How important are US News Rankings for Medical Schools?

[zcl02004]

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How important are US News Rankings for Medical Schools for deciding where to go? Is there really a big difference in terms of going into a competitive residency between a 10th ranked and 20th ranked school?

 

[etf]

How important are US News Rankings for Medical Schools for deciding where to go? Is there really a big difference in terms of going into a competitive residency between a 10th ranked and 20th ranked school?

yes. if you go to the #10 ranked school, kill the boards, and are at the top of your class, you'll have a shot at any residency in the country. whereas if you go to the #20 school and do the same, you'll have a shot at any residency in the country. wait, i guess there is no difference.

 

[RPedigo]

Is there really a big difference in terms of going into a competitive residency between a 10th ranked and 20th ranked school?

Depends on the respective school. If you're really interested in residency placement in a specific field, you can always look at the institution's residency match list (that is much more important than their US News ranking, in my opinion). What it really comes down to in the end: where do you fit, and where would you be happy? You usually can't tell that until you visit a medical school for an interview, or the second look after your acceptance. Any US allopathic school of medicine will give you a good medical education; where you want to go is just based on what else they have to offer you, and what you're looking for in a school.

Also, as etf said above me, match lists and board score averages are just that-- averages. You are the only one responsible for your own success.

 

[Depakote]

The US news rankings themselves don't matter all that much in terms of how your school is viewed when you are applying to residency. The majority of US News rankings is research funding which has a minimal effect on your education. There is a component of the rankings based on residency director opinion, however not all residency directors give their opinions of all programs and this is weighted less than the research. So you can't say a top US News program is going to be the best program when you're trying to match for residency.

The fact of the matter is, by virtue of the LCME, you will get a nigh but identical medical education at every accredited medical school in the country be it harvard or hollywood upstairs. What you do and how well you perform is going to be what gets you that hyper-competitive residency, not what school you went to.

 

[EyeballLove]

I think where you go matters to a certain degree. The reason I'm saying this is because I was just talking to an ophthalmologist (again, I cannot speak for the residency program at my school or anything. This is only one person's opinion) who sits on the resident selection committee (or whatever you want to call it). He says that he has a problem with ______ school because of the pass/no pass system. A lot of times, they pick kids from the "well known" schools thinking well-known=top-notch training (they can't pick based on grades because of pass/no pass) only to find out that the students are very disappointing as residents. Again, I'm not pointing my finger at anything or anyone, but I don't think it's a simple yes-or-no question.

 

[PeepshowJohnny]

I think where you go matters to a certain degree. The reason I'm saying this is because I was just talking to an ophthalmologist (again, I cannot speak for the residency program at my school or anything. This is only one person's opinion) who sits on the resident selection committee (or whatever you want to call it). He says that he has a problem with ______ school because of the pass/no pass system. A lot of times, they pick kids from the "well known" schools thinking well-known=top-notch training (they can't pick based on grades because of pass/no pass) only to find out that the students are very disappointing as residents. Again, I'm not pointing my finger at anything or anyone, but I don't think it's a simple yes-or-no question.

What about board scores? That should still be out there to separate the wheat from the chaff.

 

[Law2Doc]

What about board scores? That should still be out there to separate the wheat from the chaff.

That is intentionally not out there because med schools do not want you to consider that component. The problem with releasing board scores is that it ties schools hands in terms of being experimental in making improvements to medical education -- doing things like adding more clinical exposure early or working PBL into the curriculum. No school wants to have to "teach to the boards" or risk losing applicants. So schools as a group don't release this data.

In fact, you don't really want this kind of data out there either because it tends to confuse rather than help -- for the following reason. There is decent evidence that board scores are more reflective of individual effort and not of the school you attend. The tests are standardized, all schools cover the same material, everyone studies from the same FA and qbanks. So you perhaps wouldn't want to go to XYZ school because they have high scores, only to realize that XYZ school recruited you to help them with their board scores.

 

[Monarch Kong]

Does anyone know what the top 10 schools are in terms of residency director's assessment score?

 

[PeepshowJohnny]

That is intentionally not out there because med schools do not want you to consider that component. The problem with releasing board scores is that it ties schools hands in terms of being experimental in making improvements to medical education -- doing things like adding more clinical exposure early or working PBL into the curriculum. No school wants to have to "teach to the boards" or risk losing applicants. So schools as a group don't release this data.

In fact, you don't really want this kind of data out there either because it tends to confuse rather than help -- for the following reason. There is decent evidence that board scores are more reflective of individual effort and not of the school you attend. The tests are standardized, all schools cover the same material, everyone studies from the same FA and qbanks. So you perhaps wouldn't want to go to XYZ school because they have high scores, only to realize that XYZ school recruited you to help them with their board scores.

I think you misunderstand. I was asking why Ophthalmology admission committee can't use board scores to tell if those students from the "top schools" that are pass fail really have the chops to make it in their program. I know that is against the wishes of the USMLE to use the Step 1 score for this purpose (and has the possibility of going pass/fail as well in the future) but if a student comes from a pass/fail school and swings a 230+, I know he's the real deal.

I agree with everything about what you said why board score average should not be used to determine the worth of a medical school though.

 

[fakin' the funk]

How important are US News Rankings for Medical Schools for deciding where to go? Is there really a big difference in terms of going into a competitive residency between a 10th ranked and 20th ranked school?

top-10 vs. bottom 10 - YES
any other pair of schools - NO

 

[maestro1625]

I think where you go matters to a certain degree. The reason I'm saying this is because I was just talking to an ophthalmologist (again, I cannot speak for the residency program at my school or anything. This is only one person's opinion) who sits on the resident selection committee (or whatever you want to call it). He says that he has a problem with ______ school because of the pass/no pass system. A lot of times, they pick kids from the "well known" schools thinking well-known=top-notch training (they can't pick based on grades because of pass/no pass) only to find out that the students are very disappointing as residents. Again, I'm not pointing my finger at anything or anyone, but I don't think it's a simple yes-or-no question.

this may address "prestige" but it doesn't really address the USNews rankings, which are based heavily on research $$$, which really doesn't mean **** to a majority of med students.

 

[TheRealMD]

Besides, isn't the region the school is in way more important? West coast people don't typically get East coast residencies and vice versa, no?