The University of Washington School of Medicine — often ranked among the top schools in the country — will no longer participate in the U.S. News & World Report ranking process.
UW Medicine consistently ranks among the top schools in the nation for primary-care education and research, but leadership determined that the U.S. News ranking process did not align with the university’s goals to create an inclusive learning environment and develop a diverse workforce, according to a UW Medicine news release.
The school has already submitted data for this year’s ranking, said Timothy H. Dellit, interim CEO of UW Medicine.
The U.S. News ranking system’s emphasis on prestige and reputation does not include objective evaluation of the quality of education, and does not align with the school’s vision for the future of medicine, said Dellit, who is also the UW School of Medicine’s interim dean.
The focus on standardized scores and grades perpetuates inherent bias and does not reflect the UW school’s holistic admissions process, Dellit said.
UW School of medicine is the latest to join top medical schools, including Harvard, Stanford, Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania, in announcing it will no longer provide data to U.S. News & World Report for its medical school rankings.
U.S. News has also faced backlash for its ranking system from multiple top law schools across the country whose leadership decided to pull from the rankings citing equity concerns. All three of Washington’s law schools have pulled out.
UW Medicine will work with other medical schools to create measures that reflect the school’s values and metrics that can be publicly shared, Dellit said.
UW School of Medicine will continue to participate in the U.S. News Best Hospitals rankings because it uses different methodologies, he said.
