New U.S. News Law School Rankings: They're Official

We reported on the leaked U.S. News law school rankings on Tuesday afternoon. That leak was correct, and the 2011 rankings are officially up on the U.S. News website, right now.

That’s bad news for NYU kids. They should try asking Berkeley students how transparent it looks to say that you go to a “top 6” law school.

There was some movement within the top 14, but no school fell out of the so-called “T14.” This seems like a logical time to remind people why the T14 are referenced in this manner. The top 14 schools have been the top 14 schools for as long as most people can remember. Sure, they’ll change their positions relative to each other from year to year; but none of the schools that are in the T14 have been ranked lower than 14th in quite some time.

So with that out of the way, let’s take a look at this year’s version of the T14….

Yale remains the best law school in the nation:

1. Yale: no change.
2. Harvard: no change.
3. Stanford: no change.
4. Columbia: no change.
5. Chicago: Up 1.
6. NYU: Down 1.
7. Berkeley: Down 1. Penn: Up 1.
9. Michigan: no change.
10. UVA: no change.
11. Duke: Down 1. Northwestern: Down 1.
13. Cornell: no change.
14. Georgetown: no change.

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There are a number of things that jump out from this year’s rankings. UCLA and UT still can’t get over the T14 hump. George Washington rebounded to #20 after plummeting to #28 last year. There are other story lines.

But the things that really seem to be jumping out at people are the statistics that go into the rankings, namely, the high “employed upon graduation” stats.

Take a look at Duke Law, for instance. Duke reported that 100% of its 2008 graduates were employed at graduation. Really? The class of 2008? In fact, Duke is claiming that 100% of its ’08 graduates were employed nine months after graduation. Every single Duke grad had a job in February or March of ’09? They expect us to believe that?

It’s an important lesson that maybe NYU Law students can take to heart. Just because U.S. News says it’s true doesn’t make it freaking true.

More coverage to come as rankings season gets into full swing.

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UPDATE: If your school didn’t fare too well in the U.S. rankings this year, try to make up for it by entering our second annual Law Revue Video Contest. Full contest details appear here.

Earlier: U.S. News Rankings Leaked? This Happens Every Year.