US News Medical and Law School Rankings
Summary
Following the exit of several elite institutions, US News has released its graduate school rankings for 2023, including best medical school and best law school.
Following the boycott by several top law schools and medical schools, US News & World Report has released its annual rankings of the best graduate schools in the United States. Despite claims that the methodology for the rankings had changed and schools not submitting their data, Yale Law School tied for the top spot with Stanford. On the medical side, Johns Hopkins has come in at the top.
Best Law School Ranking
| Rank | Preview | Final |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Yale Law School and Stanford Law School (tie) | Yale Law School and Stanford Law School (tie) |
| 2. | ||
| 3. | University of Chicago Law School | University of Chicago Law School |
| 4. | Harvard Law School and University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (tie) | University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School |
| 5. | Harvard Law School, Duke University School of Law and NYU School of Law (tie) | |
| 6. | Duke University School of Law and NYU School of Law (tie) | |
| 7. | ||
| 8. | Columbia Law School and University of Virginia School of Law (tie) | Columbia Law School and University of Virginia School of Law (tie) |
| 9. | ||
| 10. | Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, Berkeley Law and University of Michigan Law School (tie) | Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, Berkeley Law and University of Michigan Law School (tie) |
Best Medical School Ranking
| Rank | Preview | Final |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine | Harvard Medical School |
| 2. | Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania | The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine |
| 3. | Harvard Medical School | Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania |
| 4. | UCSF School of Medicine and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis (tie) | Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons |
| 5. | Duke University School of Medicine, Stanford Medicine, UCSF School of Medicine, School of Medicine at Vanderbilt University and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis (tie) | |
| 6. | Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons | |
| 7. | Stanford Medicine and Yale School of Medicine (tie) | |
| 8. | ||
| 9. | Duke University School of Medicine and University of Michigan Medical School (tie) | |
| 10. | Yale School of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College at Cornell University and NYU Grossman School of Medicine (tie) |
It is interesting to see that despite several graduate schools not submitting their data, they have still managed to maintain their ranks. Of the top 10 law schools, none of them have submitted data to the rankings. And for the medical schools, only Yale and UCSF have submitted data to US News.
Changes in Ranking Methodology
The US News rankings took a beating over the past year, with top institutions including Harvard Medical School and Yale Law School quitting and also a series of allegations that the publication uses false data for its listings. Rhode Island School of Design became one the first undergraduate programs to also boycott the rankings. US News promised to reform law school rankings to counter some of the criticism. Considering so many law schools chose not to provide their institution’s statistical data, U.S. News ranked law schools using metrics that are mandatory for disclosure by the American Bar Association.
For the law school rankings, US News “prioritizes measures that identify clear and transparent outcomes for prospective students.” The 2023-2024 Best Law Schools methodology includes:
- A significant increase in the weight of the bar passage rate, and the inclusion of “Ultimate Bar Passage,” a two-year measurement of a graduating class's bar exam success
- A significant increase in weight of employment 10 months after graduation
- Full credit for all full-time, long-term fellowships -- includes those that are school funded -- where bar passage is required or where the JD degree is an advantage
- Maximum credit for those enrolled in graduate studies in the ABA employment outcomes grid
- A significant reduction in overall weights of reputation surveys
- A reduction in median LSAT/GRE and median GPA Scores.
The same theme continued for medical schools as well. As many medical schools also did not provide data, U.S. News used data from submitted statistical surveys in 2023 (or 2022 if 2023 was not available), and included publicly available metrics from the National Institutes of Health. Changes to the 2023-2024 Best Medical Schools: Research methodology include:
- The addition of NIH Grant Awards as a measure of research quality
- An increase in the weight of faculty/student ratios
- A reduction in overall weights of reputation surveys
- A reduction in MCAT and GPA scores
Full methodology weights and measures will be available upon publication on April 18.
Earlier this year, some medical schools chose not to provide their institution’s statistical data to U.S. News. In order to ensure that students had a fair basis for comparison, U.S. News used data from submitted statistical surveys in 2023 (or 2022 if 2023 was not available), and included publicly available metrics from the National Institutes of Health.
The final rankings were delayed twice due to a lot of feedback and errors in the initial lists.