Watch full video: Why did HMS Withdraw From U.S. News & World Report Rankings? Explained
An annual list of the top medical schools in the nation no longer includes Harvard University Medical School. Let’s examine the specific reasons for HMS’s denial of merit and withdrawal from the US News and World Report rankings.
Dean George Daley, in a statement to the medical school community on Tuesday, explained the decision to withdraw HMS’s Merit Award, citing “philosophical” issues with the publication’s long-standing ranking.
After law school exodus, HMS deny merit, and the Dean felt obligated to act.
When deciding which institutions to apply to, parents and prospective students typically check this rating of the nation’s best medical schools.
The institution’s representative asserted that recent judgments taken by the deans of the law schools at Yale and Harvard had affected him and praised them as “bold and daring.”
Heather Gerken, dean of Yale Law School, pulled her school off the organization’s roster of law schools in November.
The organization announced its decision to stop providing data to US Report for tabulation and denounced the ranking methodology as fundamentally flawed and dissuading funding for low-income children.
According to Heather Gerken, dean of Yale Law School, the current system encourages universities to provide financial aid to students who excel academically rather than to low-income applicants who are more deserving.
HMS deny Merit: The annual compilation is currently being attacked as “flawed” by people who think it negatively affects students’ opportunities to enroll in Ph.D. programs, be accepted to graduate school, and acquire jobs.
Prior to this, Harvard Medical School was ranked #1 in the country for research but eighth for general care.
According to Dean Daley, the school decided not to provide data to the media industry for its tabulations because Harvard and Yale law schools recently decided to drop out of its list of the best law schools due to concerns about equity.
Daley, a longstanding HMS faculty member who was named the school’s dean in 2017, said rankings “cannot authentically reflect the lofty expectations for educational excellence, graduate preparation, and compassionate and equitable patient care that we try to create in our medical education program.”
Dean claims that HMS no longer provides news to US news organizations or international news agencies.
Rankings are flawed, according to Gerken.
Gerken claims that the current ranking undervalues programs that encourage low-paying public interest jobs and initiatives to assist low-income pupils.
The U.S. News rankings, according to Gerken, are seriously flawed.
They undermine initiatives that support jobs in the public interest, promote need-based aid, and draw working-class students into the field.
Its strategy “stands squarely in the path of advancement” in addition to failing to promote the legal profession.
The dean eventually came to the conclusion that the system undermines altruistic efforts to give students opportunity for schools to value reputation over rankings.
Disputations in the US news rankings:
She went on to say of the University’s efforts, “In reality, in recent years we have committed tremendous energy and capital in critical projects that make our law school a better environment, but perversely work to decrease our grades.”
She also criticized universities for awarding scholarships to kids with the best grades as opposed to those who truly need the money.
According to Gerken, “this strongly weighted metric creates immense pressure on schools to overlook talented children,” particularly those who cannot afford pricey test preparation courses.
“At a time when questions of economic equality are at the forefront of our national conversation, only Harvard and Yale law schools continue to provide financial aid solely on the basis of need.”
The dean also pointed out that graduates who took up fellowships offered by the school for work in the public interest or who moved on to enroll in more coursework appeared to be classified as unemployed in the US News rating.
Numerous academic institutions, including Harvard Law, have recently challenged U.S. News & World Report for having ties to the firm since it started publishing these rankings in the 1980s.
Along with Yale and Harvard, two of the greatest law schools in the nation, many more institutions have withdrawn from the rankings.
These withdrawals come as a result of debates around US News’ rating methodology.
How did the students respond?
As WolfHowlz said,
I admit that I anticipated this when I recalled learning that Harvard Law left on the same day that Yale Law left. Harvard doesn’t need US N&R to tell them they are among the top 10 in almost anything. Sincerely, aside from some small stats being omitted or something, I don’t think anything will change.
Posted Thecaramelbandit,
HMS denies merit, which I believe is a wise decision. removes any incentive for USNWR to work the statistics. If you don’t have to worry about that final 0.01 GPA and whatever for a student you want to accept, it might be liberating for admissions and teaching.
Added Nanocyborgasm:
Harvard gains nothing since that study is complete nonsense.
In response to DentateGyros,
I’m not sure how I feel about it. On the one hand, since so much of USNWR is nitpicking and largely irrelevant, I’m happy to see it being downplayed. However, given that Harvard is Harvard, adopting this stance is incredibly simple for them. USNWR has a good reputation, which is something you don’t need to know, but some other organizations might truly gain from it. Prior to entering medicine, I had no knowledge of the reputations of Michigan, Sinai, UCSF, etc., and USNWR fills in that knowledge gap for someone without any prior ties to medical.
housemd4life said,
That’s accurate. While certain schools, like UCSF, are among the best in the medical field, they are not well-known outside. Personally, I wasn’t aware of UCSF till my undergrad years.
posted by throwaway 9494949
This is most likely because the Supreme Court may decide to abolish affirmative action in the upcoming months. It enables you to continue with affirmative action in all but name without damaging yourself in the rankings, similar to when law schools withdrew from the rankings. Law school rankings, which will eventually be abandoned after 2025, heavily relied on the LSAT. Similar to this, the MCAT has a significant impact on rankings. As some may recall, when NYU made tuition free, their average MCAT and GPA scores increased, and they saw a rise in rankings as a result.
housemd4life said,
Hopefully, medical schools won’t make the MCAT optional. It’s the only option for those of us in difficult majors (CS, engineering, chemistry, math) with low GPAs to demonstrate to admissions committees our scientific literacy.
Duct Tape Tricorn said,
This is most likely because the Supreme Court may decide to abolish affirmative action in the upcoming months. It enables you to continue with affirmative action in all but name without damaging yourself in the rankings, similar to when law schools withdrew from the rankings.
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