The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has announced it will no longer participate in the U.S. News rankings.
Three of New York’s top-ranked medical schools have joined the growing list of universities abandoning their participation in the annual U.S. News & World Report rankings.
Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Weill Cornell Medicine have all announced that they will no longer participate in the medical school rankings.
The series of schools deciding to reject the rankings program by no longer submitting data started with Harvard Medical School, which announced its decision Jan. 17. Other medical schools that have dropped the rankings include the ones at the University of Chicago, the University of Pennsylvania and Stanford University.
Not all of the New York area’s schools are ditching the rankings.
The NYU Grossman School of Medicine, which recently ranked No. 2 for research, has not announced plans to end its participation.
“These academic medical centers made a decision that is best for their institutions,” a spokesperson for the school said. “We will do what is in the best interest of NYU Grossman School of Medicine and our students.”
The Albert Einstein College of Medicine “will continue to assess its participation in medical school rankings but has no plans to withdraw from any national ranking processes at this time,” according to a spokesperson.
So far, most institutions that are ditching the rankings have emphasized that their health systems are still participating in the U.S. News Best Hospitals rankings, as the list uses different methodologies.
Mount Sinai, however, said it plans to re-evaluate its participation in all U.S. News rankings over time, and others could follow suit.
Despite consistently placing high on the list—Columbia was rated third in research—many universities are expressing a desire to be judged on more wide-ranging criteria, including the diversity of their student population, commitment to social justice, research accomplishments, societal impact and values of students and faculty. The schools argue such factors provide a more accurate and equitable way for prospective students to evaluate colleges.
“The U.S. News rankings reduce us to a number that does not do justice to these profoundly important attributes, instead perpetuating a narrow focus on achievement that is linked to reputation and is driven by legacy and privilege,” Drs. Dennis Charney and David Muller, deans at the Icahn School of Medicine, said in a news release.
The rankings rely on a number of factors including student test scores, graduation rates and debt levels, as well as faculty salaries and per-student spending—which critics say are heavily influenced by institutional wealth. College presidents, provosts and admission deans also rate the academic quality of their peer schools in a survey as part of the ranking.
U.S. News’ mission is to help the millions of students who look at its medical school rankings make decisions by providing data and solutions, company Chief Executive Eric Gertler said in a statement responding to Harvard’s decision.
“We know that comparing diverse academic institutions across a common data set is challenging,” Gertler said, “and that is why we have consistently stated that the rankings should be one component in a prospective student’s decision-making process.”
The medical schools’ withdrawal follows a similar pattern among major law schools throughout the country that boycotted U.S. News rankings, including Columbia and NYU.
The Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, which ranked 53rd for research in the latest rankings, was not able to be reached for comment but has not publicly announced plans to end its participation in the rankings.
Modern Healthcare’s Mari Devereaux contributed reporting.
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