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The new rankings have just been release by US news, do you think these rankings mean anything or hold any weight? Thoughts?
US news medical school ranking
- Thread starter CorpsmanToMO
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In before the ****storm.
No. A school will be attractive to someone based on many different criteria. Location, strength of faculty, availability and structure of rotations, and research funding are all things that people take into account, just to name a few. Selectivity is a central variable in the US News rankings especially, which to me is silly.
Worry about the school that's the best fit for you, not the rankings. You can be miserable at Harvard and happy as a clam at Tufts, depending on your personality and situation.
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Pretty much what was said above.
Why do you care about the ranking based on what someone else thought was important? If "prestige" is a factor for you, which is totally fine, then yea, you could consider rankings.
But the majority of folks many other factors will be given much more weight..... Location, tuition, curriculum style, grading, clinical years, etc.
Why do you care about the ranking based on what someone else thought was important? If "prestige" is a factor for you, which is totally fine, then yea, you could consider rankings.
But the majority of folks many other factors will be given much more weight..... Location, tuition, curriculum style, grading, clinical years, etc.
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The rankings are based on a certain set of criteria set by u.s. news and world report. They mean the top programs most closely match those standards. None of these include board pass rates or match rates or quality of physicians. If you want to go into research then they may matter more.
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This. These rankings are research rankings
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My school ranks pretty well usually...
And I hate it here. They are so obsessed with the rankings as a school that they pile on useless garbage so that they can pad their ranking apps. At least that's the theory I've adopted.
Some of us have wondered aloud if the school intentionally deprives us of board prep time in order to force us to tank step 1, guaranteeing that the school will continue to pump out highly qualified primary care physicians. Because if everyone did really well on step 1, they'd shoot for something else. But, being hamstrung by their low step 1, many will just accept it and embrace primary care. Thus ensuring that the school continues to rank high on the USNews Primary Care ratings.
Either way, that's my personal take on rankings.
And I hate it here. They are so obsessed with the rankings as a school that they pile on useless garbage so that they can pad their ranking apps. At least that's the theory I've adopted.
Some of us have wondered aloud if the school intentionally deprives us of board prep time in order to force us to tank step 1, guaranteeing that the school will continue to pump out highly qualified primary care physicians. Because if everyone did really well on step 1, they'd shoot for something else. But, being hamstrung by their low step 1, many will just accept it and embrace primary care. Thus ensuring that the school continues to rank high on the USNews Primary Care ratings.
Either way, that's my personal take on rankings.
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I wonder the same about my school, though in a less diabolical sort of way. Like many schools, I knew my school was primary care oriented long before applying, though I just sort of shrugged off the significance of their "mission."
I see now that we're hobbled in a similar fashion because they choose not to offer certain courses/emphasize certain skills that would benefit a non primary care physician. In a way, we're being herded into primary care through lack of significant training that could perhaps give us a leg up toward other specialties such as surgery.
A bit of an aside, but I couldn't help but notice the similarity between your situation, DocArmy, and my own. (maybe we're both just paranoid?)
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Yeah. I shrugged off the primary care mission as well, thinking that it was just a neat phrase. Then we were told that we couldn't preceptor with anyone but family practice or peds first or second year. They also cut the Trauma course from the curriculum and replaced it with Geriatrics. We had one suture clinic in my first 2 years, but practice history and physicals 2 hours a week. I'll stop now, because it makes me angry, but yes, they have gutted anything that wasn't primary care oriented from the curriculum, making it so that the only people who can imagine a career in a specialty are the ones who already had a specialty in mind. Because we have no other exposure until 4th year (aside from the one surgery rotation 3rd year).
Do you mean the .mil or could it be that we're both in the same school?
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Neither. Just the fact that we're both suspicious of our school's motives and practices.
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I saw some random study of medical students that shows most of em didn't find the US NEws rankings as helpful as other things for applying. I think it was on aamc... yep, found it: https://www.aamc.org/data/aib
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The rankings are probably the least helpful aspect in guiding applicants through the application process. The MSAR, the PDF on the AACOMAS website, and a host of other factors (location, family, specific programs or opportunities afforded to students) are so much more important and better in assisting applicants. I'm not surprised that medical students would find the rankings to be worthless. It seems to be something pre-meds dwell on, yet once they start school realize how little actually it matters, and even with talking with people involved in residency/fellowship decisions their perceptions of the "good programs" often conflict with the rankings or lag behind from their experience when they were in school.
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While on a road trip, the medical school ranking pages were all I had with me during an emergency squatting in the woods. They did not hold much weight at all. Be warned.
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