Class Rank

PURPOSE / SCOPE:

Provide guidelines for calculation of class rank.

This policy applies to the Class of 2024 and all subsequent classes.

DEFINITIONS:

Class Rank: The assigned order of students in a cohort based on the cumulative final score for each course with a numeric grade multiplied by the credit hours for the corresponding course.

POLICY:

Student doctors will be provided their class rank at the end of each academic term upon request.

Class ranks are provided for informational purposes and will not appear on the student doctor’s transcript. The class rank does not have a perfect correlation to the student doctor’s cumulative GPA. At the discretion of the Dean, the class rank may be included on the Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE) for those individuals who rank in the top 25% of the class with the top 10% of the class identified as such.

Only graded courses in the first and second year of the curriculum are considered for class rank. Pass/Fail courses, prior scores from repeated courses (same or equivalent course), and clinical rotations are not considered for class rank.

To calculate the class rank, the final course grade rounded to two decimal points is multiplied by the credit hours for that course and added to similarly calculated values from all courses. This cumulative number is then divided by the total number of credit hours completed by the student. This final number (rounded to four decimal points) is then utilized to rank all students in a cohort. Students who begin their education with one cohort and then join a new cohort will be ranked with the new cohort.

In the event that more than one student receives the exact same number for their rank calculation, they will each be assigned the same rank. The rank for subsequent students will adjust accordingly. 

For example:

PRIMARY POLICY OWNER:

Associate Dean of Student Affairs

APPROVAL: