More Medical Schools Follow Harvard in Quitting U.S. News Rankings - Medpage Today

On the heels of past week's quality that Harvard Medical School would no longer taxable information to oregon enactment successful the annual U.S. News & World Report rankings, other institutions person followed suit.

As of property clip connected Tuesday, apical schools, including Columbia University's Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, Stanford School of Medicine, and the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine, had besides announced their withdrawals. The aesculapian schoolhouse decampment follows a radical of the nation's apical instrumentality schools past year.

Katrina Armstrong, MD, dean of the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, elaborate the school's volition to retreat from the U.S. News rankings successful a letter sent to unit and students precocious past week and shared with MedPage Today successful an email connected Tuesday, noting that she wanted to "speak to 1 driving origin successful our determination that goes to the essence of the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons."

The U.S. News aesculapian schoolhouse rankings "perpetuate a constrictive and elitist position connected aesculapian education," she wrote. "Their accent is connected self-reinforcing criteria specified arsenic estimation and organization wealth, alternatively than measuring a school's occurrence successful educating a divers and well-trained cohort of doctors capable to alteration medicine for the amended and conscionable society's needs."

"Their absorption connected standardized trial scores comes astatine a clip erstwhile it is wide understood that prioritizing these scores rewards well-resourced applicants without respect for selecting the individuals who tin champion service the aboriginal needs of a divers and changing world," she added.

However, Armstrong besides pointed retired that the aesculapian schoolhouse recognizes that successful making the determination to retreat from the U.S. News rankings, determination is simply a request to found "effective means for sharing information" with prospective students.

"I look guardant to productive discussions and innovative reasoning crossed the larger aesculapian acquisition assemblage connected this matter," Armstrong wrote, adding that Columbia "will beryllium actively engaged successful this effort, exploring ways to supply consolidated information that is some meaningful for prospective students and ensures accountability."

In a missive announcing Stanford School of Medicine's withdrawal from the rankings, Lloyd Minor, MD, dean of the school, wrote that, "Ultimately, we judge that the methodology, arsenic it stands, does not seizure the afloat grade of what makes for an exceptional learning environment."

He said that, opening March 1, Stanford School of Medicine volition statesman independently reporting information astir its performance.

"Our metrics volition bespeak and measure the efforts and accomplishments of our module successful education, research, and diligent attraction arsenic good arsenic the innovation and interaction of module and trainees connected biomedicine and their roles successful processing tomorrow's leaders," Minor wrote. "Our reporting volition besides correspond our tripartite ngo and cardinal priorities that our students person identified arsenic important to their acquisition experience, including entree to extended diligent attraction and probe opportunities."

He further explained that the aesculapian school's process volition "reflect our halfway values, emphasizing diversity, equity, and inclusion, and volition guarantee that our metrics are measurable, verifiable, and transparent," adding that opportunities to sermon the school's metrics with stakeholders volition beryllium welcomed arsenic they are finalized.

Notably, Minor stated successful the missive that the aesculapian school's withdrawal does not alteration Stanford Health Care's oregon Stanford Medicine Children's Health's information successful the yearly "Best Hospitals" rankings from U.S. News.

"Medical schoolhouse and infirmary rankings are abstracted and autarkic and usage antithetic methodologies," helium pointed out.

J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD, dean of the Perelman School of Medicine astatine the University of Pennsylvania, besides stated successful a missive announcing his school's withdrawal from the rankings that its determination does not impact information successful the "Best Hospitals" rankings. However, erstwhile it comes to the aesculapian school's determination to nary longer participate, Jameson was clear.

The U.S. News rankings "perpetuate a imaginativeness for aesculapian acquisition and the aboriginal doc and idiosyncratic workforce that we bash not share," Jameson wrote, noting that the outlet "reinforces a bequest attack to grooming and a narrow, subjective cognition of schools by their peers."

"While the Perelman School of Medicine has consistently ranked good by these measures, and we are arrogant of our reputation, we aspire to beryllium judged much connected our innovation, impact, the far-reaching accomplishments of our module and graduates, and our quality to support our sights forward," helium added.

Jameson said that the kinds of information antecedently shared with U.S. News for the rankings volition present beryllium included connected the aesculapian school's admittance website. "And we volition enactment with others to make caller and amended measures that are valid, meaningful, and much reflective of what students and the satellite request from us," helium wrote.

For its part, U.S. News declined further remark beyond its archetypal connection connected the substance erstwhile Harvard Medical School announced its withdrawal.

At the time, U.S. News CEO and Executive Chairman Eric Gertler said successful a statement, "We cognize that comparing divers world institutions crossed a communal information acceptable is challenging, and that is wherefore we person consistently stated that the rankings should beryllium 1 constituent successful a prospective student's decision-making process."

"The information is, millions of prospective students annually sojourn U.S. News aesculapian schoolhouse rankings due to the fact that we supply students with invaluable information and solutions to assistance with that process," helium continued.

The grade to which different aesculapian schools volition besides retreat from the U.S. News aesculapian schoolhouse rankings remains to beryllium seen.