The 126 medical schools fully accredited in 2012 by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, plus the 23 schools of osteopathic medicine fully accredited by the American Osteopathic Association in 2012, were surveyed in fall 2012 and early 2013 for the rankings of research medical schools; 114 schools provided the data needed to calculate the research rankings based on the indicators used in the medical school research model.
The same medical and osteopathic schools were surveyed for the primary care rankings; 114 schools provided the data needed to calculate the medical school primary care ranking.
The medical school research model is based on a weighted average of eight indicators, and the primary care model is based on seven indicators. Both rankings are based on a weighted average of indicators.
Four of the data indicators are used in both the research and primary care ranking models. They are the student selectivity admission statistics (MCAT, GPA, and acceptance rate) and faculty-to-student ratio. The medical school research model factors in research activity; the medical school primary care model adds a measure of the proportion of graduates entering primary care specialties.
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Quality assessment (weighted by 0.40)
Peer assessment score (0.20 for the research medical school model, 0.25 for the primary care medical school model): In fall 2012, medical and osteopathic school deans, deans of academic affairs, and heads of internal medicine or the directors of admissions were asked to rate programs on a scale from 1 (marginal) to 5 (outstanding). Survey populations were asked to rate program quality for both research and primary care programs separately on a single survey instrument.
Those individuals who did not know enough about a school to evaluate it fairly were asked to mark "don't know." A school's score is the average of all the respondents who rated it. Responses of "don't know" counted neither for nor against a school. About 39 percent of those surveyed responded.
Assessment score by residency directors (0.20 for the research medical school model, 0.15 for the primary care medical school model): In fall 2012, residency program directors were also asked to rate programs using the same 5-point scale on two separate survey instruments. One survey dealt with research and was sent to a sample of residency program directors in fields outside primary care, including surgery, psychiatry, and radiology. The other survey involved primary care and was sent to residency directors designated by schools as being involved in clinical practice.
Survey recipients were asked to rate programs on a scale from 1 (marginal) to 5 (outstanding). Those individuals who did not know enough about a program to evaluate it fairly were asked to mark "don't know."
A school's score is the average of all the respondents who rated it. Responses of "don't know" counted neither for nor against a school. The response rate for those sent the research survey was 12 percent. The response rate for those sent the primary care survey was 16 percent.
For the purpose of calculating this year's rankings, the residency director surveys for the two most recent years were averaged and weighted by 0.20 in the research model and by 0.15 in primary care.
Medical schools supplied the names of those residency program directors who were sent either of the residency program director surveys, and those lists were supplemented with residency director program names from the Graduate Medical Education Directory, published by the American Medical Association. Assessment data were collected by Ipsos Public Affairs.
Research activity (weighted by 0.30 in the research medical school model only; not used in the primary care medical school ranking model): In the 2014 edition of the rankings of medical schools focused on research, the weighting of National Institutes of Health total dollar grants awarded and of grants per faculty member was set so that each accounts for 0.15 of the overall score.
Total research activity (0.15): This is measured by the total dollar amount of National Institutes of Health research grants awarded to the medical school and its affiliated hospitals, averaged for 2011 and 2012. An asterisk indicates schools that reported only NIH research grants to their medical school in 2012.
Average research activity per faculty member (0.15): This is measured by the dollar amount of National Institutes of Health research grants awarded to the medical school and its affiliated hospitals per full-time faculty member, averaged over 2011 and 2012. Both full-time basic sciences and clinical faculty were used in the faculty count. An asterisk indicates schools that reported only NIH research grants to their medical school in 2012.
Primary care rate (0.30 in the primary care medical school model only; not used in research medical school ranking model): The percentage of M.D. or D.O. school graduates entering primary care residencies in the fields of family practice, pediatrics, and internal medicine was averaged over 2010, 2011, and 2012.
Student selectivity (0.20 in the research medical school model, 0.15 in the primary care medical school model)
Mean MCAT score (0.13 in the research medical school model, 0.0975 in the primary care medical school model): This is the mean composite Medical College Admission Test score of the 2012 entering class.
Mean undergraduate GPA (0.06 in the research medical school model, 0.045 in the primary care medical school model): This is the mean undergraduate grade-point average of the 2012 entering class.
Acceptance rate (0.01 in the research medical school model, 0.0075 in the primary care medical school model): This is the proportion of applicants to the 2012 entering class who were offered admission.
Faculty resources (0.10 in the research medical school model, 0.15 in the primary care medical school model): Faculty resources were measured as the ratio of full-time science and full-time clinical faculty to full-time M.D. or D.O. students in 2012.
Overall rank
Indicators were standardized about their means, and standardized scores were weighted, totaled, and rescaled so that the top school received 100; other schools received their percentage of the top score.
Specialty rankings: The rankings are based solely on ratings by medical school deans and senior faculty from the list of schools surveyed. They each identified up to 10 schools offering the best programs in each specialty area. Those receiving the most nominations in the top 10 appear here.
Those schools receiving the most votes in each specialty are listed and are numerically ranked in descending order based on the number of nominations they received as long as the school/program received seven or more nominations in that specialty area. This means that schools ranked at the bottom of each specialty ranking have received seven nominations.
Rank Not Published: Rank Not Published means that U.S. News did calculate a numerical ranking for that school/program, but decided for editorial reasons that since the school/program ranked below the U.S. News cutoff that U.S. News would not publish the ranking for that school/program.
U.S. News will supply schools/programs listed as Rank Not Published with their numerical rankings, if they submit a request following the procedures listed in the Information for School Officials.
Schools/programs marked as Ranked Not Published are listed alphabetically. In both research medical schools and primary care medical schools, we have numerically ranked the top three fourths of the graduate medical schools. The bottom quarter of the research medical schools and primary care medical schools are listed as Rank Not Published and are listed alphabetically.
Unranked: Unranked means that U.S. News did not calculate a numerical ranking for that school or program. The school or program did not supply U.S. News with enough key statistical data to be numerically ranked by U.S. News. Schools or programs marked as Unranked are listed alphabetically and are listed below those marked as Rank Not Published.
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