US News Law School Rankings Over the Years Forum

[awesomepossum]

Ithaca is shockingly expensive for where it is. It's certainly not DC, but it's still insane. My parking pass here costs me almost $600 a year. Housing adjacent to the university is also crazy. One apartment building has STUDIOS for 1300 a month.

Insane.

[un3r3stimat3d]

possum... Michigan is one of my top choices. People have told me to beware of yield protection. Any suggestions on how I can show I'm really interested in the school without applying early decision? I'm definitely going to write the Why Michigan essay, but I think some of my reasons for wanting to go to Michigan aren't necessarily the most law school related (awesome law quad, want to go to a school with a big sports program after my undergrad with shitty sports, i like snow)

[awesomepossum]

I wrote all law school related things. However, there are plenty of peope (I think Alexandria is one of them) who wrote lots of non-law school related things. I think it's all good.

Maybe you can put in a mix?

[Alexandria]

Yeah, I wrote just as many things that weren't about the law school as things that were. I talked about Ann Arbor as a community, about my husband's ties to the area and the university, and I did even actually mention the sports teams! I wrote it in a half-joking way, but the adcomm could see from the rest of my application that I am actually an official for an NCAA sport. I am hoping to volunteer with one of Michigan's teams, since I won't be allowed (by the sport, not the law school) to officiate a competition involving Michigan as long as I am in law school here.

Thanks for the post with the u.s news law school rankings throughout the years, which sparked this discussion.

[TonyConde]

Ken, your rankings are WRONG. Boston University is NOT Boston College. It was Boston College that was in the top 20 or top 25 of the US News rankings since 1992. BU has broken into the top 25 only within the last 2 years or so, with BC dipping into the 26/27/28 level. Nothing against BU -- I like BU in fact -- but it's a Johnny come lately to the big leagues.

[indiana_student]

I wrote a program while bored here at work to find the average rank the T16 schools have held over the years based on the data below. I also included the new US News rankings as a data point. The results are below. They are pretty close to the ranks I put forward based on Peer Assesment and the Judges and Lawyers ratings in a previous post.

1 1.00 Yale
2 2.44 Harvard
3 2.62 Stanford
4 4.56 Columbia
5 4.69 Chicago
6 5.75 NYU
7 6.94 Michigan
8 8.38 UVA
9 9.50 Penn
10 9.56 Duke
11 9.62 Berkeley
12 12.38 Cornell
13 12.62 Northwestern
14 12.75 Georgetown
15 16.44 UT
16 16.88 UCLA

By my math Vandy should be #15 at 16.29

[jasofbase2001]

Someone should update this to include 2004-2010. See the year UVA dropped from 8 to 14 then rose back to 8 in one year? Odd stuff.

[FlightoftheEarls]

An advantage of Michigan that cannot be overlooked is the ability to choose your own email ID name. They should put that in the prospective student materials.....although I think it makes many people briefly tempted to engage in silliness....

I was almost:

superduper@umich.edu
thelawrocks@umich.edu
sexisbetter@umich.edu

Ahhhhh....when I think of what could have been.....

Is this true still AP?

[whocares]

awesomepossum wrote:
An advantage of Michigan that cannot be overlooked is the ability to choose your own email ID name. They should put that in the prospective student materials.....although I think it makes many people briefly tempted to engage in silliness....

I was almost:

superduper@umich.edu
thelawrocks@umich.edu
sexisbetter@umich.edu

Ahhhhh....when I think of what could have been.....



Is this true still AP?

I'm not AP, but yes it is still true.

[awesomepossum]

it's true, but I chickened out.

[bobsbowl]

Ken, In almost every instance BU should be BC.... the data is wrong and should be changed. People have a hard enough time differentiating between these schools. A useful tool otherwise, though.

[lawaddict06]

I agree that GULC admissions statistics show that GULC students are pretty high on the numerical metrics. However, the problem at GULC according to USNews seems to be the peer and lawyer/judge assessment scores.

I wonder what exactly the problem is there? (I really have no idea)

I personally thought GULC was pretty nice when I visited. However, I do admit I came away with a tiny bit of the diploma mill feeling. It was beautiful......but a little impersonal. That could be just me though. That having been said, I would have chosen GULC over some of the higher ranked schools...... just not the one I chose in the end.

