primary care rankings

[matthew0126]

okay, so i know a lot of people don't believe in rankings. but anyways, i was looking at the methodology on usnews for the primary care rankings. and is it just me, or is the primary care rankings a load of crap!

basically the diff (besides some minor stuff) between the primary care rankings and the main rankings is that they use the percentage of m.d.'s that enter primary care residencies... so what?? if you get all 100% of your students to go to primary care, then you would be the #1 school?

at least research makes sense -- the best research schools will get the most NIH grants

it would be better imho if they ranked them based on other criteria, maybe strength of the affiliated hospitals, diversity of patients, etc. etc.

let me know if i'm way off-base here

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[none]

Nah, I think it's a fine methodology because the percent of students going into primary care automatically incorporates those other things you mentioned.

 

[UCLA2000]

I may be way off base here..isn't primary care the least competitive residency to get into? I'm sure that some people go into primary care because they want to...but don't others do it because their boards suck too much to get another residency? If so then wouldn't it be a bad thing to go to a school that has a really high % of primary care physicians?

Don't get me wrong, I may go into primary care myself but I'd like to know that if I change my mind I have other options...

 

[matthew0126]

yea, same here. i'm not set on any field, but primary care is one possible option for me. but anyways, i agree with you about it being the least competitive residency (or from what i hear from med students), which is what led me to question these rankings

•••quote:•••Originally posted by UCLA2000:
•I may be way off base here..isn't primary care the least competitive residency to get into? I'm sure that some people go into primary care because they want to...but don't others do it because their boards suck too much to get another residency? If so then wouldn't it be a bad thing to go to a school that has a really high % of primary care physicians?

Don't get me wrong, I may go into primary care myself but I'd like to know that if I change my mind I have other options...•••••

 

[sandflea]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by UCLA2000:
[QB]I may be way off base here..isn't primary care the least competitive residency to get into?

[QB]••••'primary care' isn't a specific field. it encompasses family practice, pediatrics, internal medicine, and ob/gyn (something else too that i feel like i'm forgetting). these aren't the most competitive fields to go into but they're certainly not unpopular: many people go into internal medicine residencies, for instance, because they're the precursor training for other subspecialties (oncology, cardiology, etc, etc).

and no, it's not a bad thing to go to a school that emphasizes primary care. different schools have different philosophies and goals for the education they provide. there is currently a shortage of primary care physicians so some schools are specifically dedicated to churning out students interested in primary care. other schools are interested in turning out academic physicians--for those, you look at the research rankings. it's all about the school and their focus. but going to a school that emphasizes one thing won't prevent you from going into anything else. you don't have to go into primary care at a 'primary care med school' and you don't have to go to academia at a 'research med school'.

 

[oldman]

i think the most important number from these rankings is the residency director number. med school is important, but residency is even more important.

 

[gmendese]

Yes, the Primary Care Rankings emphasize Primary Care Specialties, but without high MCAT and GPA requirements, student satisfaction, NIH grants and a TON of other things, a school still wouldn't rank that high. I honestly believe that Primary Care rankings are more important than research rankings because, well, I'm going to be a clinician, not a researcher. And I'm not applying to Penn, Harvard, Yale, Hopkins or any other school practically requiring a dissertation prior to graduation (or actually requiring it in the case of Hopkins). But this is just my opinion.