Academic Medicine Open Forum

The number of medical schools pulling out of medical school rankings by U.S.News is a long time coming. The conversation is quickly turning to providing prospective medical school students and residency program directors (who sometimes rely on U.S.News rankings to select applicants) a more robust and holistic profile of their medical school and students. Wondering what is being discussed at  your institution and how your faculty and marketing folks might be responding.

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Marc Kaplan
Vice President, Senior Associate Dean
The Mount Sinai Health System, Icahn School of Medicine
Marc.Kaplan@mssm.edu
646-605-2180
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From the AAMC's perspective, we encourage medical schools to regularly collect internal data and assess themselves against their own institution's missions.  The more medical school leaders concentrate on their institutions' missions, the better the academic medicine community is positioned to provide for the health care needs of its communities and the nation.

Thanks for starting this conversation in the community, Marc.

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Alison Whelan
Chief Academic Officer
Association of American Medical Colleges
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-30-2023 09:19:47 AM
From: Marc Kaplan
Subject: U.S.News and World Report

The number of medical schools pulling out of medical school rankings by U.S.News is a long time coming. The conversation is quickly turning to providing prospective medical school students and residency program directors (who sometimes rely on U.S.News rankings to select applicants) a more robust and holistic profile of their medical school and students. Wondering what is being discussed at  your institution and how your faculty and marketing folks might be responding.

------------------------------
Marc Kaplan
Vice President, Senior Associate Dean
The Mount Sinai Health System, Icahn School of Medicine
Marc.Kaplan@mssm.edu
646-605-2180
------------------------------

The AAMC Holistic Review team has several resources available to support schools in developing and implementing mission-driven, equity-focused admissions processes. These might help you frame conversations and communications about your school's unique mission and goals to prospective applicants. Particular items of interest include the Holistic Review Primer for Admissions Officers and a webinar on Socially Accountable Admissions featuring the UC-Davis School of Medicine. Additionally, the article, Enrollment Management in Undergraduate Medical School Admissions: A Complementary Framework to Holistic Review for Increasing Diversity in Medicine, lays out a conceptual framework integrating mission, market, means, and metrics that can help schools strategically and equitably advance their missions.  These resources can be found on the Holistic Review webpage. If anyone has questions about these resources or would like to discuss anything further, please contact me.

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Amy Addams
Director, Student Affairs Alignment & Holistic Review
Association of American Medical Colleges
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-30-2023 09:19:47 AM
From: Marc Kaplan
Subject: U.S.News and World Report

The number of medical schools pulling out of medical school rankings by U.S.News is a long time coming. The conversation is quickly turning to providing prospective medical school students and residency program directors (who sometimes rely on U.S.News rankings to select applicants) a more robust and holistic profile of their medical school and students. Wondering what is being discussed at  your institution and how your faculty and marketing folks might be responding.

------------------------------
Marc Kaplan
Vice President, Senior Associate Dean
The Mount Sinai Health System, Icahn School of Medicine
Marc.Kaplan@mssm.edu
646-605-2180
------------------------------

Two older but foundational Academic Medicine articles critiquing the U.S. News & World Report rankings might be of interest too. 

• America's Best Medical Schools: A Critique of the U.S. News & World Report Rankings 
• America's Best Medical Schools: A Renewed Critique of the U.S. News & World Report Rankings

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Toni Gallo
Manager, Medical Education Home
Association of American Medical Colleges
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-30-2023 09:19:47 AM
From: Marc Kaplan
Subject: U.S.News and World Report

The number of medical schools pulling out of medical school rankings by U.S.News is a long time coming. The conversation is quickly turning to providing prospective medical school students and residency program directors (who sometimes rely on U.S.News rankings to select applicants) a more robust and holistic profile of their medical school and students. Wondering what is being discussed at  your institution and how your faculty and marketing folks might be responding.

