KibblesAndVick wrote:gdane5 wrote:When it comes down to making a decision a student should ask "Will I get a good education? Will I be able to pass the Bar exam? Will i be able to secure meaningful employment after graduation?", not "What rank is my school according to USNWR?".
I completely agree that these are the important underlying concerns. But, would you agree that the favorability of the answers to these questions highly correlates to the rank of your school in the USNWR rankings? Harvard will get you a superb education, the vast majority of their graduates pass the bar on their first try, and their job prospects are top notch. The fact that they are ranked #2 doesn't cause this but there is a strong correlation. I suppose this becomes much less meaningful when looking at schools comparable to each other in the rankings (T10 vs T10 or T50 vs T50).
I think there is a correlation but that connection is secondary to the actual student. The vast majority of how effective an education is based on student commitment etc. I think the biggest reason that highly ranked schools have such great job prospects for their students is because those law firms can tell their clients that they have the "top" legal minds out there. But how much brainpower does it really take to do doc review for two years?