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Reposted from: http://www.aamc.org/newsroom/reporter/may07/word.htm
AAMC Reporter: May 2007
AAMC President, Darrell G. Kirch, M.D.
A Word from the President:
Medical School Rankings: Is There Really a Number One?
Every year at this time, prospective medical school applicants begin to ask the all-important question, "How do I find the best medical school for me?" Often, one of the first places they look for answers is the U.S. News and World Report annual rankings, especially given the widespread press they typically generate.
As a former dean who actively interviewed applicants, I learned that the right fit for aspiring medical students is not about a ranking or number. It is all about the individual fit between a specific student and school.
Just what is wrong with the rankings? The fundamental problem is that they are based on a set of metrics that fail to directly measure the quality of education. In the U.S. News rankings, "reputation" is the most heavily weighted metric. While a variety of factors help determine a school's reputation (such as the number of alumni and the size and location of its home city), many are in no way measures of educational quality.
Other metrics used in the rankings, such as the amount of National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grants awarded and faculty-to-student ratios, seem impressive at first glance, but can be misleading to an applicant. For example, while high levels of NIH funding may signal an institution's commitment to building strong research programs (and may also reflect research opportunities available to students), a strong research orientation could have the unintended consequence of limiting faculty time in the classroom. As for faculty-to-student ratios, there is no guarantee that more faculty appointments directly correlate to the amount of time faculty members actually spend teaching.
Another metric, "student selectivity," is based primarily on MCAT® scores, which measure cognitive abilities. However, attributes such as humanism, compassion, and empathy are also critical to selecting students who will make good doctors, as well as good colleagues. Lastly, the U.S. News rankings list only 50 of the 125 accredited U.S. medical schools. Does this mean unranked schools do not provide a high-quality education? To the contrary; it has been my experience that a superb medical education can be found in some of the less well-known, yet very student-focused schools that might not even appear on the U.S. News list. Given these limitations, it is my sincere hope that medical schools take great care in their promotion of the rankings. While I certainly understand the pride that comes with a high ranking, I am concerned that the rankings as a whole present an important audienceour applicantswith a very limited picture of U.S. medical schools.
So what should medical school applicants do to determine which school is right for them? As a first and critically important step, prospective medical school applicants should understand that accreditation of U.S. and Canadian medical schools granting the M.D. degree is conducted by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME). LCME accreditation is a rigorous evaluation process that ensures high quality across medical schools. Unlike the rankings, LCME accreditation is a quality assurance process that determines whether a medical school educational program meets established high standards for function, structure, and performance.
At the heart of the process are ad hoc teams of experienced, voluntary peer evaluators.Made up of basic science and clinical educators and practitioners, these evaluators conduct an on-site medical school survey and assess factors ranging from a school's curriculum to the support and educational resources directly provided to students. In addition to conducting on-site surveys of each medical school approximately every eight years, (the standard term of accreditation), the LCME annually reviews data and written reports from all accredited U.S. and Canadian medical schools. It is interesting to note that a school could rank highly in each and every metric measured by U.S. News, but still fail to receive LCME accreditation.
Second, applicants should rely upon the more comprehensive and objective information found in the Medical School Admission Requirements (MSAR) to assess a school's potential fit more thoroughly. Published each spring by the AAMC, the MSAR is filled with data that provide a broader understanding of a school's mission, entrance requirements, selection factors, and curriculum. It also contains a wealth of other important information for applicants' consideration, ranging from the percentage of accepted applicants who have community service or medically related work experience to accepted applicants' self-reported data on race and ethnicity.
Third, I highly recommend that applicants take a look for themselves. In my experience, campus visits are far and away the best method for students to assess their fit with a particular school. By visiting a medical school and speaking with current students, faculty, and staff, prospective applicants can see if their personal preferences match the unique features of a school. Campus visits also help stimulate questions that applicants may not have previously considered, such as whether the presence or absence of a large research program or strong community-based clinical learning sites would enhance their particular educational experience. And perhaps most importantly, campus visits are the only way to tell whether a school's current medical students seem happy and engaged.
In the end, to determine which medical school is "number one" for them, applicants should understand the significant limitations of the rankings, seek objective information, visit schools in which they are interested, and ultimately make decisions based on the values and criteria most important to them.
Darrell G. Kirch, M.D., AAMC President
Editor's Note: For a copy of the 2008-2009 MSAR, please visit www.aamc.org/msar.