------------------------------
Marc Kaplan
Vice President, Senior Associate Dean
The Mount Sinai Health System, Icahn School of Medicine
Marc.Kaplan@mssm.edu
646-605-2180
------------------------------

Since 2012, the AAMC has maintained the Medical School Admission Requirements™ (MSAR®), a database-driven website with individual profiles for each AAMC member medical school in the United States and Canada. The data comes directly from the MCAT exam, AMCAS Application, and other data sources. Medical schools can include information about their schools, including unique combined degree programs, the interview day and process, MCAT and prerequisite policies, and support systems at their school. All information can be updated throughout the year. Over the years, MSAR has become a crucial admission and advising tool, adding data or information to assist pre-health advisors and learners as they prepare for application. MSAR is available to all learners, however, some information and features are only available via a subscription. Complimentary access is given to Fee Assistance Program recipients, medical school admissions officers, as well as national NAAHP pre-health advisors (as part of their membership). Starting during the pandemic, in response to learners' needs, we began sharing 22 aggregated MSAR Reports previously only available to pre-health advisors and medical school admissions staff, free of charge, to all. The continued goal of MSAR is to ensure current, accurate, and timely information and data is available to aspiring medical students so they can make informed, strategic decisions about when and where to apply.  For more information about MSAR, please contact me.

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Tami Levin
Director, Premed & Applicant Resources
Association of American Medical Colleges
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-30-2023 09:19:47 AM
From: Marc Kaplan
Subject: U.S.News and World Report

The number of medical schools pulling out of medical school rankings by U.S.News is a long time coming. The conversation is quickly turning to providing prospective medical school students and residency program directors (who sometimes rely on U.S.News rankings to select applicants) a more robust and holistic profile of their medical school and students. Wondering what is being discussed at  your institution and how your faculty and marketing folks might be responding.

------------------------------
Marc Kaplan
Vice President, Senior Associate Dean
The Mount Sinai Health System, Icahn School of Medicine
Marc.Kaplan@mssm.edu
646-605-2180
------------------------------

Wanted to share this recent article in the news in case you missed it -- https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2023/02/22/colleges-quitting-us-news-rankings/11274010002/. Our very own @Tami Levin is quoted talking about the AAMC's MSAR database. 

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Stephanie Weiner
Director, Digital Strategy & Engagement
Association of American Medical Colleges
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-30-2023 09:19:47 AM
From: Marc Kaplan
Subject: U.S.News and World Report

The number of medical schools pulling out of medical school rankings by U.S.News is a long time coming. The conversation is quickly turning to providing prospective medical school students and residency program directors (who sometimes rely on U.S.News rankings to select applicants) a more robust and holistic profile of their medical school and students. Wondering what is being discussed at  your institution and how your faculty and marketing folks might be responding.

------------------------------
Marc Kaplan
Vice President, Senior Associate Dean
The Mount Sinai Health System, Icahn School of Medicine
Marc.Kaplan@mssm.edu
646-605-2180
------------------------------

Perhaps prospective students will find something helpful here: Article posted today by AAMCNews looks at some ways they can assess which schools are the best fit for them, rather than relying on rankings. 

As more medical schools withdraw from the U.S. News rankings, how should prospective students decide where to apply?
https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/more-medical-schools-withdraw-us-news-rankings-how-should-prospective-students-decide-where-apply

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Patrick Boyle
Staff Writer
Association of American Medical Colleges
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-30-2023 09:19:47 AM
From: Marc Kaplan
Subject: U.S.News and World Report

The number of medical schools pulling out of medical school rankings by U.S.News is a long time coming. The conversation is quickly turning to providing prospective medical school students and residency program directors (who sometimes rely on U.S.News rankings to select applicants) a more robust and holistic profile of their medical school and students. Wondering what is being discussed at  your institution and how your faculty and marketing folks might be responding.

------------------------------
Marc Kaplan
Vice President, Senior Associate Dean
The Mount Sinai Health System, Icahn School of Medicine
Marc.Kaplan@mssm.edu
646-605-2180
------------------------------