Three Hopkins graduate schools were recognized as being top ten in the nation this year, including the School of Medicine, Bloomberg School of Public Health and the School of Nursing, by the U.S. News & World Report's 2004 edition of Best Graduate Schools.
Of the nation's 125 accredited medical schools, only Harvard outscored Hopkins, coming in first place with an overall score of 100. Johns Hopkins School of Medicine's overall score rose from 94 last year to 97 this year, tying with Washington University in St. Louis. Hopkins has held the second-place slot for 13 consecutive years; this is the first year it has shared its position with another school.
When asked about the effect of the ranking in the upcoming applicant pools, Dean of Admissions at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine James Weiss said, "Our annual intake of about 6,000 applications for 120 spots has remained steady for the past few years. I think we are doing well and can't imagine that this rating could do anything but help us."
Weiss pointed out that regardless of the rankings, Hopkins will always get qualified applicants.
"We are very fortunate as it is that we have so many good applicants to choose from -- big workload for admissions reps," said Weiss. "It is hard to predict how [the study results] will affect the quality of the upcoming pool. I am just happy to be ranked so high ... it is something Hopkins should be proud of."
Weiss did not predict any deleterious effects from Hopkins' tie with Washington University.
"I think Washington is a great medical school," said Weiss. "Exactly what went into the rankings to have us tied I am not sure, but because there are such a limited number of spots, I don't think it will have a major effect and that applicant numbers will continue to remain high."
In a press release that was sent out earlier this week, Dean of the Medical Faculty and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine Edward D. Miller congratulated the University, stating, "We know that these rankings are not entirely "scientific,' and I don't need them to treasure your hard work and accomplishments. But as Johns Hopkins and all academic medical centers continue to face intense public scrutiny, rapid change, and economic challenges and uncertainties, it is extraordinarily gratifying to me that others recognize your unflagging commitment to excellence."
According to the magazine, medical school rankings are based on a combination of two reputational surveys, one from deans and senior faculty and another from directors of intern-residency programs, and objective data, including such criteria as research awarded to the medical school and all its affiliated hospitals, student selectivity and faculty resources.
Richard Folkers, director of media relations at U.S. News, said the incremental differences between the schools in the top 10 were minuscule and explained that the goal of the reports was not to create a horse race between schools.
"There is a lot of good journalism going on here, a lot of digging for not just numbers, but for analyzing numerous factors that go into deciding the quality of a school," said Folkers. "The rankings are simply one part of that package and we are not in the position to comment on the affects for different universities' applicant pools."
The medical school was ranked first in Geriatrics and in Drug/Alcohol Abuse, both up from fourth place last year, and first place in Biomedical Engineering. The school was ranked second place in Internal Medicine, falling just behind Harvard, and second place in AIDS, falling just behind the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). The school ranked third again in Pediatrics; and fourth again in Women's Health. Rounding out the magazine's top ten research intensive medical schools overall were University of Pennsylvania, Duke University, UCSF, Columbia University, University of Michigan, Stanford University and Yale University.
The Bloomberg School of Public Health was again ranked first in Public Health with a composite score of 4.9 out of five, followed by Harvard University and University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, each with a score of 4.7. The School of Nursing was ranked fifth overall.
Law schools included in the top five were Yale, Stanford, Harvard, Columbia and New York University.
Senior neuroscience major Piyush Banker said that the most popular places Hopkins students applied to for medical school were Harvard, Hopkins, Columbia, NYU and Stanford.
"I personally feel that New York has the best schools, such as Columbia, Cornell, NYU, Sinai and Einstein".
Banker went on to say that location meant more to him than rank in terms of experiences.
"Take the tie between Hopkins and Washington St. Louis -- schools in Midwest rarely even have a case of AIDS," said Banker. "That's why the best schools are in the poorest neighborhoods. Hopkins is in East Baltimore and that's where you get to see the most obscure cases as a med student."
He added that "coming from Hopkins undergraduate puts you in an already good position to go to a great medical school--sometimes it isn't about what's the hardest to get into, but about where you will be most comfortable -- where you can have a good experience as a med student -- because everyone knows that med school is stressful enough.
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