Why do people make such a big deal out of the US News rankings?

[thamsenman]

Isn't it more important to be a fit for the school, interact well with the other students, and to find a place that is affordable and makes you happy...then going to a highly ranked school?

I know they aren't mutually exclusive, but why do people put such an emphasis on this?

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[extremophile]

you're right, all those things you suggested are important, and you can argue they are more important than us news.

but us news rankings are used by many to gauge the prestige of an institution, and prestige is just another factor that many use to make their decision.

we can argue which factors should be most important (and people on SDN always do), but people are going to make this personal decision based on what they value, and that's just the way it is.

 

[DoctwoB]

1. Top US News schools (AKA top research funding schools) tend to have more money to spend on medical education / research opportunities for tudents

2. Name Dropping. for chicks and residencies. Isn't supposed to make much of a difference for the latter. Though to be fair, once you're past harvard/hopkins, most people outside of medicine don't know that schools like Pitt or Mich or Baylor or even UCSF etc. are big time med schools.

3. More likely to have more contact with top of the field faculty whose recommendation letters would carry a lot of weight.

How much of an impact these actually have is very debatable. You can do research, get chicks, get great recs, and land a great residency at any md school. It might just be a bit easier at a "top" school.

 

[thamsenman]

1. Top US News schools (AKA top research funding schools) tend to have more money to spend on medical education / research opportunities for tudents

2. Name Dropping. for chicks and residencies. Isn't supposed to make much of a difference for the latter. Though to be fair, once you're past harvard/hopkins, most people outside of medicine don't know that schools like Pitt or Mich or Baylor or even UCSF etc. are big time med schools.

3. More likely to have more contact with top of the field faculty whose recommendation letters would carry a lot of weight.

How much of an impact these actually have is very debatable. You can do research, get chicks, get great recs, and land a great residency at any md school. It might just be a bit easier at a "top" school.

Wow, this might be my favorite post of the entire decade.

 

[skiddoc]

Even the women can land chicks? Awesome!

 

[SwineSue]

Isn't it more important to be a fit for the school, interact well with the other students, and to find a place that is affordable and makes you happy...then going to a highly ranked school?

I know they aren't mutually exclusive, but why do people put such an emphasis on this?

As far as undergrad goes, I am totally on the USNEWS-bashing bandwagon - I think the rankings are misleading, based on arbitrary and manipulable criteria, etc etc.

However, for medical school, I think they have a valuable effect in the democratizing of knowledge - like an above-poster said, someone who isn't in-the-know, i.e. someone without doctors in the family, someone from a lower socioeconomic background without any contacts in the medical world - would have no way of knowing that schools like Vanderbilt, Michigan, etc. are considered more 'prestigious' within the field than their local state school or an ivy like Brown. I think making this information common currency is valuable.

 

[metallica81788]

As far as undergrad goes, I am totally on the USNEWS-bashing bandwagon - I think the rankings are misleading, based on arbitrary and manipulable criteria, etc etc.

You mean like the "peer evaluation," where deans evaluate other schools in relation to theirs?

The Florida president ranked UF above Harvard.

 

[He2]

ppl are status conscious. Welcome to life.

btw, monkeys are exactly the same. This isn't a uniquely human trait.

 

[RunningDiva]

Agree with the name dropping. Ppl like to feel special and I think its our nature to want to compare/contrast ourselves to others.

For the schools with most NIH funding, and hence the higher ranking, the money can't actually go to funding medical education (specifically, I mean merit scholarships). The NIH $$ will influence your education if you want to do research oriented programs, a la MD/PhD, MPH, Master's, etc. Otherwise, probably won't mean a thing. For me, I don't care about rankings, not interested in a research program.

 

[Howisbabbyformd]

you're right, all those things you suggested are important, and you can argue they are more important than us news.

but us news rankings are used by many to gauge the prestige of an institution, and prestige is just another factor that many use to make their decision.

we can argue which factors should be most important (and people on SDN always do), but people are going to make this personal decision based on what they value, and that's just the way it is.

I don't think they rank prestige either. MSUCOM is ranked #7 on their list for primary care and UM slightly below that. I don't think many would argue that MSUCOM, while it is a very good school, is a more prestigious institution than UM. Also, many schools don't even participate in these rankings, so that skews the results as well. Unless of course we're just talking about the research rankings...

 

[Steeler7588]

but us news rankings are used by many to gauge the prestige of an institution, and prestige is just another factor that many use to make their decision.

This. Although the rankings are significantly determined by how much research funding an institution gets, they more or less correlate with how prestigious the school is as well.

I don't think they rank prestige either. MSUCOM is ranked #7 on their list for primary care and UM slightly below that. I don't think many would argue that MSUCOM, while it is a very good school, is a more prestigious institution than UM. Also, many schools don't even participate in these rankings, so that skews the results as well. Unless of course we're just talking about the research rankings...

You nailed it with your last sentence. The research rankings might be useless, but the primary care rankings are even bigger bull****. Too many people associate the rankings with the quality of training / care the schools provide, when they're not that all.

Knowing how much funding a school gets for research = somewhat useful if you want to do research. Knowing how prestigious a school is = a little useful in determining how much of a tiny boost you'll get when applying for residencies. Knowing how much of a school's class goes into primary care = not useful at all.

 

[VOP]

Funding is important, while @ Wash U and Vandy they kept talking about all the big stipends given to students for education, and how they can pretty much send any kid anywhere on the planet for research. Those potentialy unique experiences could be usefull when applying for residencies.

While at UVA and MD, they weren't so liberal on how they spend research money on kids

 

[bannie22]

WashU does give a lot of money.
However, I question them abit because tuition is relatively higher at WashU too.

 

[LSU Gladiator]

If a school gets more money for research than another school, it means they had more talented grant writers doing better research (Unless the branding of the institution bought them the grant, which can happen apparently).

When the esteemed people writing the grants are med school faculty I would think student education would be improved by the proximity of these innovators.

 

[seanshah]

why do people make threads about why people make such a big deal out of the US New rankings?

 

[Musclemass]

Why do people make such a big deal out of the US News rankings?
Isn't it more important to be a fit for the school, interact well with the other students, and to find a place that is affordable and makes you happy...then going to a highly ranked school?

Yes, of course.

I know they aren't mutually exclusive, but why do people put such an emphasis on this?

Because it's a way for people who know nothing to pretend that they know something. The funny thing is, with info like these rankings, they still don't know much.

People like this are often also attracted to bright and shiny objects.

 

[Jihad]

I discussed this with a pre-PhD (who is applying to all top 20 schools only) friend of mine. We concluded the following:

-Rankings/prestige of school are likely only to be a major factor if you are pursuing an academic career (professor, etc.)
-For professional schools, prestige of school has virtually no correlation with money-making potential
-For professionals, a prestigious school acceptance IS important to impress mommy and surprise your relatives at the Christmas dinner .

 

[JJMrK]

I discussed this with a pre-PhD (who is applying to all top 20 schools only) friend of mine. We concluded the following:

-Rankings/prestige of school are likely only to be a major factor if you are pursuing an academic career (professor, etc.)
-For professional schools, prestige of school has virtually no correlation with money-making potential
-For professionals, a prestigious school acceptance IS important to impress mommy and surprise your relatives at the Christmas dinner .

This may be true of medicine, but it isn't necessarily true of some other professional schools.

 

[bannie22]

Ie. LAW