Becoming a medical professional is a noble undertaking. The best doctors, nurses, psychologists and other medical workers save people’s lives every day, contribute to global health and ensure that their patients’ wellbeing is in the best possible shape.
But it’s incredibly challenging to become a medical practitioner of any sort. You need good grades, dedication and an attitude of always striving to be your best. If this sounds like you, then you’ll probably become a great healer in whatever capacity you wish.
However, what a lot of people that are looking to enter medicine don’t always realize is where the best studying opportunities are. Medical degrees are highly competitive, and even though medicine has been taught for thousands of years, many institutions disagree on the best teaching practices.
The great news is that the information in this article will provide you with everything that you need to know to get a great career in medicine. The difficult task of choosing the correct college for you will become significantly easier with the facts presented below. Selecting the best college will be the first step on your long medical career. It’s vital that you get this first stage right, as it will shape how you practice medicine and what opportunities are open to you upon your degree’s completion. Picking the right college, degree and area of focus will be instrumental in making your challenging medical career easier and more enjoyable.
Through highlighting the best parts of the best medical colleges, we’ve created a resource that is handy for all aspiring medical professionals. This article will outline which colleges are doing it right and how their education is impacting the wider medical world. It will provide for you a set of standards that you can compare with your own college options and highlight important things to consider that you may have been neglecting.
Methodology
In creating this list, we’ve aimed to provide for you a resource that will show you what is required to get in to a medical college, what the years of study are like and what you can expect to gain afterward. This is a complex set of information to put together; therefore, we’ve compiled our research from a range of highly respectable sources. After consulting these sources, we’ve looked into the college’s medical degrees ourselves. We’ve checked claims such as graduation rates, employment rates and quality rates across the board, ensuring that the information provided is correct.
The above lists have used a range of methods in ranking their medical colleges. Some have conducted rigorous studies of the college’s facilities. Others have interviewed medical professionals and compiled a consensus of opinion. However, our list is the only one that combines all styles and places them into a consistent set of rankings.
We’ve ranked the following colleges in order of these priorities: combined highest score in the articles listed above, information showing evidence of innovation, medical achievements to date and future career opportunities offered.
The list of lists, ranked from 30 to one, is here:
Figuring out where to apply? These top, accredited schools offer a variety of online degrees. Consider one of these accredited programs, and discover their value today.
Topping
US News's
best research medical schools list,
QS/Top Universities's
best medical colleges list and
Ranker's
best medical schools list is Harvard. The college also fared well on
Business Insider's
medical professional interview generated list, where it placed 16th and on
US News's
best primary care medical schools list, where it placed 12th. These strong ratings across the board mean that Harvard also tops our list. But getting into one of the top medical degrees in one of the top colleges in America, is hard. For the
incoming class of 2021
, 6,749 people applied, 885 were interviewed and 165 were accepted. Their average GPA was 3.9, and 71% were science majors. To date, 15 of Harvard Medical School's students and faculty have won Nobel Prizes.
This college places near the top of most methodology lists.
US News
considers it to be the second best research medical school but places it at 26th for primary care.
Top Universities/QS
places it at fifth.
Business Insider
places it at 11th.
Ranker
places it at second. One of the major advantages that Johns Hopkins has for students is its strong links to local careers.
Business Insider
reports that the college is connected to a range of affiliated hospitals, allowing graduating students to seamlessly enter the next stage of their career upon completing their degrees.
This college is one of only two to feature in the top 20 of every methodology list.
US News
places it at fifth for research and second for primary care.
Top Universities/QS
places it at joint 11th.
Business Insider
places it at second.
Ranker
places it at sixth. The college has put together a
profile
of its successful applicants, detailing what kind of person makes their grade. The average grade point average of a University of California, San Francisco medical student is 3.81. Also, in 2017, the college took on more women than men, with 57% of new students being female.
University of Washington tops
Business Insider's
medical professional interview generated list, meaning that the consensus among practitioners is that this is the top medical college! It is also joint 11th
US News's
top research medical schools list, third on its primary care list, 24th on
Top Universities/QS's
list and 14th on
Ranker's
list. One factor that has allowed it to claim the top space on
Business Insider's
list is its
high percentage of student matriculation when
compared to other American medical schools. In 2017, it accepted 332 students into its medical degree program, which is significantly higher than the top college on this list.
