The UMKC School of Pharmacy was tied for 31st in U.S. News and World Report Best Grad Schools rankings released Tuesday. That put the school in the top one-quarter of the 134 U.S. pharmacy schools that were rated.
“This is a testament to the quality and resilience of our hard-working students, and to the dedication of our faculty and staff,” said Dean Russell Melchert. “It’s great to be recognized nationally as we pursue our mission to improve health throughout our state and region through education, research and community engagement.”
The U.S. News pharmacy rankings are based solely on surveys of academics at peer institutions. The UMKC School of Pharmacy ranking was up from 36th in 2016, when U.S. News last surveyed for pharmacy programs.
The UMKC school also has had great success matching its graduates. The Class of 2020 had an 81% initial match rate, the program’s best ever. In addition, “pharmacist” tops a CNBC list of top-paying professions right out of school, with a median annual salary of $123,670.
The UMKC School of Medicine also joined the rankings for the first time this year, placing 75th for primary care medical schools and 88th for research medical schools. U.S. News said its rankings covered 122 accredited medical and osteopathic medical schools that participated in the rankings, out of 189 that were asked.
“Our school is known for excellent clinical training and great success in residency matching. We also offer expanding research opportunities.”
UMKC, whose innovative six-year program takes most of its students right out of high school, has not participated in past surveys because its program is so different from others in the United States. Interim Dean Mary Anne Jackson, a 1978 graduate of the program, thought it was time to join the survey.
“Our school is known for excellent clinical training and great success in residency matching, throughout the Midwest and at Mayo and other top institutions,” Jackson said. “We also offer expanding research opportunities and have placed students in the top National Institutes of Health student research program for several years in a row.”
The medical school rankings were based on a weighted average of indicators, seven for the primary care rankings and eight for research. Some indicators were quality assessments by academic peers and residency directors. But most were objective data submitted by the schools, such as research activity, student test scores and acceptance rate. The UMKC school rated in the top one-third, for example, in faculty-student ratio, on a par with Stanford, the No. 4 school overall, and ahead of 78 other schools. It also did well in the percentage of its graduates going into primary care.
Dean Jackson said it took a "yeoman's effort" to compile and submit the required data for the first time, and she thanked the school's leadership team including Vice Deans Steven Waldman, M.D. '77, J.D., and Paul Cuddy, Pharm.D., M.B.A., for their efforts.