U.S. News & World Report on Tuesday announced its annual Best Medical Schools list based on specific indicators for research and primary care, as well as the lists of top medical schools for eight specialties.
For the primary care and research rankings, U.S. News used survey data from fall 2012 and early 2013 from 114 accredited medical and osteopathic schools in the United States.
Harvard tops rankings for research schools
For the research rankings, the magazine assessed each school's performance on eight indicators: MCAT scores, undergraduate GPAs, acceptance rates, faculty-to-student ratios, peer assessment scores, assessment scores by residency directors, total research activity, and average research activity per faculty member. They were then ranked based on a weighted average of the eight indicators.
The top 11 medical schools for research are:
1. Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.)
2. Stanford University (Calif.)
3. Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore)
4. University of California-San Francisco
4. University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia)
6. Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.)
7. Yale University (New Haven, Conn.)
8. Columbia University (New York)
8. Duke University (Durham, N.C.)
8. University of Chicago
8. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Harvard maintained its spot at the top of the rankings, but Stanford climbed up the list, overtaking Johns Hopkins and Penn, which were tied in second place last year.
UNC tops rankings for primary care schools
For the primary care rankings, U.S. News assessed each school's performance on seven indicators: MCAT scores, undergraduate GPAs, acceptance rates, faculty-to-student ratios, peer assessment scores, assessment scores by residency directors, and primary care rate. They were then ranked based on a weighted average of the seven indicators.
The top 10 medical schools for primary care are:
1. University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
2. University of Washington (Seattle)
3. Oregon Health and Science University (Portland)
4. University of California-San Francisco
5. University of Colorado-Denver (Aurora)
6. University of Nebraska Medical Center (Omaha)
7. University of Minnesota (Minneapolis)
8. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
9. University of Massachusetts-Worcester
10. University of Alabama-Birmingham
- Transform your institution's primary care strategy with this 2011 study from the Health Care Advisory Board.
Although UNC traded places with the University of Washington to take the top primary care ranking this year, the schools comprising the top 10 did not change from last year.
Specialty rankings
In addition to its primary care and research school rankings, U.S. News ranked hospitals within eight medical specialties. These rankings were determined solely by surveys in which medical school deans and senior faculty members were asked to identify up to 10 schools offering the best programs in each specialty. Schools were then ranked based on the number of nominations.
The top schools across the eight specialties were:
AIDS: University of California-San Francisco
Drugs and alcohol abuse: Yale University
Family medicine: University of Washington
Geriatrics: Mount Sinai School of Medicine (New York)
Internal medicine: Johns Hopkins
Pediatrics: University of Pennsylvania
Rural medicine: University of Washington
Women's health: Harvard University
Sources: Flanigan/Morse, U.S. News, 3/11; Sheehy, U.S. News, 3/12; U.S. News, accessed 3/13