Why are law schools withdrawing from US rankings?
Asked by: Nikki Hill | Last update: September 11, 2025Score: 4.4/5 (57 votes)
Because debt is one factor in the rankings, law schools are arguably penalized in the rankings for accepting students who do not have money saved up to pay for law school without taking on loans.
Why are law schools pulling out of rankings?
That means that law schools are disincentivized to increase access to legal education for marginalized and lower-income students – all because of the USNWR rankings. They are also disincentivized to help prepare students for public service – all because of the USNWR rankings.
Why are schools leaving U.S. News rankings?
Many schools said that the rankings do not accurately reflect their values. The first schools to leave the U.S. News rankings were Harvard Law and Yale Law. Critiques of the methodology include overemphasis on GPA and test scores and a lack of focus on need-based aid and loan forgiveness programs.
Why did Harvard law drop in rankings?
'Profoundly Flawed'
Law school officials criticized the magazine's rankings formula — which heavily weighted standardized test scores — as an obstacle to admitting a diverse student body and training graduates for public interest law careers.
What law schools dropped out of the U.S. News rankings?
UCLA, UC Irvine Law Schools Drop 'U.S. News' Rankings. The law school of the University of California, Los Angeles, announced Tuesday that it is dropping out of the U.S. News & World Report rankings. And on Wednesday, the law school of the University of California, Irvine, joined the movement.
Why Are Yale and Harvard Law Withdrawing from the U.S. News Rankings?
What law schools boycott the U.S. News?
Seven months ago, dozens of elite law schools and medical schools announced that they were boycotting the U.S. News & World Report rankings and refusing to give the publication any data. The rankings, they said, were unreliable and skewed educational priorities.
What is the hardest law school in USA?
1. Yale University. With an acceptance rate of just 6.9%, it's no wonder that Yale is the hardest law school to get into. Only around 1 in 15 of their highly qualified applicants makes it through.
Why did Columbia law ranking drop?
Dr. Thaddeus said he had found discrepancies in the data that Columbia supplied to U.S. News, involving class size and percentage of faculty with terminal degrees — two of the metrics that U.S. News announced it was eliminating from its calculations.
Is Chicago law better than Harvard?
UChicago also outperforms Harvard in terms of relevant employment, with a gap of 94.6% vs. 88.1% at graduation, and 95.1% vs. 91.8% 10 months on.
Is it worth going to a low ranked law school?
Graduates of lower-ranked law schools are hardly doomed to scratch out a living. Earning a law degree from any reputable program is an impressive achievement. Read the bios for any major law firm and you will see many successful lawyers who attended low-ranked schools.
Why is Oberlin ranked so low?
Retention and faculty resources—which, when combined, today constitute 45 percent of the total score—explain most of why Oberlin fell in the rankings after 1989. While Oberlin's overall rank has averaged 21 since 1989, it averages 34 in faculty resources and 42 (but improving) in retention.
Why did the UChicago ranking drop?
The downgrade comes amid a significant revamp of U.S. News's formula that saw metrics including class size removed. U.S. News claims that selected metrics were removed from consideration as they were not universally reported by schools or the U.S. Department of Education.
Is law school declining?
When first-year enrollment rises or falls in sequential years, those effects multiply. Today, overall JD enrollment has roughly stabilized at a level not seen in over 40 years. Compared to the peak in JD enrollment in 2010 (147,525 students), overall JD enrollment was down 20.8% in 2023.
Do law schools still rank students?
At the end of each semester, or sometimes at the end of the school year, law schools generally release the rankings for each class. Class rankings are a distribution of the entire class based on each student's overall GPA. A school may choose to release ranks as "top 10%," "next 20%," and so on.
Does going to a top 14 law school matter?
Graduates of T14 law schools have excellent employment prospects, often securing positions at top law firms, corporations, and government agencies. The strong job placement rates at T14 schools are a significant factor in their rankings and reputation.
Is Stanford or Columbia law better?
This is an easy choice. Columbia is a great law school, but it's not as prestigious as Stanford.
What rank is Georgetown law school?
Georgetown University is ranked No. 14 (tie) out of 196 in Best Law Schools and No. 1 out of 68 in Part-time Law. Schools were assessed on their performance across a set of widely accepted indicators of excellence.
Is NYU or Columbia better for law?
NYU Law and Columbia Law are both considered highly competitive, much like each university's undergraduate programs. However, Columbia University's Law School is ranked slightly above NYU's on the US News & World Report list. Columbia Law School also has a slightly lower acceptance rate than NYU's Law School.
Why did Berkeley Law drop in rankings?
On Thursday, the law school at the University of California, Berkeley, joined the law programs at Harvard and Yale in pulling out of the rankings over concerns that they punish efforts to attract students from a broad range of backgrounds.
What type of lawyer makes the most money?
Patent Attorney Salary
Patent attorneys are the highest-paid type of lawyers, with an average salary of $185,351, ranging from $119,88 to $285,530. Various factors contribute to a patent attorney's average salary, including experience, firm, location, and subject matter expertise.
What is the easiest law school to get into?
- Creighton University Law School – 79%
- University of Wyoming Law School – 78%
- Marquette University Law School – 77%
- Loyola New Orleans Law School – 76%
- Drake University Law School – 75%
- Oklahoma City University School of Law – 72%
What is the hardest year in law school?
Law school is an academic challenge; most students agree the first year (“1L” year) is the most difficult. In part, this is because law school is taught using methods entirely different than the lecture method used in most college classrooms.