ECU’s Brody School of Medicine named top tier medical school by U.S. News & World Report
East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine is one of 15 nationwide and the only medical school in North Carolina included in the top tier of medical schools in a new ranking released today by U.S. News & World Report.
In the 2024 Best Medical Schools rankings, the Brody School of Medicine has the highest percentage of graduates from public universities in North Carolina practicing primary care medicine, including in rural areas and in federally designated health service shortage areas.
“Brody has a 50-year history of training students from various backgrounds to serve all communities in North Carolina, especially the rural and underserved. We recognize the need now more than ever to develop primary care physicians that will meet the needs of North Carolina,” said Dr. Jason Higginson, executive dean of the Brody School of Medicine.
According to U.S. News, ECU had 34.9% percent of its 2015-2017 graduates practicing in primary care specialties, with 57.3% of those graduates entering primary care residencies. Those specialties included family medicine, general internal medicine, general pediatrics, geriatrics, general practice or internal medicine pediatrics.
U.S. News changed its methodology this year, presenting institutions’ overall score in primary care and research in tiers instead of ordinal rankings. There are four tiers, with Tier 1 schools such as Brody that are calculated as the highest performing and Tier 4 the lowest performing. Within each tier, schools are sorted alphabetically on the U.S. News website.
ECU’s Brody School of Medicine is one of 15 nationwide and the only medical school in North Carolina included in the top tier of medical schools. (Photo by Rhett Butler)
Brody consistently ranked near the top in the U.S. in the following categories addressing the extent that graduates practice in primary care:
- Most Graduates Practicing in Health Professional Shortage Areas — 25th of 168 schools (top 15% in the nation and the top public university in N.C.) These are federally defined geographic areas, populations or facilities with a shortage of primary, dental or mental health care providers.
- Most Graduates Practicing in Primary Care — 26th of 169 schools (top 16% and the top public university in N.C.)
- Most Graduates Practicing in Rural Areas — 47th out of 168 schools (top 28% and top public university in N.C.)
In addition to primary care, a separate ranking was computed for Best Medical Schools: Research.
The primary care and research rankings considered schools’ faculty resources and the academic achievements of entering students including student selectivity, median MCAT score, median undergraduate GPA, and acceptance rate. Several evaluative factors were increased in weight to compensate for peer and residency assessments that are no longer included in the formulas, U.S. News said.
According to U.S. News, it surveyed 196 medical and osteopathic schools fully accredited in 2024 by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education or the American Osteopathic Association. This data — and sometimes third-party statistics — was used to calculate the tiers and the diversity and practice rankings, as well as to populate each medical school’s profile on the website.