Ranking Law Schools
Dear Law School Applicant:
Choosing the best law school for you is critically important to your short-term and long-term future. Getting quality information about the schools that interest you will require some time and effort, but you will be rewarded by expending that time and effort now.
Several commercial enterprises promote "ranking" systems that purport to reduce a wide array of information about law schools to one simple number that compares all 194 ABA-approved law schools with each other. These ranking systems are inherently flawed because none of them can take your special needs and circumstances into account when comparing law schools. According to students, the factors listed below are among the most important in influencing their choices of law school. These factors are excluded entirely or severely undervalued by all of the numerical ranking systems.
- Breadth and support of alumni network
- Breadth of curriculum
- Clinical programs
- Collaborative research opportunities with faculty
- Commitment to innovative technology
- Cost
- Externship options
- Faculty accessibility
- Intensity of writing instruction
- Interdisciplinary programs
- International programming
- Law library strengths and services
- Loan repayment assistance for low-income lawyers
- Location
- Part-time enrollment option
- Public interest programs
- Quality of teaching
- Racial and gender diversity within the faculty and student body
- Religious affiliation
- Size of first-year classes
- Skills instruction
- Specialized areas of faculty expertise
The absence of any consideration of these factors, combined with the arbitrary weighting of numerical factors, makes ranking systems an unreliable guide to the differences among law schools that should be important to you. As Newsweek editor Kenneth Auchincloss said, "Rankings generate huge hype, which is far more likely to serve the publisher's purpose than the readers'…. Applicants need help in widening their knowledge of schools that may be right for them, not narrowing their choices according to a ranking system."
A ranking system that exemplifies the shortcomings of all "by the numbers" schemes is the one produced annually by U.S. News & World Report. While ignoring the variables listed above, as do all numbers-based ranking systems, the U.S. News rankings purport to be derived from mathematical formulae based on data common to all law schools. The "weights" attached to the variables are arbitrary and reflect only the view of the magazine’s editors. For example, according to the magazine, 40 percent of the rankings is based on each school's "reputation." The reputation ranking is derived from a survey of a modest number of legal academics, lawyers, and judges across the country which asks them to rate comparatively all ABA-approved law schools. Reputation is an important factor in choosing a school, but schools with excellent reputations within their communities, states, or regions may not be well known in other parts of the country. None of us has adequate knowledge about more than a tiny handful of law schools so as to permit us, with confidence, to compare them with each other.
The idea that all law schools can be measured by the same yardstick ignores the qualities that make you and law schools unique, and is unworthy of being an important influence on the choice you are about to make. As the deans of schools that range across the spectrum of several rating systems, we strongly urge you to minimize the influence of rankings on your own judgment. In choosing the best school for you, we urge you to get information about all the schools in which you might have some interest. An abundance of information, far more information than is used in any ranking system, is available from the sources noted in the box below. The next step is to seek information directly from the law schools, including catalogs or bulletins and other materials that will answer the specific questions relating to your special needs and interests. Finally, there is no substitute for on-site visits to the law schools that most interest you as you reach the end of the admission process. Law schools may all have met the same standards of quality to become accredited, but they are quite different from each other. The unique characteristics of each law school will inform you why one school may be best for you and another school best for someone else. We want you to make the best choice for you.
Detailed information about every accredited law school can be found in the ABA-LSAC Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools, published in print and online by the Law School Admission Council and the ABA's Section of Legal Education & Admissions to the Bar. You can also contact the prelaw advisor at your undergraduate campus for more information.
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