U.S. News & World Report temporarily moved some medical schools to the "unranked" category of its Best Graduate Schools rankings after discrepancies in data were identified.
U.S. News & World Report relies on schools to accurately report data. Misreporting occurs in small proportions — typically less than 0.1 percent each year. U.S. News highlighted 11 different rankings published between 2018 and 2021 in which various schools and universities reported data discrepancies.
"In these rare cases, the misreporting by these schools resulted in their numerical ranks being higher than they otherwise would have been if the correct data had been used originally," the publication said July 7.
Four things to know:
1. The following four medical schools are now ranked but were temporarily delisted in the primary care ranking category after they self-reported discrepancies in the data provided to U.S. News for past Best Graduate Schools lists dating back to 2018:
- East Tennessee State University (Johnson City)
- University of Virginia (Charlottesville)
- Washington University (St. Louis); the school's ranking in the research category of the U.S. News rankings was unaffected
- Eastern Virginia Medical School (Norfolk)
2. The following six schools were temporarily delisted after misreporting data for past nursing schools or programs dating back to 2019 but are now ranked:
- University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus (Aurora)
- University of Pittsburgh
- University of Alabama--Huntsville
- Alverno College (Milwaukee)
- Widener University (Chester, Pa.)
- University of Illinois—Chicago
3. All schools' unranked status lasted until the publication of the rankings' next edition and until the schools confirmed the accuracy of their next data submission in accordance with the publication's requirements.
4. No other schools' rankings were changed as a result of delistings.
Editor's note: This article was updated July 25-26 to clarify listed schools are no longer unranked and that medical schools were temporarily delisted from the primary care category of past Best Graduate Schools lists.