Every methodology list places University of Michigan, Ann Arbor within the top 30, but at different areas of the spectrum.
Top Universities/QS
places it at 27th.
Business Insider
places it at 12th.
Ranker
places it at 11th. And
US News
ranks it at 15th for research and seventh for primary care. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor is particularly
proud
of being one of the first medical schools to allow women and minorities to study. It has continued this inclusiveness to the present day; currently, 54% of
students are female
.
This New York City based college is a strong performer on every list.
US News
ranks it at joint 11th for medical research and 43rd for primary care (On the same lists, the local rival, New York University, places higher for medical research but lower for primary care.) It also places at 14th on
Top Universities/QS's
list, 10th on
Business Insider's
list and seventh on
Ranker's
list. The Columbia University medical center
gets almost $1.5 billion
, which is almost half of the total college budget. Its medical center contains a range of schools with unique specialisms, such as dentistry, public health and nursing.
US News
considers Yale University to be the 11th best medical research college and 51st best primary care college.
Top Universities/QS
places it at eighth best in the world.
Business Insider
places it at 15th.
Ranker
places it at 9th. What makes Yale's medical education
unique
is that it is based around "small seminar, conference and tutorial settings, and requires student self-evaluation, independent thinking and investigation. Additionally, the college has
state of the art medical equipment and technology
that assists with whole-genome sequencing, mass spectronomy, high resolution image analysis and more.
Duke University has a strong ranking on every methodology list.
US News
places it at 10th for medical research and 26th for primary care.
QS/Top Universities
places it at 20th in the world.
Business Insider
places it at 17th in America.
Ranker
places it at fifth in America. Duke runs its medical programs differently. For example,
students devote their entire third year
to a scholarly research project, which is a year earlier than most colleges. Their educational model is called the
Foundation for Excellence Curriculum
, and the college has been developing and improving it over the last 40 years.
Coming in at joint sixth on
US News's
research medical schools list, 32nd on
US News's
primary care list, 48th on
QS/Top Universities's
list, 24th on
Business Insider's
list and 12th on
Ranker's
list is Mayo Medical School. This college has
three campuses
based at Florida, Minnesota and Arizona, with each offering incredible training. It's one of the colleges with the most even faculty to student ratios, with 3.4 faculty members for every student. This allows the students to undertake study that is closely observed by their professors. .
This college manages to place at 14th on
US News's
medical research college list, joint 14th on the same site's primary care list, 36th on
Top Universities/QS's
list, 22nd on
Business Insider's
list and 16th on
Ranker's
list. University of Pittsburgh's
page
that breaks down the profiles of its students showcases some interesting tips about applying to medical school in general. Of their current cohort, 76% performed volunteer work of a non medical nature, 87% performed volunteer work that was of a medical nature, 94% had research experience and 78% had physician shadowing experience.
BU ranks at 23rd place on
Business Insider's
list, 36th on
Ranker's
list, 49th on
Top Universities/QS's
list and 29th for research and 26th for primary care on
US News's
lists. This relative consistency show that while Boston University may not be the best medical college in the US, it definitely offers incredible opportunities. Also, you can use a breakdown of Boston's various medical school's admission requirements to see which options are most readily available to you nationally. For example, its school of medicine, which trains MDs,
has students with a mean
GPA of 3.71. Its school of
dental medicine students
have an average GPA of 3.40. And its school of public health
master's students
have an average GPA of 3.3.
Ranking at 21st on
Business Insider,
24th on
Ranker,
25th for medical research and joint 39th for primary care on
US News
is Case Western Reserve University. The only list that disagrees with these rankings is
Top Universities/QS,
which places it between 101st to 150th. However, one thing that could really boost this college's rankings in future years is the 2019 opening of its
new medical sciences building
. Once this opens, the college's schools of medicine, dental medicine and nursing will be in the same structure, encouraging collaboration and achievement.
Stanford has generally high placements across the methodology lists.
US News
places it at fourth for medical research and 32nd for primary care.
Top Universities/QS
places it at fourth.
Ranker
places it at third.
Business Insider
does not feature it. Stanford certainly has
many claims
to being at the forefront of innovation in medicine. For example, the college's students and professors were the first people that synthesized biologically active DNA into a test tube, performed the first human heart transplant, performed the first successful human combined heart/lung transplant and oversaw the first use of gene expression profiling to predict cancer outcomes.
