Data and Ranking Methodology

This page explains how MBBSinAmerica.com collects, classifies and publishes information about US medical schools, and the conditions under which a calculated comparison score may be published. Version 1.0, published 10 February 2026, last updated 12 September 2026.

Data classifications

Data classifications used across the site
Classification	Meaning
Regulator verified	Taken from an accreditor or government publication
Official school source	Taken from a page published by the school itself
School reported	Supplied by the school but not independently verifiable
MBBSinAmerica derived	Calculated by us from stated inputs, with the calculation described
Not publicly reported	No published figure located; never replaced with an estimate
Outdated	A figure whose reporting year has been superseded

Every statistic carries its provenance

Value and unit or currency
Reporting period or academic year
Source title and source URL
Verification date
Data classification
An optional methodology note where a figure was derived

Comparison components

Components considered in category comparisons
Component	Role
Accreditation and regulatory standing	Mandatory. A school is excluded if it is not currently accredited
Outcome transparency	How much outcome data the school publishes, and at what granularity
Graduation and retention	Cohort progression where published
USMLE readiness	Published examination outcomes where available
Overall residency placement	Placement counts against cohort size
Specialty breadth	Range of specialties entered across reporting years
Competitive-specialty placements	Counts with cohort size and multi-year context
Clinical education	Structure and setting of clinical training
Student support	Published services, including support for international students

When a score may be published

Our publication rule

No calculated score is published until the required source data exists, with a reporting year and verification date, for every school in that category. Until then, a category page lists which schools publish the relevant data and which do not.

We do not publish a single prestige ranking, and we do not use reputation surveys. Sponsorship or advertising never affects inclusion, ordering or scoring. Sponsored content, if any, is labelled as such and kept out of comparison data entirely.

Specialty placement rules

Where competitive-specialty placements are published, each record states the specialty name, the number of verified placements, the graduating cohort size, the reporting years, the source and whether the value is school-reported or derived. Multi-year data is preferred to a single year.

No school guarantees entry into neurosurgery, general surgery, dermatology, orthopaedic surgery or any other specialty. Placement data describes past cohorts.

Version history

Methodology version history
Version	Date	Change
1.0	10 February 2026	Initial methodology published
1.0.1	12 September 2026	Clarified specialty placement reporting fields and review cadence

See also the data sources and editorial policy.