Medical school rankings are one indicator of an institution's perceived quality; however, gauging the importance of rankings is not as clear-cut as with undergraduate institutions, law schools, and business schools.

With law schools and business schools, there is a wealth of data suggesting that the employment rate as well as the initial salary and bonus post-graduation gets higher the closer you get to the top of the rankings. This incentivizes students to attend the highest-ranked school possible.

In contrast, all medical school graduates who choose to go directly into a residency training program (which is required if you want to practice clinical medicine) make roughly the same amount of money during their training program. The income differential arises post-residency and is dependent upon the choice of specialty.

That said, attending certain medical schools can increase the chance of matching in your desired specialty choice, and the medical research rankings are arguably more important if you are an aspiring M.D./Ph.D. candidate. But your future opportunities will be more tightly coupled with your performance during medical school and your United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) scores than the name of the institution on your degree.

[Learn more about joint M.D./Ph.D. programs.]

So how big of an influence should rankings be on school selection?

Unfortunately, not everybody can go to Harvard Medical School or University of Pennsylvania. However, there are more than 100 medical schools in the United States, as well as numerous overseas, that students enthusiastic about a career in medicine can consider.

When applying to medical school, the influence of rankings on what schools to apply to should depend on your objectives. For an aspiring physician scientist, being at a top-ranked research school that has the resources, aggressive publishing expectations, postdoctoral fellows, and grant-writing expertise can enhance your academic opportunities and set you up for future success.

For the aspiring clinician, rankings should be factored in, but can play second fiddle to the geographic, demographic, average MCAT score/average GPA, and academic culture of the institution.

[Find out what looming MCAT changes will mean for aspiring M.D.'s.]

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How Important Are Medical School Rankings?