Harvard

• Harvard medical school is among the most popular and highest rated of 2010 according to U.S. News & World Report. Extraordinary milestones have been reached by students of Harvard throughout the years, including the first direct genome sequencing by George Church in 1984, which spurred the Human Genome Project. Harvard is associated with numerous hospitals where students gain hands-on experience, including Brigham and Women's Hospital, Judge Baker Children's Center, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.
  
  

University of Pennsylvania

• University of Pennsylvania was the first medical school established in the U.S. and was rated second by U.S. News & World Report for 2010. Pennsylvania includes separate programs and hospital affiliations for dental, veterinary and traditional medical programs. As a medical student at Pennsylvania, you will study basic medical science including biochemistry and biophysics, biostatistics and epidemiology, cancer biology, cell and developmental biology, genetics and medical ethics, among others. As you study, you will come to choose between fields such as dermatology, emergency medicine, family practice, neurology and pediatrics, to name a few.
  
  

Johns Hopkins University

• Johns Hopkins University introduces its medical program as one that has set standards since establishment. Curriculum at the Johns Hopkins medical school emphasizes the scientific method. Students learn bedside processes and laboratory research techniques in their chosen medical field. Recent notable occurrences are the new curriculum released in 2009 called "Genes to Society," which teaches advanced understandings of human disease. Johns Hopkins received more grant money from the National Institutes of Health than any other medical school in the nation in 2010.
  
  

University of California, San Francisco

• UCSF, a public school, has a medical program that is under the radar. At UCSF, medical students study anatomy, anesthesia, anthropology and the social aspects of medicine, psychology, surgery, and many other traditional medical issues. This school of medicine was originally founded as Toland Medical College in 1864. Notable moments in the recent past include the awarding of the 2009 Nobel Prize to UCSF student Elizabeth Blackburn for discovering the key enzyme telomerase. UCSF is the only medical school ranked in the top five of two U.S. News & World Report categories, quality of research training and quality of primary care training.