U.S. News & World Report assessed medical schools across the country for both the quality of research and primary-care training.
Posted March 16, 2011
U.S. News & World Report has ranked UC Davis School of Medicine among America's best medical schools. The weekly news magazine's annual listing appeared today on the publication's website and will be published in its guidebook, America's Best Graduate Schools 2012.
U.S. News & World Report assessed medical schools across the country for both the quality of their research training and primary-care training. This year's rankings place UC Davis School of Medicine at 42nd for research and 41st for primary care.
The 126 medical schools fully accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, plus the 20 schools of osteopathic medicine fully accredited by the American Osteopathic Association, were surveyed for the ranking of research medical schools; 123 schools provided the data needed to calculate the research rankings based on the indicators used in the research model. The same medical and osteopathic schools were surveyed for the primary-care ranking; 123 schools provided the data needed to calculate the primary-care ranking.
Both rankings are based on a weighted average of indicators, four of them common to both models. The research model accounts for research activity; the primary-care model adds a measure of the proportion of graduates entering primary-care specialties. The rankings were based on measures of quality as determined by:
- A peer assessment score derived from ratings by medical and osteopathic school deans
- Deans of academic affairs, and heads of internal medicine or the directors of admissions
- An assessment score by residency program directors
- Total dollar amount of National Institutes of Health research grants
- Average research activity per clinical faculty
- Primary-care rate — the percentage of medical or osteopathic school graduates entering primary-care residencies in the fields of family practice, pediatrics and internal medicine averaged over the 2008, 2009 and 2010 graduating classes
- Student selectivity, as measured by mean Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) score, mean undergraduate grade point average (GPA) and acceptance rate
- Faculty resources
- Overall rank
- Specialty rankings based solely on ratings by medical school deans and senior faculty from the list of schools surveyed. They each identified up to 10 schools offering the best programs in each specialty area.
The UC Davis School of Medicine is among five medical schools in the University of California system, including the schools in San Diego, Irvine, Los Angeles and San Francisco. For more information about the methodology and individual listings, visit the U.S. News & World Report website.