Law Schools, Rankings, U.S. News

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

Bow down before your rankings idols and pray that your school fared well this time around.

By and  
on

Now, for the moment those who love schadenfreude have been waiting for, here are the more offensive drops in rank we noticed — and by “offensive,” we mean 10 or more spots. We’ve highlighted the five biggest rankings drops in bold for your sadistic pleasure:

47. Wake Forest (-16; five-way tie at #31 last year)
71. Penn State (-20; three-way tie at #51 last year)
75. Arkansas-Fayetteville (-14; three-way tie at #61 last year)
75. Cardozo (-11; four-way tie at #64 last year)
78. Loyola Chicago (-10; four-way tie at #68 last year)
82. Tulsa (-10; seven-way tie at #72 last year)
94. Lewis & Clark (-22; seven-way tie at #72 last year)
94. Louisiana State (-22; seven-way tie at #72 last year)
94. West Virginia (-11; four-way tie at #83 last year)
102. Indiana-Indianapolis (-15; six-way tie at #87 last year)
102. Rutgers-Camden (-21; tied at #81 last year)
105. Marquette (-12; seven-way tie at #93 last year)
105. Stetson (-12; seven-way tie at #93 last year)
105. Wayne State (-18; six-way tie at #87 last year)
113. Seattle (-26; six-way tie at #87 last year)
118. Mercer (-14; three-way tie at #104 last year)
118. Texas Tech (-11; six-way tie at #107 last year)
127. Cleveland State (-12; three-way tie at #115 last year)
127. Missouri-Kansas City (-23; three-way tie at #104 last year)
135. Arkansas-Little Rock (-14; ranked #121 last year)
138. Albany (-20; three-way tie at #118 last year)
145. Hamline (-24; eight-way tie at #121 last year)
149. Samford (-14; five-way tie at #135 last year)
RNP. Campbell (eight-way tie at #121 last year)
RNP. University of the Pacific (tied at #146 last year)

Well, that was entirely depressing. How about some good news? Let’s take a look at law schools that gained 10 or more spots in this year’s U.S. News rankings. We’ve highlighted the five biggest rankings gains in bold. Congratulations on kicking ass this year!

52. Tennessee-Knoxville (+20; seven-way tie at #72 last year)
67. UNLV (+16; four-way tie at #83 last year)
75. Loyola Marymount (+12; six-way tie at #87 last year)
82. St. John’s (+25; six-way tie at #107 last year)
82. Hawaii (+18; four-way tie at #100 last year)
82. Oregon (+18; four-way tie at #100 last year)
87. SUNY Buffalo (+13; four-way tie at #100 last year)
87. Syracuse (+20; six-way tie at #107 last year)
94. Santa Clara (+13; six-way tie at #107 last year)
94. Mississippi (+10; three-way tie at #104 last year)
108. Wyoming (+21; six-way tie at #129 last year)
110. Howard (+25; five-way tie at #135 last year)
110. Maine (+19; six-way tie at #129 last year)
122. Hofstra (+13; five-way tie at #135 last year)
122. Baltimore (+13; five-way tie at #135 last year)
127. Chapman (+13; five-way tie at #140 last year)
127. New York Law School (+13; five-way tie at #140 last year)
135. Loyola New Orleans (rank not published last year)
138. San Francisco (rank not published last year)
145. Ohio Northern (rank not published last year)
145. Dayton (rank not published last year)
149. Oklahoma City (rank not published last year)
149. Southern Illinois (rank not published last year)
149. Texas A&M (rank not published last year)

We’ve said it once, but we’ll say it again since it’s worth repeating: considering the number of ties, we think that this year, it may be even more difficult to be proud that your law school is in an five-way tie for 149th place — which is dead last in the rankings.

ELIE HERE: F**k ties. Seriously. What the hell is the point of an ordinal ranking if every three slots law schools are kissing their sisters? Yes, I’m pissed that those Left Coast poseurs at Stanford Law are “tied” with Harvard, what of it? You’re telling me U.S. News couldn’t have added an “excellence despite weather conditions” metric to this year’s rankings? Stanford will be tied with Harvard the minute they can do what they do in the middle of a earthquake.

Joking aside (I’m not joking), it feels like U.S. News is getting a little bit sick of the massive push-back it gets each year from schools that do not rank as highly as they want to. How do you appease both Duke and UVA? “You guys are tied, now STFU.” Between 50 and 70, there are only six slots for 21 schools. SIX! That’s a list-maker’s way of saying, “Crime, boy, I don’t know.”

Sponsored

Which isn’t to say that U.S. New is wrong. In truth, there is little difference between the 50th-ranked law school and the 69th-ranked law school. Florida State is tied for 50th, University of Miami is tied for 63rd, and if you think there is a huge difference between the two, you don’t know how to read a list. Of course, because of this ranking, I’m going to get emails from people asking me if they should go to FSU at full price or Miami at nearly a full scholarship. Then, when I call them a stupid freaking human, suddenly I’m the asshole. U.S. News hasn’t made a meaningful distinction between FSU and Miami, they just look like they have.

You know what is a meaningful distinction? Going to a school that is not ranked by the magazine. U.S. News publishes ordinal rankings for the top 150 law schools, then lists the bottom 50 alphabetically so nobody’s feelings get hurt. A few years ago, U.S. News put schools in “tiers” and these schools were in the third (well, some of them were in the fourth tier), leading to the term “TTT” for “Third Tier [someThing you poop in].” Schools didn’t like that, so USN changed it a while back and now these schools call themselves “Second Tier” law schools. Just remember, finishing “second” in a two-tier race is still, you know, last.

In any event, the release of the U.S. News rankings marks the beginning of the Law Dean Carousel Season. Deans not favored by U.S. News will suddenly think about spending more time with their families, or other projects that they are really excited about pursuing. You think I’m pissed off about ties, wait till you hear from the deans of schools that just missed one cut off or another. Nothing but teeth and garments from those guys.

Keep an eye out for the Above the Law rankings, coming soon. We’re tied for the second most widely read law school rankings in the world!

2016 Best Law Schools [U.S. News & World Report]
U.S. News Changes Methodology for Best Law Schools Rankings [Morse Code / U.S. News & World Report]

Sponsored

« Previous 1 2

Topics

, , , , ,