Hey guys, this might be a silly question, but which med schools count as T20? I generally know Harvard, Stanford, etc. are included, but is T20 an actual hard list of 20 schools or more a general category of high-ranking schools? And how are these schools/rankings determined (stats of admitted students, research, primary care, etc.)?
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What exactly counts as T20?
Started by heels20
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inb4 "at least 30 schools are in the T20", "why T20?", "will you not be a doctor if you don't go to a T20?"
penguinsfan71
Full Member
T20 is a meaningless distinction, as different schools rank higher in certain aspects than others (ie there's gonna be a different "T20" if you're interested in research vs. primary care).
There are some schools that will always be T20 (Harvard, Stanford, Hopkins, Yale, UCSF, etc), regardless of which ranking list you look at.
There are two main ranking lists - Residency Program Director (PD) scores and USNWR research.
Look at either or both for an idea of which schools are T20.
There are two main ranking lists - Residency Program Director (PD) scores and USNWR research.
Look at either or both for an idea of which schools are T20.
USNWR research ranking. There are obviously a thousand and one rankings, and each school prefers the one they do best in, but if someone says "T20 school" that always refers specifically to that ranking.
There are at least 30 schools in the "Top 20".
The term is meaningless except to pre-meds and med school Deans, because it derives from the worthless criteria that US Snooze and Worst Report uses to rank schools (NIH funding being the biggest driver).
As the sage gyngyn has pointed out,. a top medical school is one that turns a student into a great doctor.
Thanks everyone! I was asking mainly out of curiosity. I'm more interested in primary care, so most of the schools I applied to have great primary care programs, but almost none of those are what people seem to consider Top 20, even though they are technically ranked Top 20 for primary care according to US News. Thanks for the insight!
Because research is what is academically prestigious, not clinical care, so the T20 list everyone refers to is #s 1-20 on the USNWR Best Medical Schools: Research list. If you are more interested in primary care, the primary care list is the list you should "primarily" 🙂 care about, to the extent you care about such things at all, which you really shouldn't.
You should do a little independent research and pick schools based on what is most important to you, not a few magazine editors, or some random strangers on the internet.
T20 list for research , T20 list for primary care , T20 list as per PDs, T20 list for each specialty are some of the lists I look at 🙂
Is that all??? 🙂 I'm going to make a list of T20 SDN parents, and you are definitely going to be #1!!!!!!!!!
Do I get a trophy for it? All I ever got was judging pins and free sandwiches 🙂
I would definitely give you a trophy!!! 🙂 Who do we need to speak to to make it happen???
You figure that. I heard you are popular with moderators ☺️
Oh, these kind of questions tend to remind which of "Which was the better battleship, Iowa Class, Yamato, or Bismark? questions.
A close friend of mine from grad school (and a former faculty member who me I knew well) ended up at UC as faculty (the latter a Dept' Chair) and so I got a closer look at the school. I also interviewed there for grad school.
