By Diane Johnson
Going to medical school requires a great deal of commitment from an individual, and doesn’t come cheap. Receiving a medical degree can cost up to $200,000, and the average medical graduate leaves medical school with a hefty $100,000 in debt. How can you decide whether your money is going toward a degree from a great medical school? One way is to consult a list of school rankings. Although this is the easiest way, there is also some debate over these rankings because faculty and technology change year by year. In addition, it’s hard to quantify something as “the best” when it has so many factors. Despite the fact that rankings can vary, here are the generally-accepted top 5 medical colleges in the U.S.
1. Harvard University
Harvard Medical School is known as the most esteemed medical school in the nation, and rightfully so; Harvard Medical School has produced winners of the Nobel Prize. Furthermore, Harvard claims to use the most modern technologies in their studies of medicine. Acceptance rates are slim—only a small 5% of applicants—and the school requires an average MCAT score of 11.7.
2. Johns Hopkins University
Founded in 1893, Johns Hopkins University has been considered one of the top medical colleges for decades. Moreover, the university’s teaching hospital, Johns Hopkins Hospital is ranked as the best hospital in the nation. Johns Hopkins University has consistently rotated between the top first and second spots for the best medical college with Harvard University.
3. Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, has been ranked among the top ten medical schools since 1987. The school has over 1,000 students, and offers doctorate degrees in biomedical research. In addition, seventeen Nobel laureates are associated with the school.
4. Duke University
Located in Durham, North Carolina, the Duke University School of Medicine is best known for its student-faculty ratios; there are only 100 MD students per class and over 2,000 faculty members. Duke University is also one of the harder medical schools to get into; only 4.3% of applicants were accepted for the 2009 class.
5. University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (also known as “Penn Med”) was the first medical school in the nation. The U.S. News & World Report ranked the University of Pennsylvania as #2 overall for research-based medical schools in the nation for 2010. The school is recognized internationally for its research in health and medicine.
Diane Johnson primarily writes about online education, pell grants and anything else that interests her. Her passions include world travel, reading, current events, and sports. She blogs at http://www.classesandcareers.com.
