<p>As I was looking through the USNWR med school rankings, I noticed that there are some different schools that rank well in the primary care portion as opposed to the research ranking. Can anyone explain what the difference is between the two? Is there one ranking that is better geared towards someone who wants to focus on laboratory research vs. someone who wants to be a physician, surgeon, etc? Thanks for the advice.</p>
<p>If you want to go into research/academic medicine you should be looking at the research rankings.</p>
<p>Thanks Colleges. But do you know if the opposite is also true? If I wanted to be a practicing physician/surgeon, would the primary care rankings be better, or are the research rankings still more helpful? I guess what I’m asking is: how relevant are the primary care rankings? Because all of the med schools you would name as first-tier (Harvard, Penn, etc) are all atop the research rankings, but the primary care rankings have schools that don’t have broad recognition.</p>
<p>1.) Research rankings are well-constructed if and only if you are interested in a research career. That is what they are designed for, and they do a good job of it.</p>
<p>2.) Primary care rankings are designed to serve as rankings for people interested in family practice and rural medicine. They are poorly constructed and do not serve even this purpose.</p>
<p>3.) Most students are interested in a clinical specialist ranking. US News does not construct such a ranking system. If they did, it would probably look more like the research ranking than the primary care ranking.</p>
<p>bdm,
Since USN&WR is not particularly good for family practice and rural medicine, how would you suggest someone heading in that direction evaluate Med schools? Thanks.</p>
<p>It’s a tricky question. I would use their ACTUAL family practice percentages (as listed in MSAR), along with just talking to the school.</p>
<p>The bottom line: it is usually possible to transfer from a highly-selective track to a family practice track. It’s much harder going the other way.</p>
<p>Most people are just happy to geti nto any American Med. School and usually apply to schools that are within their range of GPA / MCAT. Ranking does not provide this type of matching.</p>
<p>BDM, by track do you mean Med School or residency?</p>
<p>
Well, I’m not bdm, but if I was answering:</p>
<p>I’d ask first , how does the student know that will be their career focus? That they have zero interest in further specialization? After I got a satsifactory answer to that, I’d evaluate schools based on: </p>
<p>Location
Curriculum
Cost
Feel I got from the student body
Feel I got from the administration
Specific programs in my interest areas
Grades</p>
<p>And that’s about it that I’d find important.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input cur. She wants to work with underserved Hispanic communities, either in rural or urban. She has considerable experience in low income clinics since soph year in HS and has to date not shown any interest in further specialization or research. If people think she needs to look further into other possibilities, I’m open to suggestions. I’m only the mom and not dogmatic about what she should do (although she might be). So, if you have suggestions about things she should do in order to KNOW that this is the best route for her, I’m all ears. I still consider myself a novice at the ‘what it takes’ and ‘what it means’ to be a doctor, so don’t worry about talking down to me ;).</p>
<p>Re #8, both.</p>
<p>E.g.: if you pick a medical school as if you were looking for a highly selective research or specialist residency, you will be able to change your mind and do a family practice residency instead. The same is not true in reverse.</p>
<p>
I have no doubt about her interest level or her sincerity. But I have asked dozens of docs about their choice of specialty going into med school (as compared to what they do now). It has been eye-opening , to say the least. Family practice doc across the road from me went to Southwestern (our state research powerhouse) on a full scholarship. He started out wanting neurosurgery, was AOA, but fell in love with FP. My shrink went to UT-MB thinking “anything but psychiatry”. My surgeon wanted FP. My FP went to Baylor wanting something surgical. My Tulane opthalmologist wanted to be infectious disease. </p>
<p>I fully expected to find the “neurologist that wanted to be a neurosurgeon”, or the “cardiologist that wanted to be a CT surgeon” (and I know those, too) but it’s the ones that do full 180’s that amaze me.</p>
<p>My Law School classmates didn’t do this “I wanted to represent Shell but fell in love with being a prosecutor” thing nearly as much. ( I wonder why?)</p>
<p>I asked my D whether she had any more thoughts on career path (she’s interested in “something surgical, maybe cancer related, maybe plastic surgery, but certainly not anything Primary Care”. I’m wondering if she’ll do a 180. She has an incredible number of hours shadowing docs and volunteering in hospitals since junior year of high school but…what does she really know?</p>
<p>So, I guess what I’m saying is…if they are fortunate enough to earn the choice of where to attend, I think they should keep their options open by attending a school that does not limit their options.</p>
<p>One more. I know a rising third-year who did not get into her first choice Oregon Health and Science U. She has had third-world global doc written since high school and felt that particular med school would be perfect for her. She’s at Southwestern and has become enamored with research and is now wavering. Who knew?</p>
<p>The short answer is that the primary care rankings are pretty much useless. The US News research rankings are a broad reflection of overall prestige. It’s not perfect but it’s not entirely inaccurate either.</p>
<p>If your goal is to go into family medicine or primary care, you don’t need a ranking for that. You can get into those fields from any medical school. But, I would also say that your perspective is likely to change in medical school.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input, I totally agree that it’s best to keep your options and your mind open throughout this process.</p>