The 2017 U.S. News Law School Rankings Leak: The Top 100

Which law school has had the worst performance thus far in this year’s rankings?

78. American (-7)
78. UNLV (-11)
78. Oregon (+4)
78. Pittsburgh
82. LSU (+12)
82. Northeastern (+5)
82. St. Louis (+5)
82. New Hampshire (+5)
86. Chicago – Kent (-8)
86. Penn State – Dickinson (-15)
86. Penn State – University Park (-15)
86. Syracuse (+1)
86. Arkansas (-11)
86. Tulsa (-4)
92. Lewis & Clark (+2)
92. Rutgers (-5)
92. Hawaii (-10)
92. Louisville (+2)
92. South Carolina (+2)
97. Brooklyn (-19)
97. Wayne State (+8)
97. West Virginia (-3)
100. Indiana University – Indianapolis (+2)
100. Michigan State (-6)
100. SUNY Buffalo (-13)

Only one law school made major gains here (LSU), while seven others suffered greatly, with double-digit declines. Oof. Penn State, fresh off separating its campuses into two separate law schools, continues its downward descent into oblivion by losing another 15 spots in the rankings, following up on a 20-spot drop just last year. To think, Penn State was once so close to being ranked as a Top 50 school. Better luck next year.

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SUNY Buffalo also struggled this year, landing itself right back in the same place it had climbed out of just last year. Perhaps those faculty buyouts weren’t so helpful after all. (It’s worth noting that many of the law schools that offered faculty buyouts did poorly in this year’s rankings. We’ll see how this plays out in the rest of the rankings.)

Last, but definitely not least, we’ve got the worst performance in the 2017 rankings thus far. Unfortunately, it looks like Brooklyn Law wasn’t able to stick the landing after its 15 percent tuition cut. The law school now finds itself 19 spots lower in the U.S. News rankings, drifting dangerously close to being knocked out of the Top 100 entirely.

Should you really be considering attending any of these law schools? The jury is still out. Because of all of the ties in this year’s rankings, there’s no real way to see concrete differences between them aside from their numerical rank without digging deeper through outside sources, so it makes it that much harder for prospective law school applicants who may be relying on U.S. News to help them in their decision-making.

If you don’t like what you see, you may want to check out the upcoming Above the Law Top 50 Law School Rankings. We care about the most important thing you’ll care about when you graduate — and that’s whether you’ll be able to land a job that pays enough to allow you to service your ever-increasing law school debt. Stay tuned for their release!