UCLA ranks at joint eighth place on
US News's
medical research schools list, fourth place on its primary care list, seventh on
Top Universities/QS's
list and 10th on
Ranker's
list. It isn't featured on
Business Insider's
list
.
UCLA has
four key value
s that make up its mission, which are as follows: To create world leaders in health and science. To discover the basis for health cures for disease. To optimize health through community partnerships. To heal humankind one patient at a time.
Placing at joint sixth on
US News
's medical research list, eighth on
US News's
primary care list, 16th on
Top Universities/QS's
list and fourth on
Ranker's
list is University of Pennsylvania. It isn't featured on
Business Insider's
list. University of Pennsylvania was in fact America's
first medical school
and home to the country's first teaching hospital. In the centuries since, University of Pennsylvania has been pioneering and innovating a range of medical practices. Today, this college has a worldwide reach. Its global health programs are active in 55 countries. Therefore, the college is ideal for someone seeking medical career opportunities across the world!
This college is at eighth place on
US News's
medical research college list, 10th place on its primary care list, 38th place on
Top Universities/QS's
list and eighth place on
Ranker's
list
.
It isn't on
Business Insider's
list. Washington University in St. Louis has earned these accolades for a
number of reasons
. Faculty and students filed 209 patents in 2016, 18 Nobel Prize winners have been involved with the school and almost 70% of current faculty members are also actively treating patients.
University of Minnesota places at 46th on
US News's
research schools list, 12th on its primary care list, 13th on
Business Insider's
list, 33rd on
Ranker's
list and 51st to 100th on
Top Universities/QS's
list. The college's
mission
is to combine its clinical and scientific strengths to give patients the best possible care. It's also dedicated to impacting the field of medicine for the benefit of everyone. This college has a strong retention rate of graduating students staying in Minnesota. In fact, 70% of the state's physicians trained at the college.
New York University polarizes the methodology lists.
US News
places it at third for research and 53rd for primary care.
Top Universities/QS
places it at 33rd.
Ranker
places it at 20th.
Business Insider
does not feature it at all. One of the main
advantages
that NYU has over many of its competitors is that it offers an incredibly flexible curriculum and provides a range of research opportunities for current students. The college is also committed to screening applicants in an holistic manner. What this means is that they
consider a student's achievements
outside of high school qualifications and conduct a range of mini interviews.
Brown secures consistent rankings across the methodology lists.
Business Insider
places it at 20th.
Ranker
places it at 30th.
US News
places it at 32nd for medical research and 39th for primary care.
Top Universities/QS
places it between 51st to 100th. However, a look at Brown's recent innovative developments shows its medical school to be top rate. For example, Brown medical scientists recently
discovered
a new class of stronger antibiotics, developed a new way of
imaging moving bone and body tissue
and
fought the government
to allow children to access new life saving treatments.
This college ranks highly on most methodology lists. Its best score is on
Business Insider,
where it is placed third.
US News
places it at 28th for research medical schools and 14th for primary care medical schools.
Ranker
places it at 28th.
Top Universities/QS
is an outlier, placing it between 101st to 150th. University of Wisconsin Madison is certainly proud of its research history and toutes a
range of accomplishments
, such as having the first research team to derive a human embryonic stem cell line. However, its primary care work is also important, as can be seen in one of its
latest products
, a neighborhood map to guide medical decision making for people of different socioeconomic backgrounds.
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill tops
US News's
best primary care medical schools list and comes at 23rd place on its research medical schools list.
Ranker
places it at 22nd.
Business Insider
puts it at seventh place. However, it doesn't feature on the
Top Universities/QS
list. And University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill is
crystal clear
about the type of candidate that would make an idea medical student at its college. It is looking for people that are always striving for more and to better themselves. Therefore, an applicant needs to have not just good grades and records but also commitment, extracurricular interests, life experience and more.
This college ranks at 17th place on
Ranker,
43rd place on
Top Universities/QS,
16th on
US News's
medical research list and joint fifth on its primary care list. Baylor College of Medicine is based in Houston, Texas, and is the most affordable college on this list. For instance, one year of graduate program tuition
costs $22,000
, whereas one of the most affordable similar programs at our number one choice on this list costs
$41,000 per year
. Baylor College of Medicine definitely offers value for money, as can be seen in its
winning of numerous awards
in recent years.
