Law Schools

The 2019 U.S. News Law School Rankings Leak: The Top 100

Which law schools made the Top 100 this year?

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Moving right along, let’s check out the schools that make up the bottom of the Top 100. If you thought a 12-place tumble in the rankings was bad, you ain’t seen nothing yet. This segment of the rankings is the most volatile yet, with one tie, four three-way ties, one five-way tie, and one seven-way tie, and almost half of them dropped in rank.

80. American University (+6)
80. Texas A&M University (+12)
80. University of Nebraska—Lincoln (-23)
83. Brooklyn Law School (+5)
83. St. John’s University (-11)
85. Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago-Kent) (+7)
85. University of New Hampshire (+15)
85. University of Oregon (+1)
88. Louisiana State University (+8)
88. Michigan State University (+8)
88. St. Louis University
88. Syracuse University (+4)
88. University of Arkansas (-11)
88. University of New Mexico (-11)
88. University of South Carolina
95. Lewis & Clark College (+5)
95. Marquette University (+5)
95. University of San Diego (-18)
98. Indiana University—Indianapolis (McKinney) (-10)
98. Stetson University (-2)
98. Wayne State University (+2)
101. Drexel University (+11)
101. Florida International University (-1)
101. University of Hawaii (-1)
101. University of Mississippi (+8)
101. University of Tulsa (-19)

The biggest winners here were Texas A&M, New Hampshire, and Drexel, which posted 12-, 15-, and 11-spot gains in rank, respectively. The biggest losers were Nebraska (-23), St. John’s (-11), Arkansas (-11), New Mexico (-11), U. San Diego (-18), Indiana-McKinney (-10), and Tulsa (-19). These are some of the most offensive drops in rank thus far in the 2019 edition the rankings. With seven law schools floundering like this, it’s time for us to examine what exactly happened. While it’s difficult to determine what caused Nebraska to do the equivalent of a rankings belly flop because many of its stats remained similar year over year, it’s much easier to see why San Diego tanked in the 2019 rankings. While the school’s most recent bar exam pass rates were good, its employment statistics stink (only 46.8 percent of the class of 2016 were employed in full-time, long-term jobs where bar passage is required).

Once again, we’ll ask how prospective law students are supposed to differentiate between law schools when there are so many ties present within the rankings. In the 2019 rankings, there are 23 ties in the Top 100 alone. This is not only unhelpful, but it actually does a disservice for pre-law students.

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.

So what do you think of the rankings? Feel free to sound off by email, by text message (646-820-8477), or by tweet (@ATLblog). 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. Please stay tuned for their release this spring!

We’ll be right there with you on March 20 when the official 2019 U.S. News law school rankings are published to see if we can confirm all of our leaked data. Please stick around with us for additional color commentary on the latest edition of the rankings when they’re made public. Thanks a lot!

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Earlier: The LEAKED 2019 U.S. News Law School Rankings Are Here

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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