On April 8, U.S. News and World Reportreleased its annual rankings of graduate schools. Out of the nation's 125 accredited medical schools, the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine was ranked second in the nation, after Harvard University.
On the scale of one to 100 on which the rankings were based, Hopkins scored a 94, six points below Harvard's 100. Hopkins was followed by Washington University in St. Louis, University of Pennsylvania, and Duke University in third, fourth and fifth place, respectively.
Among other Hopkins graduate programs receiving high rankings in the U.S. News survey is Biomedical Engineering, which ranked first in its category. AIDS and Internal Medicine both ranked second, Pediatrics ranked third and Drug/Alcohol Abuse and Geriatrics ranked fourth.
Last year, the School of Public Health was ranked first and the Writing Seminars Department ranked second in the nation, behind only the University of Iowa. Although there were no new rankings in those categories this year, the previous year's rankings are still published.
These rankings closely mirror those of previous years, with Hopkins retaining its rank in medical schools for research. The largest change was in the category of medical schools for primary care, in which Hopkins rose from 17th to 11th. This is a stark contrast to Hopkins' rank in the undergraduate rankings, which came out in September. Due mainly to changes in the formula that determines the rankings, Hopkins has shifted from 15th in the nation in 1998 to 7th in 1999 to 15th in the 2001 rankings.
According to Richard Folkers, Director of Media Relations for U.S. News, the formula for graduate did not change significantly between this year's rankings and last year's. "It's not the wisest thing to worry about the rankings from one year to the next," said Folkers, who added that the rankings are not meant to be a linear measure of relative progress among medical schools, but are instead a "snapshot in time" of how the medical schools stand in relation to one another.
The undergraduate rankings, whose release roughly coincide with the beginning of the school year, are an annual news event, drawing massive media coverage of any changes in the rankings.
Despite the annual down-playing of the rankings by U.S. News and the lack of change in the actual rankings, School of Medicine officials still found reason to celebrate. A memo to faculty and staff from Dean of Medical Faculty Edward D. Miller began, "Congratulations! You've done it yet again. For the 12th consecutive year, you've made The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine one of the top two medical schools in the nation.
