Mary Klotman, MD, the medical school’s dean, and Edward Buckley, MD, its vice dean for education, announced the exit in a letter to the community.
“We have long had reservations about the value and validity of the rankings,” the letter said. “After careful deliberation and consultation, we have concluded that our continued participation in the rankings as they are currently determined is no longer justified.”
“Prospective students deserve a more comprehensive picture than can be captured in a rigid rubric,” the letter continued. “Our surveys of students as they prepare to transition out of medical school confirm our conviction that the USNWR rankings as currently conducted provide little impression of the totality and value of the Duke medical school experience.”
Duke joins eight other medical schools that recently backed out of the rankings:
1. Harvard Medical School (Boston)
2. Stanford (Calif.) School of Medicine
3. Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (New York City)
4. University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine (Philadelphia)
5. Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (New York City)
6. University of Washington School of Medicine (Seattle)
7. Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis)
8. University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine
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