How Law Schools are Ranked

When ranking are derived for over 180 Law Schools the 1^st item to consider is ranking based on all the points each Law School has in common. And those points must be specific to the quality of the Law School. The factors being measured have to be quantifiable if they are to be compared to another school's equivalent component.

The 2^nd thing that has been asked, ''Does the U.S. News rank the Law Schools based on what students think are most important to a high ranking Law School?''


Let's look at the major concerns of students first and see how their topics match the ones of the U.S. News and World Report. Students have listed the following things to be important in School rankings:
 

• Does the teaching staff (faculty) provide the students with quality instruction?
• Is training available for practical legal skills?
• Is assistance given by the career placement office?
• How many courses are available to take after the first year?
• What is the quality of Law School facilities?

All these questions are measurable with the exception of the quality of instruction by the teaching staff. The question requires an opinion unless some quantitative measure could be applied to make it measurable.

Here is a list of the items used to rank the Law Schools by U.S. News.

The 1^st ranking is done by peers from all the other Law Schools. Deans and Faculty members are asked to measure other Law School Programs with a 1 to 5 scoring method. If they don't know enough about the Law School Program they respond with ''I don't know'' and the response doesn't affect the school being ranked.

The 2^nd point of ranking is done by lawyers and judges responding to the Law School Programs with a 1 to 5 scoring method. Again, the ranking will not be counted against any school if the respondent writes ''I don't know.''

The 3^rd point, Law Schools are ranked by students' median LSAT scores.

The 4^th point, Law Schools are ranked by students' median GPA

The 5^th point, Law Schools are ranked by acceptance rates. The calculation used is the total enrolled students divided by total accepted students.

The 6^th point, Placement Success rate

The 7^th point, Employment rate for graduates

The 8^th point is bar pass rate for graduates

The 9^th point considers faculty resources available

The 10^th point is the percentage rate of teachers to students.

The 11^th point considers the law library on each campus. The calculation is simple; it is the count of all titles in the library at the end of the year.

The 11 points above are all considered to come up with Law School rankings. Making a comparison to a student's greatest concerns for law schools it reveals that students judge schools on other considerations. This is why some schools encourage applicants to be clear about what they want from their law career. Students might have an interest in school characteristics that are unique to one Law School and not another. Therefore students are encouraged to consider their choices well. Consider the rankings but be aware of the things that are not considered. Take time to review what Law Schools have to offer beyond the 11 points being ranked.

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