Top Law Schools

If it's not top-30, does it really matter where you go to school? Most decisions after that point are made based on the region a school is in and the aid they are willing to give. Tier 1 used to be top 50, distinguishing those in front from the rest. Recently, however, USN has made tier 1 the top 100, making us believe that the ranking of the top 100 somehow matters. They don't. We can neither say that 30 is much better than 60 nor 50 much better than 80 - there are too many things that go into decisions at this point. Maybe if all things were equal someone would choose between two schools based solely on rank. But, as we know, nothing is ever equal. There is always someting tugging us in one direction or the other.

My point is that everything after 30 seems to be regional and therefore doesn't necessarily need to be ranked. This tier 1, top 100 nonsense is simply ridiculous. You have schools in the 70s,80s,90s fighting for spots in the 60s and 50s like it makes a difference.

After all the dramatic gains and losses in this years ranking, I think it holds true that these rankings are a load of crap.

toolfan wrote:If it's not top-6, does it really matter where you go to school?

FTFY

Even better, but there won't be much magnazine with 6 entries.

Tier 1 will always be T50. 50-100 is TT. Fordham>>>>>>Cardozo. 30s>50s.

If you look at the USN scores they give each school, 20 spots are separated but like 8-10 points.

I.E. fordham (T-30) = 62 points

University of Florida (51) = 53 points

That's a 9 point difference and 21 positions

FuManChusco wrote:Tier 1 will always be T50. 50-100 is TT. Fordham>>>>>>Cardozo. 30s>50s.

Yes, but it has nothing to do with the numbers, and everything to do with how students fare on the employment market. Fordham is not going to change overnight because it is now in the T40. It still has the same score (62) as it did last year. I anticipate that the school will move back up after the part time program is cut back. I am not happy about that, but I don't think Fordham has any choice. This is what saved GW. (Yes, I am aware that not all schools with PT programs suffered. Schools with large PT programs and a measurable numbers disparity were more likely to do so, and GW and Fordham had both these factors.)

To address the OP: when evaluating any school outside the T14 (maybe T17), you need to look at how it places in your target market. The best T1 in your target market is generally a good choice if you don't have T14 numbers, regardless of where it is ranked.

OperaSoprano wrote:

FuManChusco wrote:Tier 1 will always be T50. 50-100 is TT. Fordham>>>>>>Cardozo. 30s>50s.

Yes, but it has nothing to do with the numbers, and everything to do with how students fare on the employment market. Fordham is not going to change overnight because it is now in the T40. It still has the same score (62) as it did last year. I anticipate that the school will move back up after the part time program is cut back. I am not happy about that, but I don't think Fordham has any choice. This is what saved GW. (Yes, I am aware that not all schools with PT programs suffered. Schools with large PT programs and a measurable numbers disparity were more likely to do so, and GW and Fordham had both these factors.)

To address the OP: when evaluating any school outside the T14 (maybe T17), you need to look at how it places in your target market. The best T1 in your target market is generally a good choice if you don't have T14 numbers, regardless of where it is ranked.

How exactly is GW's part time cut already showing in the rankings? They are cutting the program for this years incoming class if i'm not mistaken. The school still has around 80+ part time students. They still have a full section.

Employment+Clerkship data is the only ranking system I am interested in... any system that has Indiana ahead of Fordham, OSU, W&L and GW (last year) is clearly not working.

Notor wrote:Employment+Clerkship data is the only ranking system I am interested in... any system that has Indiana ahead of Fordham, OSU, W&L and GW (last year) is clearly not working.

+1
and Tulane in T1

Notor wrote:Employment+Clerkship data is the only ranking system I am interested in... any system that has Indiana ahead of Fordham, OSU, W&L and GW (last year) is clearly not working.

+1

Kobe_Teeth wrote:

Notor wrote:Employment+Clerkship data is the only ranking system I am interested in... any system that has Indiana ahead of Fordham, OSU, W&L and GW (last year) is clearly not working.

+1

hahaha +2

firebreathingliberal wrote:If you look at the USN scores they give each school, 20 spots are separated but like 8-10 points.

I.E. fordham (T-30) = 62 points

University of Florida (51) = 53 points

That's a 9 point difference and 21 positions

USN puts the margin in marginal

The schools tied at 28 are only separated by one point from the schools tied at 34 in the USNWR ranking system. 30 seems like a pretty arbitrary cutoff. The rankings are kind of useless all together IMO, and they get more useless the further down you move in the rankings, but there is not really any reasonable place to put a cut off and say the rankings don't matter beyond the top-x. You should take region into consideration when choosing any non T14 (at most) school.

Oh, and I assume OP goes to or will be attending one of the schools tied at 28 I go to one of the schools tied at 34, so I'd be ok with the rankings ending at T35. Next year when we move back into the T30, they can end there, and if we ever get back to T25, I'll be ok with the rankings stopping there too.

Notor wrote:Employment+Clerkship data is the only ranking system I am interested in... any system that has Indiana ahead of Fordham, OSU, W&L and GW (last year) is clearly not working.

+1

I think the rankings should be broken down by National vs. Regional, based upon ability to place outside of the region.