The
U.S.
News
&
World
Report
law
school
rankings
are
here,
and
the
legal
world
is
definitely
interested
in
all
the
ups
and
downs
that
we’re
seeing
when
it
comes
to
changes
in
rank.
First
and
foremost,
lawyers
and
law
students
are
in
an
absolute
tizzy
over
the
state
of
the
T14.
Before
we
get
to
that,
here
is
the
methodology
for
the
latest
edition
of
the
rankings,
which
may
explain
some
of
the
wild
gains
and
losses
you’re
about
to
see:
-
Employment:
33% -
First-Time
Bar
Passage:
18% -
Ultimate
Bar
Passage:
7% -
Peer
Assessment:
12.5% -
Lawyer/Judge
Assessment:
12.5% -
LSAT/GRE:
5% -
UGPA:
4% -
Acceptance
Rate:
1% -
Student-Faculty
Ratio:
5% -
Library
Resources:
2%
Once
again,
here
is
the
new-and-improved
T14,
featuring
some
pretty
major
moves:
|
Stanford University |
1 | – |
|
Yale University |
1 | – |
|
University of Chicago |
3 | – |
|
University of Virginia |
4 | – |
|
University of Pennsylvania |
5 | +1 |
|
Duke University |
6 | -2 |
|
Harvard University |
6 | -2 |
|
New York University |
8 | +1 |
|
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor |
8 | +1 |
|
Columbia University |
10 | -2 |
|
Northwestern University |
10 | -1 |
|
University of California–Los Angeles |
12 | +1 |
|
University of California–Berkeley |
13 | -1 |
|
Georgetown University |
14 | – |
|
University of Texas-Austin |
14 | +2 |
|
Vanderbilt University |
14 | +5 |
|
Washington University in St. Louis |
14 | +2 |
Talk
about
a
shakeup
in
the
rankings.
As
we
mentioned
previously,
this
version
of
the
T14
sure
looks
different,
with
Harvard
officially
out
of
the
Top
5,
Cornell
out
of
the
T14
altogether,
and
a
four-way
tie
at
No.
14.
Inclusion
may
no
longer
be
en
vogue,
but
this
is
the
most
inclusive
T14
yet,
with
17
schools
included
in
the
ranking
of
the
top
14
law
schools
in
the
nation.
Congratulations
to
UT-Austin,
Vanderbilt,
and
Wash
U.
on
their
ascent
into
greatness.
Let’s
see
how
long
these
law
schools
will
be
able
to
retain
their
places
at
the
tippy
top
of
the
rankings.
Now,
let’s
take
a
gander
at
the
law
schools
outside
of
the
T14.
Like
years
past,
we’re
faced
with
yet
another
rankings
orgy,
with
nothing
but
ties,
ties,
and
more
ties.
There
are
five
ties
in
this
segment
of
the
rankings
alone
(three
ties
and
two
three-way
ties),
with
more
to
follow.
Here
are
the
schools
ranked
16
–
28:
|
Cornell University |
18 | -4 |
|
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill |
18 | +2 |
|
University of Minnesota |
20 | -4 |
|
University of Notre Dame |
20 | – |
|
Boston University |
22 | +2 |
|
Texas A&M University |
22 | +4 |
|
University of Georgia |
22 | -2 |
|
Boston College |
25 | +3 |
|
University of Southern California (Gould) |
26 | -6 |
|
Wake Forest University |
26 | -1 |
|
Brigham Young University (Clark) |
28 | – |
|
Ohio State University (Moritz) |
28 | -2 |
|
University of Wisconsin–Madison |
28 | +8 |
The
biggest
winners
here
were
Wisconsin
(up
eight
places
and
into
the
Top
30)
and
Texas
A&M
(up
four
places,
and
inching
closer
and
closer
to
the
Top
20).
Nicely
done.
USC
and
Minnesota
both
fell
out
of
the
Top
20,
which
must
sting.
The
biggest
loser
here
was
of
course
Cornell,
which
finds
itself
out
of
the
T14
for
the
first
time
since
the
90s.
Yikes.
Now,
for
the
rest
of
the
law
schools
in
the
Top
50,
where
there
are
seven
ties
(noticing
a
trend
within
these
rankings
yet?).
As
you
can
see,
there
was
A
LOT
of
movement
here:
|
George Mason University (Scalia) |
31 | -3 |
|
George Washington University |
31 | +10 |
|
University of Alabama |
31 | +2 |
|
University of Utah (Quinney) |
31 | -3 |
|
William & Mary Law School |
31 | +5 |
|
University of Iowa |
36 | – |
|
Washington & Lee University |
36 | -3 |
|
Emory University |
38 | +4 |
|
Florida State University |
38 | +10 |
|
Fordham University |
38 | -5 |
|
University of California-Irvine |
38 | +4 |
|
University of Florida (Levin) |
38 | +10 |
|
Baylor University |
43 | +3 |
|
Southern Methodist University (Dedman) |
43 | -1 |
|
Arizona State University (O’Connor) |
45 | -9 |
|
Indiana University-Bloomington (Maurer) |
46 | -4 |
|
University of Colorado–Boulder |
46 | +2 |
|
University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign |
48 | -12 |
|
Villanova University (Widger) |
48 | – |
|
Temple University (Beasley) |
50 | +4 |
|
University of California-Davis |
50 | +5 |
|
University of Connecticut |
50 | +5 |
|
University of Kansas |
50 | -9 |
|
University of Washington |
50 | -2 |
The
biggest
winners
here
were
George
Washington
(+10),
Florida
State
(+10),
and
University
of
Florida
(+10).
The
biggest
losers
here
were
Arizona
State
(-9),
Kansas
(-9),
and
Illinois
(-12).
Whatever
some
of
the
schools
here
are
doing,
they’d
better
shape
up,
because
some
have
almost
been
shipped
out
of
the
Top
50.
The
rest
of
the
rankings
are
available
on
the
next
page.