USMLE scores

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by loafy42:
<strong>Does anyone know where you can find the average USMLE scores for each medical school? If
not, does anyone which schools have the highest scores? Thanks!</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">that statistic hasn't been made public for years...and just about any school can lie about having the highest scores

 

I agree. The NBME has not released this kind of information to schools for the last 2 or 3 years, ever since the USMLE became computerized. So anyone who tells you where their school's rank is for the USMLE are either 1. making it up or 2. using stats that are at least 3 years old.

I think schools are allowed to calculate their own averages, but the NBME discourages them from doing so or from putting too much weight in small differences, and it's nothing that's typically widely available to the public. I think the change is partially because now students can take the exam at any old time of the year. It used to be administered only twice a year, so it was easy to take a cross section of students who all took the same administration to compare them.

What you may be able to find out is the USMLE pass rates of schools, but I think you would have to ask the school itself for that information.

 

Actually USMLE does release average scores to schools. They send an official average to the dean including standard deviations. What they stopped releasing were percentiles for individual scores.

Bonecutter

 

Hmm, I might be wrong about this, but I was told that our Dean's office doesn't get the official average of the school from NBME anymore. They get individual scores of the students, but because the scores trickle in over several months the Dean's office calculates the average when they think that most of the class has taken it. They do get the national average and standard deviation, but they are certainly not told what other school's averages are. And they are not given the school's rank either, so I've been told by our Dean's office.

 

Two more things. 1. The scores were not released until about one month ago (I took the exam in June). I think that they were waiting until everyone had taken the exam (first time takers, retakes etc.). 2. At most schools you actually can't take the exam at any old time of the year because you are required to have sat for the exam prior to the start of the major clinical year. This may differ from school to school but as of yet all my friends at other schools had the same stipulation. Hope this helps

Bonecutter

 

Don't get too caught up on USMLE scores if you're simply trying to pick a medical school. Don't get me wrong--the scores are important--but there's a lot more to medical school than that exam, which was designed to see if you have the basic level of fundamental knowledge you need to be able to clinical years. It is NOT supposed to be like an MCAT.

Some schools teach directly to the board exams, using board review books, etc. Others, like mine, don't--and they make an explicit point of saying this. One of our deans is famous for slamming his fist down and saying "Cornell does NOT teach to the boards." He's right--they don't. As a result, I don't think Cornell has stellar board scores, but we all seem to make it into good residencies. Speaking as one who is taking Step 1 next week, the only things we miss out on are some of the random informational "factoids" that appear on the test. All of the really important physiology and pathology, anatomy, etc., are covered very well.

So I'd take board score information with a grain of salt. It's definitely not the litmus test of what your future medical education will be like.

good luck...

 

Does anyone know which schools DO teach to the boards? Does U of Miami?
Thanks!