For too long, leaders in medical education have done a disservice to medical school applicants and to medical education itself by emphasizing and valuing an elitist emphasis on the reputation and wealth of schools, which have little or nothing to do with supporting the future physician workforce in achieving the highest standard of clinical skills and scientific acumen.
It is hardly a secret among medical school deans that the USNWR rankings are based on data not directly related to educational process, quality, and outcomes. Nor can they trust the veracity of the data that are provided, given the recent scandals reported in other professional schools and colleges that manipulate the formula to their own advantage.
But more importantly, the rankings fail to describe or measure any outcome of importance related to the quality of education provided by medical schools. In fact, the USNWR rankings do little more than reaffirm prestige and the financial prosperity of schools, promoting a cycle by which the wealthiest schools seek those students with the most privilege and wealth and vice versa, exacerbating disparities and creating competition that does nothing to advance the health of the public or the education of future physicians.