U.S. News put out its new law school rankings on April 15th. The U.S. News rankings have come under a fair bit of scrutiny and criticism over the last few months, both regarding its methodology as well as its power to affect the cost of law school tuition.
Law school applicants traditionally use U.S. News rankings extensively during their law school selection process. The “tier” system used by U.S. News has become accepted law school applicant lingo, with phrases such as “top 30″ or “T20 school” used as a means of identifying where a school falls within the rankings system. Law school deans and professors often criticize the methodology used by U.S. News, citing that many of the criteria considered important by the publication do not often hold “real world” importance in creating quality graduates. You can see the methodology used by U.S. News by clicking here.
SOUND OFF: Do you use rankings? Do you think they are representative of a school’s quality? How should applicants use them? Would you change the way they are calculated?