Just to clarify...Georgetown's judge/lawyer assessment is 4.4...tying it with Duke and Upenn.

Its peer assessment score is lagging though...only above Northwestern...i wonder why that is...maybe TLS influence!

[showNprove]

.

[normandale176]

Any chance we can get the top 100 over the past 5 years?

[Tuski]

Any chance we can get the top 100 over the past 5 years?

I'm wondering the same thing as the above poster. Or really, even the top 50. Anyone know where to get this data?

[Jules Winnfield]

Remember, this is TLS so anything under the T20 is just unholy and merits no special recognition nor consideration.

And I'm glad to see that Ken feels the same way.

[Tuski]

Remember, this is TLS so anything under the T20 is just unholy and merits no special recognition nor consideration.

Yeah, I knew a comment like that was coming.

But I don't think this:

And I'm glad to see that Ken feels the same way.

is entirely true, since TLS's current year's rankings (for which Ken posted a link) show schools all the way up to 100, and provides a link to Tier3 & Tier4 as well. I'm just asking about T50.

Also, tbf, one might be interested in that data to look at the history of a school that is currently in the T25 but hasn't always been, or vice versa. [edited to add: though I'm sure a school that hasn't always been in the T25 doesn't merit recognition either ]

[Jules Winnfield]

But I don't think this:

And I'm glad to see that Ken feels the same way.

is entirely true, since TLS's current year's rankings (for which Ken posted a link) show schools all the way up to 100, and provides a link to Tier3 & Tier4 as well. I'm just asking about T50.

Also, tbf, one might be interested in that data to look at the history of a school that is currently in the T25 but hasn't always been, or vice versa. [edited to add: though I'm sure a school that hasn't always been in the T25 doesn't merit recognition either ]

Fair enough. Well, played, Tuski!

[NayBoer]

Any chance we can get the top 100 over the past 5 years?

I'm wondering the same thing as the above poster. Or really, even the top 50. Anyone know where to get this data?

I'll reward this shameless thread necromancy by giving you your answer:

since 2000
http://www.prelawhandbook.com/law_schoo ... 00_present

'87-'99
http://www.prelawhandbook.com/law_schoo ... _1987_1999

[legalease9]

Any chance we can get the top 100 over the past 5 years?

I'm wondering the same thing as the above poster. Or really, even the top 50. Anyone know where to get this data?

I'll reward this shameless thread necromancy by giving you your answer:

since 2000
http://www.prelawhandbook.com/law_schoo ... 00_present

'87-'99
http://www.prelawhandbook.com/law_schoo ... _1987_1999

Great Post!

[awesomepossum]

it's pretty shocking to see stuff reappear that I wrote 3 years ago!

[Tuski]

Any chance we can get the top 100 over the past 5 years?

I'm wondering the same thing as the above poster. Or really, even the top 50. Anyone know where to get this data?

I'll reward this shameless thread necromancy by giving you your answer:

since 2000
http://www.prelawhandbook.com/law_schoo ... 00_present

'87-'99
http://www.prelawhandbook.com/law_schoo ... _1987_1999

Thanks, I found that myself before posting, but was looking to see if anyone else had another source (since that one doesn't seem to rank exactly the same as US News - it includes .5's for example which as far as I know US News doesn't). (I'm trying to analyze trends/correlations between rankings from year to year, btw, this has nothing to do with my law school selection). I searched TLS for my answer before asking, and found this post. Thought it would be easier to just revive it, rather than start a new thread - but I guess not. I suppose I'll have to see about getting back issues of USNWR. /thread

[wired]

Remember, this is TLS so anything under the T20 that isn't GW or Fordham is just unholy and merits no special recognition nor consideration.

And I'm glad to see that Ken feels the same way.

FTFY

[Zeile]

Two things:

1.) I'm very impressed by what a "legit" T20 UMN is. I didn't realize how stable they've been. Seems to be an underrated school.

2.) What the hell happened to UC Hastings????

[ArmyVet07]

I was impressed by how well-represented the Big Ten has been over the years. Aside from the T14 schools, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin have been regular members of the T25.