Gathering a list of the best medical schools in the world can be arduous and daunting given the sheer number of medical schools there are in diverse countries around the world. Also with various educational systems prevalent, it is difficult to develop standards and measures for ranking them. In this article I’ll provide you with the top ten medical schools in the world that land on a influential lists ranking the top medical schools in the world.

1. Harvard University
Probably the best medical school in the world, Harvard University is generally ranked number one on most lists. Famous for both research and primary care, the Harvard Medical School opened it’s hallowed halls in 1782. It has an annual budget of almost USD 600,000,000 with only seven basic departments to spend this colossal amount of money on. This improves the quality drastically on research conducted at the university and the facilities provided to students.

2. University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge, UK is the fourth oldest medical school in the world and has one of the best facilities for biomedical research in the world. It also performs research in a broad range of areas like cancer, cardiovascular medicine, stem cell, epidemiology, genetics, hematological and transplantation medicine, neuroscience, psychiatry/mental health and women’s health. It puts equal emphasis on it’s medical practice with students training at its School of Clinical Medicine.

3.Johns Hopkins University
Located at Baltimore, Maryland, United States, John Hopkins, as of 2009, has 473 full time students enrolled for its medical program. The research work done at the institute is extremely well known with as much as USD 1.68 billion spent on it in the fiscal year 2008-09. It is also very famous for its provision of primary care. The school was started on February 22, 1876. It’s total tuition fees at the college is about USD 55,390.

4.University of Pennsylvania
One of the top ten medical schools in the world, the University of Pennsylvania Medical School has an intake of 614 students who pay a tuition fee of USD 41036. Penn Medical School is the first medical school in the United States and is affiliated to the University of Pennsylvania Hospital. If you are aiming at becoming a doctor, then the University of Pennsylvania is a solid option. Given the cost it’s very in demand by the masses.

5.University of Oxford
Oxford University, UK is one of the three colleges from the UK to feature in the best medical schools of the world list. It’s probably one of the oldest institutions in the world for higher education, and has many different departments including cardiovascular medicine, clinical medicine, clinical neurology and pharmacology, oncology, gynecology, ophthalmology, psychiatry, public health, primary care and surgery. Few Medical Schools can compare to the varied disciplines this university has.

6.University of California at San Francisco
The University of California ranks fifth on the list of best medical schools in US, according to the USNWR report. It has a student body of 595 as of 2009 and students from the state have zero tuition fee. The University is famous for its research in fields like biomedical science, biological sciences, microbiology, and immunology.

7.Yale University
Located in New Haven, Connecticut, the Yale Medical School was chartered in 1810 is one of the foremost institutions in the world of medicine. Few can compare. Not only does it rank for its primary care but also leads most lists of best medical schools in the world when it comes to research on health and diseases.

8.Karolinska Institute
One of the only colleges on the list of the best medical schools in the world which is not from the US or the UK, Karolinska University Hospital is located in Solna and Huddinge, Sweden. It’s the largest Swedish training center for medicine and research. It was founded in 1810 at Stockholm it was later moved to Solna.

9.Columbia University
Columbia University’s Medical Center is without a doubt one of the top 10 best medical schools in the world leading in health and medical education. The University awards the Medical Center almost half of the USD 2 billion annual budget that it gets. The Medical Center is situated in northern Manhattan in New York at a 20 acre campus in Washington Heights.

10.University of Dundee
The top ranked university for medicine in the United Kingdom, the University of Dundee is located in the eponymous city, which is also the second largest city in Scotland. The College of Medicine has an annual intake of 154 students which also includes 11 overseas students. The University of Dundee offers courses at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, having distance learning and part time programs.

Other schools that regularly featured on lists of the best medical schools in the world are Netherlands’ University of Leiden, Switzerland’s University of Zurich, Japan’s Kyoto University, and Germany’s University of Munich. This compilation of the top medical schools in the world is centered on American and European continents, which have some of the best educational facilities in the world. If you’re aiming at one of the many careers in the medical field then you should think about trying to get into one of these colleges to ensure that you receive the best medical education possible to prepare you.