The 2017 U.S. News Law School Rankings Leak: The Top 100
We have the news before anyone else. Which law schools made the Top 100 this year? Click here to find out.
After U.S. News & World Report accidentally published a portion of its 2017 law school rankings on Tuesday — a segment that contained the most elite law schools in the nation — members of the legal profession longed for more information, so we took the liberty of leaking the Top 50 law schools. Some, however, were still unsatisfied; alas, their law schools were nowhere to be seen within that chunk of the rankings.
Not to worry, readers, because once again, Above the Law has news you can use. The remainder of the U.S. News law school rankings aren’t due for publication until next week, but we’ve got the unofficial Top 100 rankings for you to feast your eyes upon today. U.S. News chief data strategist Bob Morse says he “cannot vouch for the accuracy of any data or information that appear about the rankings” prior to their release, so you’ll have to trust us that these are the real deal, and will be confirmed on March 16.
Today’s U.S. News rankings leak comes to us courtesy of Mike Spivey of the Spivey Consulting Group, who broke the news. You can review them here, or at his blog here.
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We’ve already discussed them here and here, but here’s a quick refresher on the Top 50:
1. Yale (no change)
2. Stanford (no change)
2. Harvard (no change)
4. Columbia (no change)
4. Chicago (no change)
6. NYU (no change)
7. Penn (no change)
8. Berkeley (no change)
8. Michigan (+3)
8. UVA (no change)
11. Duke (-3)
12. Northwestern (no change)
13. Cornell (no change)
14. Georgetown (no change)
15. Texas (no change)
16. Vanderbilt (+1)
17. UCLA (-1)
18. Washington University in St. Louis (no change)
19. USC (+1)
20. Boston University (+6)
20. Iowa (+2)
22. Emory (-3)
22. Minnesota (-2)
22. Notre Dame (no change)
25. Arizona State (+1)
25. George Washington (-3)
25. Indiana-Bloomington (+9)
28. Alabama (-6)
28. UC-Irvine (+2)
30. Boston College (+4)
30. Ohio State (+4)
30. UC-Davis (+1)
33. William & Mary (-4)
33. Georgia (-2)
33. Washington (-5)
33. Wisconsin (-2)
37. Fordham (-3)
38. BYU (-4)
38. North Carolina (-4)
40. Arizona (+2)
40. Colorado (no change)
40. Illinois (+1)
40. Wake Forest (+7)
40. Washington and Lee (+2)
45. George Mason (-3)
45. SMU (+1)
45. Utah (-3)
48. Florida (-1)
48. Maryland (-1)
50. FSU (no change)
50. Temple (+2)
50. Tulane (no change)
50. UC-Hastings (+9)
50. Houston (+9)
With that out of the way, let’s take a sneak peek at the law schools outside of the Top 50. If you thought there were too many ties in that part of the rankings, then you ain’t seen nothing yet. Right here, we’ve got a tie for #55, a three-way tie for #57, a five-way tie for #60, a seven-way tie for #65, a tie for #72, a four-way tie for #74, a four-way tie for #78, a four-way tie for #82, a six-way tie for #86, a five-way tie for #92, a three-way tie for #97, and a three-way tie for #100. Congratulations, U.S. News, you did it! There are officially more ties in this year’s Top 100 than last year’s. In the 2017 rankings, there are 26 rankings ties within the Top 100 alone. This has got to be one of the least helpful ways to help pre-law students “differentiate” between law schools ever. Do better.
This segment of the rankings is also home to some of the most notable gains and losses:
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55. Baylor (+1)
55. Richmond (-3)
57. Case Western (+2)
57. Georgia State (-1)
57. Nebraska (-1)
60. Cincinnati (+22)
60. Kentucky (+3)
60. Miami (+3)
60. New Mexico (+11)
60. Oklahoma (+7)
65. Loyola (CA) (+10)
65. Pepperdine (-13)
65. Seton Hall (-2)
65. Connecticut (-2)
65. Kansas (+2)
65. Missouri (-6)
65. Tennessee (-13)
72. Loyola – Chicago (+6)
72. Denver (-5)
74. St. John’s (+8)
74. San Diego (-3)
74. Villanova (+13)
74. Cardozo (+1)
Congratulations go out to Cincinnati, New Mexico, Loyola (CA), and Villanova, which all posted double-digit gains in just a year’s time. Thus far, with a 22-spot climb, Cincy gained the most ground of all law schools we’ve seen in the latest edition of the rankings. Way to go! It also looks like Villanova is shedding its past scandals as it continues to move up in the rankings. Before you know it, the school will be back to where it once was when it was faking its median LSAT scores and GPAs for entering students.
What’s going on at Pepperdine and Tennessee? Nothing good, apparently. A double-digit drop in the rankings is certainly nothing to be proud about, but sliding down 13 spots in rank isn’t all that bad compared to what went wrong in the next portion of the rankings.
Flip to the next page to check out the most offensive offensive drops in rank we’ve seen yet in this year’s edition of the rankings, and to see which law school sank like a stone.
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