- Joined
- Oct 20, 2003
- Messages
- 4,775
- Reaction score
- 1
If ever anyone makes a strike against US News in pre-allo, they automatically get flamed. So much for having an opinion. 
Who doesn't care about rank?
- Thread starter Cerberus
- Start date
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2003
- Messages
- 19
- Reaction score
- 0
I have to agree that USnews is pretty much worthless, unless you worry about the recognition you will get for attending a school. I'm an undergrad at the University of Washington, and while we get hyped for being in the top 3 of research funding, I've found that that doesn't relate to better instruction. In fact, most undergrads here will agree that there are a lot of professors that got hired for their research, and the quality of instruction suffers (read as: professors with limited english language skills, too busy to help, unaware of different learning styles, etc.)
The only thing I can add in favor of the USnews rankings is that they are somewhat self-fulfilling. Not as a knock against their program, but I doubt that WashU would get so many applications (and hence a more competitive applicant pool) if it wasn't for the USnews.
The unfortunate part of the whole process is that the most important part of a medical education (in my opinion) is the ability of professors to...well...profess. This is also the most difficult thing to judge. I don't think there is a direct measure for this in the USnews algorithm. You get two things when you graduate medical school: 1) a piece of paper with your name and couple of letters and 2) four years of education that is mostly what you make of it. USnews affects the former, the latter, I'm not so sure.
The only thing I can add in favor of the USnews rankings is that they are somewhat self-fulfilling. Not as a knock against their program, but I doubt that WashU would get so many applications (and hence a more competitive applicant pool) if it wasn't for the USnews.
The unfortunate part of the whole process is that the most important part of a medical education (in my opinion) is the ability of professors to...well...profess. This is also the most difficult thing to judge. I don't think there is a direct measure for this in the USnews algorithm. You get two things when you graduate medical school: 1) a piece of paper with your name and couple of letters and 2) four years of education that is mostly what you make of it. USnews affects the former, the latter, I'm not so sure.
One thing I learned through applying this year is that you have to go to the schools in question to find out if they are indeed good schools (or a good match for you). My opinions of schools have changed a lot after going to interviews.
I do care about reputation of schools, but I disagree with the US News ranking and believe that putting out absolute rankings with not much explanation isn't the best way to go.
For learning about schools initially, personally, I liked the old princeton review book that gave each school a point out of a maximum of 5.00. I thought it was helpful in determining what the relative overall reputation of schools were for someone just starting pre-med. The book also discussed about the curriculum, atmosphere, living conditions, residency placement, and etc. The newer editions don't have the points, so it might not be a good source for starting pre-meds to find out about reputation. But even without them, I think you can learn a lot about each school by reading through the 2 pages of info on each school in that book.
I do care about reputation of schools, but I disagree with the US News ranking and believe that putting out absolute rankings with not much explanation isn't the best way to go.
For learning about schools initially, personally, I liked the old princeton review book that gave each school a point out of a maximum of 5.00. I thought it was helpful in determining what the relative overall reputation of schools were for someone just starting pre-med. The book also discussed about the curriculum, atmosphere, living conditions, residency placement, and etc. The newer editions don't have the points, so it might not be a good source for starting pre-meds to find out about reputation. But even without them, I think you can learn a lot about each school by reading through the 2 pages of info on each school in that book.
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2001
- Messages
- 15,139
- Reaction score
- 212
Cerberus said:
hmm, I take it back - USNEWs is still total crap and rankings ****** can blow me.
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2003
- Messages
- 1,209
- Reaction score
- 0
The positive side of US News : Some schools gain recognition when it is pretty clear that if it wasn't for USN they wouldn't. Eg : UTSW, Baylor, University of Washington, etc.
When i got to interview at different schools i realized how different medical schools can be. Different doesn't mean better medical school. When i say Hopkins is my #1 choice, it means that Hopkins is the place out of all my acceptances where i see myself being happiest/ helps achieve my goals/ etc. It doesn't mean that Hopkins is inferior or superior to any other institution.
(btw it was just an example)
A lot of people use the rank to claim how much better an institution is. When the truth is that all schools are good. Esp the schools that share a similar ranking it is impossible to say which one is better. As i said before there is only " X school is better for me " not "X school is ranked higher than Y and Z - so it must be better". Usually cur, finaid, location etc are factors that break the tie between similar schools. Take WashU, Penn and Duke for example. There are all GREAT but at the same time they are all different. Which in itself is very helpful when an applicant is about to make his or her decision.
People who choose based just on rank, should trully get a life.
When i got to interview at different schools i realized how different medical schools can be. Different doesn't mean better medical school. When i say Hopkins is my #1 choice, it means that Hopkins is the place out of all my acceptances where i see myself being happiest/ helps achieve my goals/ etc. It doesn't mean that Hopkins is inferior or superior to any other institution.
(btw it was just an example)
A lot of people use the rank to claim how much better an institution is. When the truth is that all schools are good. Esp the schools that share a similar ranking it is impossible to say which one is better. As i said before there is only " X school is better for me " not "X school is ranked higher than Y and Z - so it must be better". Usually cur, finaid, location etc are factors that break the tie between similar schools. Take WashU, Penn and Duke for example. There are all GREAT but at the same time they are all different. Which in itself is very helpful when an applicant is about to make his or her decision.
People who choose based just on rank, should trully get a life.
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2002
- Messages
- 519
- Reaction score
- 1
Rankings have their place. It's foolish to not consider the fact that they are a large determinant of success in residency placement. It's really a personal question as to how important that is to you vs. other factors. I took a high ranked school over a school now somewhere in the 40s according to US news. Am I happier? I dunno, but I'm about 1000 miles closer to my home and will be about $30,000 less in debt upon graduation. It all matters, don't shove any factor under the rug. And I agree with DW that the experiences your classmates can bring to the table is rather impressive at some high ranking schools. Oh, and I'm not a douchebag either, and I only know a few in my class, trust me, they are everywhere, that's life. suck it up.
Similar threads
