Law Schools

Majority Of Recent JDs Think There's Too Much Emphasis On Rankings

Rankings are important, but are they too important?

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Today is the official U.S. News & World Report rankings day — even though we’ve already known the rankings for over a week now, and we have the dirt on a notable absence from the list  — the official list got revealed to the world today. That’s a big deal in the world of legal academia, and a high ranking will get quickly integrated into all manner of application materials.

But do prospective law students put too much emphasis on rankings when deciding where to go to school? That’s the takeaway from a recent Kaplan Bar Review survey of over 200 JDs from the Class of 2017. Fifty-one percent of respondents said applicants put too much value on a law school’s ranking when making enrollment decisions; 12 percent said they place too little value on it; and the remaining 37 percent played Goldilocks and said the right level of value is placed upon it.

The message in this data according to Tammi Rice, vice president of Kaplan Bar Review, is rankings are nice, but they don’t guarantee you happiness — or a job after graduation:

“A school’s ranking doesn’t necessarily get you happiness or a good experience as a law school student or graduate. Our experience is that it’s a statistic much more important to law school administrators, as it’s understandably an important recruitment and fundraising tool. Our advice to aspiring lawyers has always been that while rankings can play a useful role in helping them decide where to apply, they should look closely at other statistics, including how many of a law school’s graduates have found a job in the legal field and what the law school’s bar passage rate is. You cannot be a practicing attorney without passing the bar,” said Tammi Rice, vice president, Kaplan Bar Review.

So if you’re applying to law schools right now, remember, there’s a lot more to the experience than what U.S. News & World Report has to say.

headshotKathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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