By Isabelle Wilson-
A number of medical schools, including Columbia, Stanford and University of Pennsylvania, have followed Harvard’s lead and withdrawn from U.S. News & World Report medical school rankings.
The University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine said Tuesday it was dropping out of the annual rankings of best medical schools compiled by U.S. News & World Report, joining the med schools at Harvard, Stanford, and Columbia Universities.
The schools have all offered similar criticisms against the criteria used to generate rankings, arguing that they do not reward the best learning environments, and that its preferences are overly influenced by the prestige and wealth of schools.
It comes just two months after Yale Law School pulled out of the U.S. News law school rankings, which it had topped for 32 years, saying that the list discourages financial aid for low-income students.
The US News list ranks the ‘best medical schools’ in the country, and is often used by prospective students and parents when determining which colleges to apply to.
The rankings are also influential on the professional chances of students getting particular jobs, as well as graduate school and PhD programs, because those from the best schools are often prioritised over those from less ranked schools. The same level of preferential treatment occurs in all countries due to the greater interest in favouring students believed to be better honed than their less rated counterparts.
Universities jumping on the bandwagon are poised to sever ties with the U.S. News & World Report, mainly by ceasing to provide it with the data it needs to create its current rankings.
‘Our metrics will reflect and assess the efforts and accomplishments of our faculty in education, research, and patient care as well as the innovation and impact of faculty and trainees on biomedicine and their roles in developing tomorrow’s leaders.’
The day after Harvard’s announcement it would no longer submit data, U.S. News’ Chairman and CEO Eric Gertler made his own statement, saying that ‘where students attend school and how they use their education are among the most critical decisions of their life.’
‘The fact is, millions of prospective students annually visit U.S. News medical school rankings because we provide students with valuable data and solutions to help with that process,’ he wrote.Icahn School of Medicine which withdrew on January 24 suggested that U.S. News would still try and rank schools using publicly available data
The dean of Yale Law School, Heather Gerken, who led the first major boycott of U.S News lists described the rankings as ‘profoundly flawed’
Dean of University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, J. Larry Jameson, also criticised the rankings as lacking in crediting innovation.
‘While the Perelman School of Medicine has consistently ranked well by these measures, and we are proud of our reputation, we aspire to be judged more on our innovation, impact, the far-reaching accomplishments of our faculty and graduates, and our ability to keep our sights forward,’ he wrote.
The dean of Yale Law School, Heather Gerken, argued last year when she led the first major boycott of U.S News lists that they were ‘profoundly flawed.’
‘They disincentivize programs that support public interest careers, champion need-based aid, and welcome working-class students into the profession,’ she said.
‘Its approach not only fails to advance the legal profession, but stands squarely in the way of progress.’