Case Western Reserve one of 16 best medical schools for research
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine is among the country’s top medical schools for research, according to the annual listing from U.S. News & World Report. For its 2025 ratings, the publication drastically adjusted its methodology—forgoing its typical numerical rankings in favor of four “tiers” of schools.
Case Western Reserve is among 16 medical schools in tier 1, alongside peers including Vanderbilt University, Northwestern University and Mayo Clinic School of Medicine.
Validating the quality of the Case Western Reserve experience, this year’s ratings were based solely on quantitative data—research, selectivity and faculty resources—rather than also including qualitative peer assessments, which previously comprised 25% of the ranking. Schools that scored between 85 and 99 based on overall research funding, research funding per faculty member, faculty-student ratios and selectivity (median MCAT scores, undergraduate GPAs and overall acceptance rate) appeared in tier 1.
“The data used to calculate this ranking helps prove what we have long known: Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine provides a top-tier medical education. The work we do and the experience we provide to future physicians is exceptional,” said Dean Stan Gerson, citing partnerships with Cleveland Clinic, MetroHealth Medical System, University Hospitals and Louis Stokes Veterans Administration Medical Center.
“Understandably, no set of numbers can truly capture the value of what happens in our classrooms, labs, clinical sites and, most importantly, in our community.”
U.S. News & World Report has made major changes to its methodology this year, especially following widespread critiques of the criteria used in developing such rankings. Rankings that came out earlier this spring emphasized research and reduced the focus on reputation, faculty resources and selectivity. Engineering and medicine’s rankings were delayed due to questions about source data, though engineering’s rankings came out last month.
In recent years, some medical schools—including Harvard, Columbia, Stanford and Duke, among others—have declined to report their results; this year, U.S. News did not include those schools in its ratings.
To see the full listing, visit the U.S. News website.