It may seem like déjà vu, as not much has changed regarding the rankings of top U.S. medical schools over the past 2 years.
The University of Washington, Seattle retained its ranking from the U.S. News & World Report as the top medical school for primary care for 2023. Also repeating its 2022 standing as the top medical school for research is Harvard University.
In the primary care ranking, the top 10 schools after the University of Washington were the University of California, San Francisco; the University of Minnesota; Oregon Health and Science University; the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; the University of Colorado; the University of Nebraska Medical Center; the University of California, Davis; and Harvard. Three schools tied for the no. 10 slot: the University of Kansas Medical Center, the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical Center, and the University of Pittsburgh.
The top five schools with the most graduates practicing in primary care specialties are Des Moines University, Iowa (50.6%); the University of Pikeville (Ky.) (46.8%); Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, California (46%); William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine, Hattiesburg, Mississippi (44.7%); and A.T. Still University of Health Sciences, Kirksville, Missouri (44.3%).
Best for research
When it comes to schools ranking the highest for research, the Grossman School of Medicine at New York University takes the no. 2 spot after Harvard. Three schools were tied for the no. 3 spot: Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of California, San Francisco; and two schools for no. 6: Duke University and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. No. 8 goes to Stanford University, followed by the University of Washington. Rounding out the top 10 is Yale University.
Specialty ranks
The top-ranked schools in eight specialties are as follows:
- Anesthesiology: Harvard
- Family medicine: the University of Washington
- Internal medicine: Johns Hopkins
- Obstetrics/gynecology: Harvard
- Pediatrics: the University of Pennsylvania (Perelman)
- Psychiatry: Harvard
- Radiology: Johns Hopkins
- Surgery: Harvard
Most diverse student body
If you’re looking for a school with significant minority representation, Howard University, Washington, D.C., ranked highest (76.8%), followed by the Wertheim College of Medicine at Florida International University, Miami (43.2%). The University of California, Davis (40%), Sacramento, California, and the University of Vermont (Larner), Burlington (14.1%), tied for third.
Three southern schools take top honors for the most graduates practicing in underserved areas, starting with the University of South Carolina (70.9%), followed by the University of Mississippi (66.2%), and East Tennessee State University (Quillen), Johnson City, Tennessee (65.8%).
The colleges with the most graduates practicing in rural areas are William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine (28%), the University of Pikesville (25.6%), and the University of Mississippi (22.1%).