University of Chicago places at 13th on
Ranker's
list, 26th on
Top Universities/QS's
list, joint 18th on
US News's
research list and joint 39th on its primary care list. It isn't on
Business Insider's
list. University of Chicago's medicine department is handled in a unique manner in that the college has
grouped the medicine and biological sciences departments together
. This approach has led to
many medical breakthroughs
, such as the invention of blood banking. If you want to mix your medical education with biological sciences, then Chicago could be your best choice.
University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus
This college's medical school has vastly different scores on the methodology lists.
Business Insider
ranks it as the fourth best in the country.
US News
ranks it at joint fifth for primary care but joint 32nd for medical research.
QS
places it between 51st to 100th.
Ranker
does not include it. The college's primary care work is definitely top rate. It has
five affiliated hospitals
that students gain practice within. These hospitals often top ranks of the best medical centers. The college is also expanding its reach, having most recently opened a medical center for veterans in 2018.
Placing at 21st on
Ranker,
19th on
Top Universities/QS,
22nd on
US News's
medical research list and 17th on its primary care list is University of California, San Diego. It did not make
Business Insider's
list. At this college, students have the opportunity to really make an impact upon needing communities. This is because the
institution has a student run free clinic
that has helped countless people who otherwise couldn't get medical help. Also, University of California, San Diego is certainly undertaking some unique areas of research that will interest many people. For example, one of the college's geneticists
recently successfully grew neanderthal minibrains into petri dishes
, which will increase the understanding of the influence that ancient DNA has had on humans.
This Illinois based college ranks at 15th on
Ranker,
20th on
US News's
medical research list, joint 21st on
US News's
primary care list and 51st to 100th on
Top Universities/QS's
list. Of the
college's entering class of 2021,
their average GPA is 3.89, and the total class size is 161. Northwestern University's students have a strong spirit of helping the community, and the college
facilitates
this by providing opportunities to participate in underserved communities, youth programs, government policy advocacy and more.
This Portland based medical institution is well regarded by
Business Insider's
currently working medical practitioners, who place it as the fifth best college for medicine in the USA. It is also highly placed on both
US News
lists, where it ranks joint 29th for research and joint fifth for primary care.
Ranker
has it in a slightly less prominent position, at 43rd. It didn't make
Top Universities/QS's
list. OHSU has a
range of medical schools
that people can attend, such as dentistry, nursing and pharmacy, meaning that this college is a great choice for a medical professional who wants to enter a very specific area of study.
Business Insider
gives University of Iowa its highest ranking of the methodology lists, at eighth place.
Ranker
places the college at 44th.
US News
places it at joint 32nd for research and joint 21st for primary care.
Top Universities/QS
places it between 201st to 250th. The college is particularly proud about five of its scientists
being awarded
the 2018 Warren Alpert Foundation Prize. The scientists received this award due to creating life altering treatments for cystic fibrosis. Additionally, the college has a
range of medical specialisms
due to its centers of care and research. These include a comprehensive cancer center, a muscular dystrophy research center, a center for macular degeneration, an institute for biomedical imaging, a neuroscience institute and a vision research institute.
Both
US News
lists place University of Rochester at joint 32nd place, meaning that its research and primary care services are equal.
Ranker
places it at 47th. It doesn't feature on
Top Universities/QS
.
Business Insider's
medical professional sourced list places it much higher, at sixth place. The professionals commend the college for getting students into some of the world's top residency programs. Some of this college's greatest health related
achievements
include pioneering a new life saving brain cancer treatment, creating a vaccine that has almost wiped out meningitis in preschool children, creating a cardiac defibrillator that has significantly reduced death rates and much more.
Indiana University really polarizes the methodology lists.
Business Insider,
which interviewed a range of medical professionals, places it the highest, at ninth place.
US News
ranks its medical research at joint 50th and primary care at joint 46th.
Ranker
places it at 41st. However,
Top Universities/QS
only ranks it at between 201st to 250th. The college's
areas of expertise
are alzheimer's disease, global health, personalized medicine and traumatic brain injury. It's also the largest medical school in America, with over
613,360 square feet of space
dedicated to research space.
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