AAMC Reporter: May 2007
AAMC President, Darrell G. Kirch, M.D.
A Word from the President:
Medical School Rankings: Is There Really a Number One?
Every year at this time, prospective medical school applicants begin to ask the all-important question, "How do I find the best medical school for me?" Often, one of the first places they look for answers is the U.S. News and World Report annual rankings, especially given the widespread press they typically generate.
As a former dean who actively interviewed applicants, I learned that the right fit for aspiring medical students is not about a ranking or number. It is all about the individual fit between a specific student and school.
Just what is wrong with the rankings? The fundamental problem is that they are based on a set of metrics that fail to directly measure the quality of education. In the U.S. News rankings, "reputation" is the most heavily weighted metric. While a variety of factors help determine a school's reputation (such as the number of alumni and the size and location of its home city), many are in no way measures of educational quality.
Other metrics used in the rankings, such as the amount of National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grants awarded and faculty-to-student ratios, seem impressive at first glance, but can be misleading to an applicant. For example, while high levels of NIH funding may signal an institution's commitment to building strong research programs (and may also reflect research opportunities available to students), a strong research orientation could have the unintended consequence of limiting faculty time in the classroom. As for faculty-to-student ratios, there is no guarantee that more faculty appointments directly correlate to the amount of time faculty members actually spend teaching.
Another metric, "student selectivity," is based primarily on MCAT® scores, which measure cognitive abilities. However, attributes such as humanism, compassion, and empathy are also critical to selecting students who will make good doctors, as well as good colleagues. Lastly, the U.S. News rankings list only 50 of the 125 accredited U.S. medical schools. Does this mean unranked schools do not provide a high-quality education? To the contrary; it has been my experience that a superb medical education can be found in some of the less well-known, yet very student-focused schools that might not even appear on the U.S. News list. Given these limitations, it is my sincere hope that medical schools take great care in their promotion of the rankings. While I certainly understand the pride that comes with a high ranking, I am concerned that the rankings as a whole present an important audienceour applicantswith a very limited picture of U.S. medical schools.
So what should medical school applicants do to determine which school is right for them? As a first and critically important step, prospective medical school applicants should understand that accreditation of U.S. and Canadian medical schools granting the M.D. degree is conducted by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME). LCME accreditation is a rigorous evaluation process that ensures high quality across medical schools. Unlike the rankings, LCME accreditation is a quality assurance process that determines whether a medical school educational program meets established high standards for function, structure, and performance.
At the heart of the process are ad hoc teams of experienced, voluntary peer evaluators.Made up of basic science and clinical educators and practitioners, these evaluators conduct an on-site medical school survey and assess factors ranging from a school's curriculum to the support and educational resources directly provided to students. In addition to conducting on-site surveys of each medical school approximately every eight years, (the standard term of accreditation), the LCME annually reviews data and written reports from all accredited U.S. and Canadian medical schools. It is interesting to note that a school could rank highly in each and every metric measured by U.S. News, but still fail to receive LCME accreditation.
Second, applicants should rely upon the more comprehensive and objective information found in the Medical School Admission Requirements (MSAR) to assess a school's potential fit more thoroughly. Published each spring by the AAMC, the MSAR is filled with data that provide a broader understanding of a school's mission, entrance requirements, selection factors, and curriculum. It also contains a wealth of other important information for applicants' consideration, ranging from the percentage of accepted applicants who have community service or medically related work experience to accepted applicants' self-reported data on race and ethnicity.
Third, I highly recommend that applicants take a look for themselves. In my experience, campus visits are far and away the best method for students to assess their fit with a particular school. By visiting a medical school and speaking with current students, faculty, and staff, prospective applicants can see if their personal preferences match the unique features of a school. Campus visits also help stimulate questions that applicants may not have previously considered, such as whether the presence or absence of a large research program or strong community-based clinical learning sites would enhance their particular educational experience. And perhaps most importantly, campus visits are the only way to tell whether a school's current medical students seem happy and engaged.
In the end, to determine which medical school is "number one" for them, applicants should understand the significant limitations of the rankings, seek objective information, visit schools in which they are interested, and ultimately make decisions based on the values and criteria most important to them.
Darrell G. Kirch, M.D., AAMC President
Editor's Note: For a copy of the 2008-2009 MSAR, please visit www.aamc.org/msar.
