the school, the majority of the medical school is devoted to teaching MEDICAL STUDENTS. Frankly, the US News rankings are somewhat BS because they take into account research dollars, which are mainly in the basic sciences, but most medical students rarely do research in these areas and this has little impact (other than name recognition) on your outcome at a medical school.