Which Law School Has The Most Competitive Students?

Did your law school make the cut for either of these lists?

Yesterday, we brought our readers news of the latest Princeton Review law school rankings for best career prospects. Of course, we found it odd that the list was based on nine-month employment statistics for any old kind of job (e.g., people who passed the bar and went on to become bartenders) and again relied heavily on survey responses from current students rather than recent graduates, but we won’t complain.

Today, we’ll focus on two rankings categories for which student feedback actually matters: the law schools with the most competitive students and the law schools with the best quality of life.

Which schools do you think made these lists? We’ll give you a hint and tell you that the second-best law school in the country will be proud to be on at least one of them….

No, silly, Harvard Law, the second-best law school according to U.S. News, isn’t on the list of the schools with the most competitive students. The schools here are filled with the students you hear urban legends about — the ones who tear vital pages out of library books, the ones who tell you the wrong homework assignments, the ones who are willing to sleep with professors for grades. That’s the kind of competition we’re talking about, and that’s probably why the other second-best law school, Cooley, is on this list.

For this category, students were asked how many hours they study each day, how many hours they think their classmates study, how competitive their classmates are in general, and the average number of hours they sleep each night. Princeton Review could’ve asked just one question: How hard do you gun?

Here are the law schools the Princeton Review categorizes as having the Most Competitive Students:

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1. Baylor University Law School (same rank as last year)

2. Brigham Young University Law School (ranked #3 last year)

3. Case Western Reserve University School of Law (new to the top 10)

4. Thomas M. Cooley Law School (new to the top 10)

5. Whittier College Law School (new to the top 10)

6. Nova Southeastern University Law Center (same rank as last year)

7. Widener University School of Law (PA) (ranked #8 last year)

8. Faulkner University School of Law (new to the top 10)

9. UC Hastings College of Law (new to the top 10)

10. Syracuse University College of Law (new to the top 10)

These are the law schools where the students are having Jessie Spano-esque freakouts so they can transfer out, or alternatively, these are the law schools where all of the students know they won’t be able to get a job without murdering one of their classmates. Interestingly enough, half of the schools new to the top 10 list are ranked by U.S. News, while the other half are unranked. Make of that what you will.

Next up, we’ve got a list of the top 10 law schools that offer their students the best quality of life. To measure this category, current students answered survey questions based on the strength of the law school’s sense of community, how “aesthetically pleasing” the school is, the school’s location, the awesomeness of students’ social lives, and the quality of classrooms and library staff.

Here are the schools the Princeton Review categorizes as having the Best Quality of Life:

1. Duke University School of Law

2. University of San Francisco School of Law

3. UVA School of Law

4. University of Oklahoma College of Law

5. Vanderbilt University Law School

6. Samford University Cumberland School of Law

7. Northwestern University Law School

8. University of Pennsylvania Law School

9. Chapman University School of Law

10. Pepperdine University School of Law

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Congrats to Duke and UVA for getting on A-T-L — in a good way! With scenic locales and law students’ ability to creep on hot co-eds at most of these places, this list sounds about right. If your school didn’t make it, we’re sorry about your lack of social life, ugly campus, and tiny pink classrooms. Party on, bros.

So, did your alma mater make the cut? Have at it in the comments, folks.

Rankings: Most Competitive Students [Princeton Review (reg. req.)]
Rankings: Best Quality of Life [Princeton Review (reg. req.)]

Earlier: Princeton Review Rankings Part Deux: The Toughest Law Schools To Get Into, And More!
Which Law School Has The Best Career Prospects?