Medical School Rankings

Medical school rankings can guide you in choosing which medical school to apply to. It is a smart thing to do to send your application to several medical schools at the same time, in order to increase your chances of approval.  It is even smarter to check the rankings of schools, keeping in mind that this will determine where you will be accepted for residency in the future.

You can easily check which schools are given high medical school rankings by doing an Internet search. Ranking is usually in two categories - schools that focus on primary care and those that focus on research. These are two distinct categories, although there are several schools that enjoy high ranks in both areas.  Medical schools that have ranked high in the past, value their medical school rankings because this also determines the number and quality of students who would apply for their medical program.

The medical school rankings for 2011 which was released by US News and World Report is based on expert opinions about the schools’ programs as well as surveys done to measure the degree of professionalism of the instructors, the quality of research and the students. Over 120 schools which have been accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education in 2008 were surveyed to get the top 5 medical schools in the categories of primary care and research.  The University of Washington ranked the highest in primary care which it has enjoyed for 17 consecutive years, while Harvard Medical School kept its no. 1 rank in research.

The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)  School of Medicine is the only University that is among the top 5 medical schools in both research and primary care.  Other universities that ranked highly are University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Oregon Health & Science University, University of Vermont and University of California-San Francisco for primary care.

Universities that made it to the list for research, following Harvard University are University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins University, University of California-San Francisco and Washington University in St. Louis.

Will going to a  university with high medical school ranking help your career? There is one advantage to getting into a school with high ranking, and that is you would have an easier access to residency in the prime hospitals.  However, whether or not you would make a better career by being  a graduate of a university with high medical school ranking is really up to you. 

Getting into schools with high ranks is an achievement enough, because application to these schools is highly competitive. If you do not get accepted by high ranking schools, you should not get discouraged, and keep applying with other med schools, which may not have high rankings, but are fully accredited and acknowledged by many as a quality medical school.

Your success in your future medical career does not depend solely on the medical school ranking of your university, but more so on your determination to excel academically and on your level of motivation to pursue your medical education.