Law Schools, Rankings, U.S. News

Open Thread: 2016 U.S. News Law School Rankings (1 – 14)

What do you think? Did U.S. News get it right this year? Are these new rankings fair?

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The 2016 U.S. News Law School Rankings are out, and you know what that means. It’s time to allow both students and alumni to weigh in on their law schools and their brand new ranks.

As is customary, we’ll be posting a series of open threads, running through at least the top 100 law schools — but we’ll probably make it all the way through, right down to rank-not-published land. These posts offer you a chance to compare and contrast different schools, praise (or condemn) your alma mater, and talk trash about rival law schools.

Last year, we got a new No. 10 law school, and the Top 14 was transformed into the Top 13 thanks to a tie at the bottom of the top. This year, there were three ties in the Top 14, and one law school was kicked out of the Top 10 entirely.

Were there any other surprises this year? Let’s take a look.

Here are the Top 14 law schools, as ranked by U.S. News & World Report. We’ve noted the difference between last year’s ranking and this year’s ranking parenthetically:

1. Yale (no change)
2. Harvard (no change)
2. Stanford (+1; ranked #3 last year)
4. Columbia (no change)
4. Chicago (no change)
6. NYU (no change)
7. Penn (no change)
8. Duke (+2; tied at #10 last year with Michigan)
8. UC Berkeley (+1; ranked #9 last year)
8. UVA (no change)
11. Michigan (-1; tied at #10 last year with Duke)
12. Northwestern (no change)
13. Cornell (no change)
14. Georgetown (-1; tied at #13 last year with Cornell)

As was par for the course, the “HYS” (Harvard, Yale, Stanford) group received top billing from the rankings gurus at U.S. News, and the “CCN” cluster (Columbia, Chicago, and NYU) remained intact. We noted previously that the rest of the T14 played musical chairs, but there were three things worthy of mention this year.

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First of all, we’re back to a tie between Harvard and Stanford, and now they’re both the second-best law schools in the country. We understand Harvard Law alumni are incredibly pissed that Stanford is moving in on their second-place turf, so let’s take a minute for a history lesson. Since the 2009 U.S. News rankings came out, Harvard has been in the No. 2 spot, or tied for the No. 2 spot, six times. Stanford has been in the same position just three times (with two ties). On the other hand, Stanford has been in the No. 3 spot four times since the 2009 U.S. News rankings were released, while Harvard has been there only once. Harvard clearly deserves the rights to the U.S. News rankings silver medal, and at this point, Stanford is like a Cooley-esque interloper, always claiming that it’s second-best. Stop trying to make a true second-place finish in the rankings happen, Stanford.

Next up, we’ve got our new eighth-place finishers: Duke, Berkeley, and UVA. UVA has been stuck in the No. 8 position for the past two rankings cycles with no signal that its luck will change, and Berkeley has been trying, and failing, to climb its way back to the No. 6 position it once held so many years ago. Berkeley is now one step closer to catching its dream. Duke, on the other hand, is a real rankings success story. Prior to 2014, Duke had set up shop at the #11 slot for years, at least since the 2010 rankings came out. We suppose the bump to the No. 10 spot last year gave the school the momentum it needed to continue its rise to the top of the rankings. Congrats! Duke may be the douchiest law school in America, but this time around, it’s not because its students are classholes — it’s because the school had a hand in kicking Michigan out of the Top 10.

Last, but certainly not least, we’ve got the unfortunate rankings tale of Michigan Law. The Wolverines were able to put on a good show for a few years, wavering between ninth and tenth place in the U.S. News rankings. Ultimately, Michigan’s relatively poor performance when it came to its graduates’ job searches — as compared to other T14 schools — is what left the school’s name dumped upon the No. 11 slot’s doorstep. While all other top law schools boasted employment rates of 81 percent or higher at graduation, Michigan’s class of 2013 stood at 76.9 percent at graduation. While the elite law schools of the T14 posted employment rates of 87 percent or higher nine months after graduation, just 84.5 percent of Michigan’s class of 2013 was employed during the same time frame. (Plus, it probably didn’t help that the school was less selective in terms of applicants’ LSAT scores. This time around, it’s 25th percentile LSAT score was 165, but a few years ago, it was 167.)

What do you think? Did U.S. News get it right this year? Are these new rankings fair? Your thoughts on these fine institutions are welcome in the comments to this open thread.

Earlier: The 2016 U.S. News Law School Rankings Are Here!

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