Why do we care about rankings so much when the methodology is subpar?

[Cornfed101]

I was looking at the methodology for the USNews ranking of medical schools and it left a lot to be desired...

• Quality assessment: 30%
  • Peer assessment score: 15%
  • Residency director assessment score: 15%
• Research activity: 40%
  • Total NIH research activity: 25%
  • Average NIH research activity per faculty member: 15%
• Student selectivity: 20%
  • Median MCAT total score: 13%
  • Median undergraduate GPA: 6%
  • Acceptance rate: 1%
• Faculty resources: 10%

The two that stand out to me are only 30% goes to the quality of the school (with only 15% for residency director assessment) and 20% goes to student selectivity. Isn't residency placement what most people think of when they consider ranking schools and saying things like "I need to go to a T20 school". What does it matter if only 15% of the calculation has to do with what residency directors actually think?

I understand that research can play a part, but 40% seems like a high percentage when most people aren't going to medical school to be researchers. Most of us are going to medical school to be clinicians.

I think it is also interesting that student selectivity is 20% of the calculation, but doesn't it matter more what the school puts out than what it takes in? That doesn't really say much about what the school actually produces if they accept the cream of the crop and then produce similar results.

Any thoughts on this? I think rankings are BS anyway, but I would be interested in having a discussion on the topic.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Med Ed]

Any thoughts on this? I think rankings are BS anyway, but I would be interested in having a discussion on the topic.

People love heuristics. They remove the burden of actually having to think.

 

[Select All That Apply]

@Cornfed101 Whichever medical school accepted you is #1, because you are #1 in my book.

In all seriousness, interesting that there are two lists for rankings. Has this been the approach before?

Research e.g. Derm/Ortho/Neurosurgery gunners e.g. what people who go into medical school wanting to do primary care end up wanting to do at the end of medical school. And primary care e.g Pediatrics/Fam med/Internal Med e.g. what people who go into medical school wanting to do primary care end up deferring towards doing.

Okay, wait, in all seriousness this post isn't altogether that serious.

 

[Gilakend]

I don't understand why people care about the research or primary care rankings when residency director rankings exist. That is literally the ONLY thing that most people should care about (and as I've said before I don't think prestige will make a difference for >95% of med students).

 

[Cornfed101]

@Cornfed101 Whichever medical school accepted you is #1, because you are #1 in my book.

Yeah, I know I'll go where I'm meant to go at this point. Hopefully I have a few choices, but if I don't that's fine too!

It mostly just bothers me when pre-meds put so much stock in rankings that are pretty arbitrary. We just really love ranking stuff, like @gonnif elegantly pointed out.

 

[Kardio]

Hierarchies and rankings are going to exist in all areas of life for the rest of our lives. USNWR happens to be the Top List Maker of the day. I always get a laugh when I see ‘news’ articles along the lines of “Princeton captures first place for 4th year in a row, putting Harvard second and Yale trailing in third!” as if these rankings will have (or are reflective of) any tangible differences for their students.

As a heuristic, there’s probably real differences between rank “#22 MD” and “>#100 DO School,” but playing the margins like #52 and #65 is just silly.

Anyway, in life you’re playing your own game. If you want to exclusively play USNews’s game - go ahead. But like USNews’s rankings, the game is only in your imagination.

 

[Kardio]

It mostly just bothers me when pre-meds put so much stock in rankings that are pretty arbitrary. We just really love ranking stuff, like @gonnif elegantly pointed out.

If it bothers you every time Sam and Sally try to keep up with the Joneses, you’re in for a stressful life.

 

[Cornfed101]

If it bothers you every time Sam and Sally try to keep up with the Joneses, you’re in for a stressful life.

Haha, I don't lose any sleep over it. My angst comes more from a desire to educate... I used to be that clueless premed (still am in many respects)

 

[OfMiceAndWomen]

I feel like most pre-meds don't actually care about rankings themselves? No premed, even the most neurotic, will say "I will only go to the top 15 schools based on these rankings and refuse to go anywhere else." It's just that the gunners will gun for the schools with the highest stats, the most research output, the best match lists, etc. I would hope that premeds applying to schools are researching their criteria for med school independent of UNSWR rankings. But as gonnif said before, most people end up applying pretty broadly anyway.

This is just a long-winded way of saying that even most premeds don't care about these rankings by the time they are applying.

I feel like that the only people who un-ironically care about rankings are tiger parents who want to brag to their friends that their kid is going X ranked school???

 

[LizzyM]

I feel like that the only people who un-ironically care about rankings are tiger parents who want to brag to their friends that their kid is going X ranked school???

These folks and the deans who see it as a d*ck measuring contest.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

These folks and the deans who see it as a d*ck measuring contest.

Let's keep this gender neutral.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

There is no paucity of ego or arrogance in medicine. Why else would the graduates from the IVY's waste no more than 30 secomds before telling you where they trained

 

[notsobabydoc]

Why do people care whether someone else cares about a ranking system which the said people don’t care about?!

 

[JoaoMoutinho]

There is no paucity of ego or arrogance in medicine. Why else would the graduates from the IVY's waste no more than 30 secomds before telling you where they trained

When you're at 27 seconds

 

[907914]

Why do people care whether someone else cares about a ranking system which the said people don’t care about?!

 

[notsobabydoc]

View attachment 283545

In simple words, not caring about is a legit ego defense mechanism, caring about is also a legit ego boost mechanism.