Why rankings do matter (even a little). Forum

[Fark-o-vision]

There are so many topics out there telling people to disregard the rankings after t30, or t20, or t14, but I thought it might be useful to mention that there are some reasons why rankings do matter (even a little).

Not a lot of experience on my end, but I do have some family connections to the legal community and have spoken with some lawyers outside of it. The general feeling that I get is that rankings aren't particularly watched by the legal community, but they do indicate well within their own region. For instance, Loyola Los Angeles gets a lot of love around LA (although, again, those I know have been hesitant to recommend it because of the respect given UCLA and USC). Many of my relatives were somewhat surprised to learn that it is ranked as lowly as it is.

In most of the communities I've had the opportunity to get some ground level info on, I've noticed the same pattern. Higher ranked schools are, generally, better respected in their community.

In a lot of ways, this is what people are saying when they say to disregard the rankings, but I thought it was worth clarifying. Anyone have information that supports, or (more importantly) discredits this way of looking at the rankings?

[oberlin08]

There are so many topics out there telling people to disregard the rankings after t30, or t20, or t14, but I thought it might be useful to mention that there are some reasons why rankings do matter (even a little).

Not a lot of experience on my end, but I do have some family connections to the legal community and have spoken with some lawyers outside of it. The general feeling that I get is that rankings aren't particularly watched by the legal community, but they do indicate well within their own region. For instance, Loyola Los Angeles gets a lot of love around LA (although, again, those I know have been hesitant to recommend it because of the respect given UCLA and USC). Many of my relatives were somewhat surprised to learn that it is ranked as lowly as it is.

In most of the communities I've had the opportunity to get some ground level info on, I've noticed the same pattern. Higher ranked schools are, generally, better respected in their community.

In a lot of ways, this is what people are saying when they say to disregard the rankings, but I thought it was worth clarifying. Anyone have information that supports, or (more importantly) discredits this way of looking at the rankings?

I think most people agree, that if youre gonna go to the a 'regional' school, go to the best possible school within that region. E.g., if you want Baltimore, go to UMD and not UBaltimore

[im_blue]

For instance, Loyola Los Angeles gets a lot of love around LA (although, again, those I know have been hesitant to recommend it because of the respect given UCLA and USC). Many of my relatives were somewhat surprised to learn that it is ranked as lowly as it is.

Surely you've heard the TLS anecdotes about friends/family asking why someone would consider attending NYU/Chicago/relatively unknown T14 when they know plenty of "successful lawyers" from the local TTT.

[KibblesAndVick]

There are so many topics out there telling people to disregard the rankings after t30, or t20, or t14, but I thought it might be useful to mention that there are some reasons why rankings do matter (even a little).

Not a lot of experience on my end, but I do have some family connections to the legal community and have spoken with some lawyers outside of it. The general feeling that I get is that rankings aren't particularly watched by the legal community, but they do indicate well within their own region. For instance, Loyola Los Angeles gets a lot of love around LA (although, again, those I know have been hesitant to recommend it because of the respect given UCLA and USC). Many of my relatives were somewhat surprised to learn that it is ranked as lowly as it is.

In most of the communities I've had the opportunity to get some ground level info on, I've noticed the same pattern. Higher ranked schools are, generally, better respected in their community.

In a lot of ways, this is what people are saying when they say to disregard the rankings, but I thought it was worth clarifying. Anyone have information that supports, or (more importantly) discredits this way of looking at the rankings?

Yes, clearly the rankings must be important because they correlate with something important... You might be on to something big here

[Fark-o-vision]

There are so many topics out there telling people to disregard the rankings after t30, or t20, or t14, but I thought it might be useful to mention that there are some reasons why rankings do matter (even a little).

Not a lot of experience on my end, but I do have some family connections to the legal community and have spoken with some lawyers outside of it. The general feeling that I get is that rankings aren't particularly watched by the legal community, but they do indicate well within their own region. For instance, Loyola Los Angeles gets a lot of love around LA (although, again, those I know have been hesitant to recommend it because of the respect given UCLA and USC). Many of my relatives were somewhat surprised to learn that it is ranked as lowly as it is.

In most of the communities I've had the opportunity to get some ground level info on, I've noticed the same pattern. Higher ranked schools are, generally, better respected in their community.

In a lot of ways, this is what people are saying when they say to disregard the rankings, but I thought it was worth clarifying. Anyone have information that supports, or (more importantly) discredits this way of looking at the rankings?

Yes, clearly the rankings must be important because they correlate with something important... You might be on to something big here

So often I think the implication here is that rankings outside of the top 30 correlate only to some form of gaming the numbers. What I've noticed, at least from people in Los Angeles, is that the rankings are meaningful and pretty good, although you should be looking to a particular region when utilizing them.

[fwaam]

For instance, Loyola Los Angeles gets a lot of love around LA (although, again, those I know have been hesitant to recommend it because of the respect given UCLA and USC). Many of my relatives were somewhat surprised to learn that it is ranked as lowly as it is.

Surely you've heard the TLS anecdotes about friends/family asking why someone would consider attending NYU/Chicago/relatively unknown T14 when they know plenty of "successful lawyers" from the local TTT.

You put that in quotes as if you doubt that these people are really successful.

Depends on your definition of success I guess. But I'm astonished by how many people on TLS believe that average starting salary = what most TTT grads will be making for the rest of their lives.