An important note about rankings is that while they don't really matter in terms of education they are a good judge of public perception. That's one nice thing about the USNews rankings, they rank schools based primarily on reputation with senior faculty who are the ones who will be making residency decisions. Anyhow, rankings are kind of self serving. They are only useful if they are widespread and accepted. Since you're really only talking about a 'prestige' factor, if people aren't aware that your school is ranked #5 then it really doesn't matter. That's the only reason that I prefer USNews...it's rankings are more widely read. Anyhow, that's just how I see it. Also, what's the deal with Davis and Illinois being ranked so high in the Gourman list? 🙂
Later,
Adam