Law Schools, Rankings, U.S. News

The OFFICIAL 2017 U.S. News Law School Rankings Are Here!

Which law schools rose in the rankings and which law schools sank like stones? We've got all of the information for you, and more. Click here to find out how your law school did this year.

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US-News-Rankings-Logo-no-yearAbove the Law leaked the latest edition of the U.S. News law school rankings last week (see the Top 14 here, the Top 50 here, and the Top 100 here), but now the actual publication date is upon us, and the 2017 rankings are officially out. We’re very pleased to announce that all of our leaked information has been confirmed.

As we wondered last year, “Law school deans, are you ready to read your report cards — and possibly lose your jobs over them?” Thanks to an early distribution of the rankings from U.S. News, as well as our leaked information, law school administrators have had the rankings in hand for several days now, and by our calculations, the annual shuffling of the deans has already started.

But which law schools have the most to worry about thanks to this year’s U.S. News rankings? Here are the most offensive drops in rank we noticed — and by “offensive,” we mean 11 or more spots. We’ve highlighted the three biggest rankings drops in bold:

65. Pepperdine (-13)
65. Tennessee (-13)
78. UNLV (-11)
86. Penn State – Dickinson (-15)
86. Penn State – University Park (-15)
86. Arkansas (-11)
97. Brooklyn (-19)
100. SUNY Buffalo (-13)
106. Mississippi (-12)
123. Marquette (-18)
123. Wyoming (-15)
129. Santa Clara (-35)
131. CUNY (-18)
132. Gonzaga (-22)
132. Willamette (-14)
RNP. Ohio Northern (down from #145)
RNP. Samford (down from #149)
RNP. Southern Illinois (down from #149)
RNP. South Texas (down from #149)
RNP. Dayton (down from #145)
RNP. Memphis (down from #142)
RNP. San Francisco (down from #138)

Well, that was entirely depressing. How about some good news? Let’s take a look at law schools that gained 11 or more spots in this year’s U.S. News rankings. We’ve highlighted the three biggest rankings gains in bold. Congratulations on kicking ass this year!

60. New Mexico (+11)
74. Villanova (+13)
106. Cleveland State (+21)
106. Washburn (+16)
111. DePaul (+11)
111. Drexel (+16)
111. Hofstra (+11)
111. NYLS (+16)
111. Texas A&M (+38)
111. Baltimore (+11)
111. Idaho (+16)
111. U. St. Thomas (+24)
144. Campbell (up from RNP)
144. Northern Illinois (up from RNP)
144. U. Pacific (up from RNP)

Did anyone else notice that there seem to be more ties in the U.S. News rankings than ever before? In fact, there’s a twelve-way tie at #111. We fail to see how this can be helpful to anyone — certainly not the 73 percent of prospective law students who say they’ll use these rankings as an important factor in their law school decision.

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Enough chatter about numbers, let’s get to the real issues. Flip to the next page for some color commentary on the 2017 U.S. News rankings from the one and only Elie Mystal.

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