Top Law Schools

Given that US News Law Schools Rankings have become the most widely cited, I thought it would be interesting for viewers to see the U.S. News law schoolrankings through the years. Past rankings are below, while the 2008 law school rankings can be viewed by clicking:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/rankings.html

2003
1 Yale
2 Stanford
3 Harvard
4 Columbia
5 NYU
6 Chicago
7 Michigan
7 Penn
9 UVA
10 Cornell
10 Berkeley
12 Duke
12 Northwestern
14 Georgetown
15 U. of Texas ("UT")
16 UCLA
17 Vanderbilt
18 USC
19 Minnesota
19 Washington & Lee
21 Iowa
22 Boston U.
22 George Washington
22 Notre Dame
25 U. of Illinois
25 Wash. U. (St. Louis)


2002
1 Yale
2 Stanford
3 Harvard
4 Columbia
5 NYU
6 Chicago
7 Berkeley
7 Michigan
7 Penn
7 UVA
11 Northwestern
12 Duke
13 Cornell
14 Georgetown
15 UT
16 UCLA
17 Vanderbilt
18 Iowa
18 Minnesota
18 USC
18 Washington & Lee
22 Boston U.
22 Emory
24 Notre Dame
25 Boston University
25 George Washington
25 U. of Illinois
25 Univ. of Washington
25 Wisconsin
25 Wash. U. (St. Louis)


2001
1 Yale
2 Stanford
3 Harvard
4 Columbia
5 NYU
6 Chicago
7 Michigan
7 UVA
9 Berkeley
10 Duke
10 Penn
12 Cornell
13 Northwestern
14 Georgetown
15 UT
16 UCLA
17 Vanderbilt
18 USC
19 Minnesota
20 Iowa
20 Washington & Lee
22 Boston U.
23 George Washington
23 U. of Illinois
23 UNC Chapel Hill
23 Univ. of Washington


2000
1 Yale
2 Stanford
3 Harvard
4 NYU
5 Columbia
6 Chicago
7 Michigan
8 Berkeley
8 UVA
10 Cornell
10 Duke
12 Northwestern
12 Penn
14 Georgetown
15 UT
16 UCLA
17 USC
18 Vanderbilt
19 Minnesota
20 Washington & Lee
21 Iowa
22 UNC Chapel Hill
23 Boston U.
23 George Washington
23 U. of Illinois


1999
1 Yale
2 Harvard
2 Stanford
4 NYU
5 Columbia
6 Chicago
7 UVA
8 Duke
8 Michigan
10 Cornell
10 Berkeley
12 Northwestern
12 Penn
14 Georgetown
15 UT
16 UCLA
16 Vanderbilt
18 Minnesota
18 USC
20 Washington & Lee
21 UNC Chapel Hill
21 Notre Dame
23 U. of Illinois
23 Iowa
25 George Washington
25 Univ. of Washington


1998
1 Yale
2 Harvard
2 Stanford
4 Columbia
4 Chicago
6 NYU
7 Berkeley
8 Duke
8 Michigan
8 Penn
8 UVA
12 Cornell
12 Georgetown
12 Northwestern
15 USC
16 Vanderbilt
17 UCLA
18 Minnesota
19 Washington & Lee
20 George Washington
20 U. of Illinois
22 Boston U.
23 Univ. of Washington
24 Iowa
25 Emory
25 Fordham
25 UNC Chapel Hill
25 Notre Dame


1997
1 Yale
2 Harvard
3 Stanford
4 Chicago
5 Columbia
6 NYU
7 Michigan
8 UVA
9 Berkeley
10 Duke
11 Penn
12 Cornell
13 Georgetown
14 Northwestern
15 USC
16 Vanderbilt
17 UCLA
18 UT
19 U. of Illinois
20 Minnesota
21 Notre Dame
22 Boston U.
23 George Washington
24 Iowa
25 Washington & Lee


1996
1 Yale
2 Harvard
3 Stanford
4 Chicago
5 Columbia
6 NYU
7 Michigan
8 Penn
9 UVA
10 Duke
11 Cornell
12 Georgetown
12 Berkeley
14 Northwestern
15 USC
16 Vanderbilt
17 UCLA
18 UT
19 U. of Illinois
20 Washington & Lee
21 Minnesota
22 George Washington
23 Emory
23 Univ. of Washington
25 Notre Dame


1995
1 Yale
2 Harvard
2 Stanford
4 Chicago
5 Columbia
6 NYU
7 UVA
8 Duke
8 Berkeley
8 Michigan
11 Northwestern
11 Penn
13 Georgetown
14 Cornell
15 USC
16 Vanderbilt
17 UT
18 Minnesota
19 Iowa
20 U. of Illinois
21 Washington & Lee
22 George Washington
23 Wisconsin
24 UCLA
25 Emory


1994
1 Yale
2 Harvard
3 Stanford
4 Chicago
5 Columbia
6 NYU
7 Duke
8 Michigan
9 Penn
10 Berkeley
11 Cornell
12 Northwestern
13 Georgetown
14 UVA
15 Vanderbilt
16 UCLA
17 Minnesota
18 USC
19 Iowa
20 UC Hastings
21 UT
22 Emory
22 Washington & Lee
24 Boston U.
25 Univ. of Washington


1993
1 Yale
2 Harvard
3 Stanford
4 Chicago
5 Columbia
6 NYU
7 Michigan
8 UVA
9 Duke
10 Georgetown
11 Penn
12 Berkeley
13 Northwestern
14 Cornell
15 UT
16 Vanderbilt
17 UCLA
18 USC
19 Boston U.
20 Notre Dame
21 George Washington
22 Wisconsin
23 UC Hastings
23 Iowa
25 Minnesota


1992
1 Yale
2 Harvard
3 Stanford
4 Chicago
5 Columbia
6 Michigan
7 NYU
8 UVA
9 Duke
10 Penn
11 Georgetown
12 Berkeley
13 Northwestern
14 Cornell
15 UT
16 Vanderbilt
17 UCLA
18 USC
19 UC Hastings
20 Notre Dame
21 Minnesota
22 Boston U.
22 Univ. of Washington
24 George Washington
25 Iowa


1991
1 Yale
2 Harvard
3 Chicago
4 Stanford
5 Columbia
6 Michigan
7 NYU
8 UVA
9 Duke
10 Penn
11 Georgetown
12 Berkeley
13 Cornell
14 Northwestern
15 UT Austin
16 USC
17 Vanderbilt
18 UCLA
19 Univ. of Iowa
20 UC Hastings
21 Wisconsin
22 George Washington
22 Minnesota
24 Notre Dame
24 UNC Chapel Hill


1990
1 Yale
2 Chicago
3 Stanford
4 Columbia
5 Harvard
6 NYU
7 Michigan
8 Duke
9 Penn
10 UVA
11 Northwestern
12 Georgetown
13 Berkeley
14 Cornell
15 Vanderbilt
16 UT
17 USC
18 UCLA
19 Notre Dame
20 Boston U.
21 UNC Chapel Hill
22 UC Davis
23 George Washington
23 Emory
25 Washington & Lee
25 U. of Illinois


1987
1 Harvard
1 Yale
3 Michigan
4 Columbia
4 Stanford
6 Chicago
7 Berkeley
8 UVA
9 NYU
10 Penn
11 UT
12 Duke
13 Georgetown
14 UCLA
15 Cornell
16 Northwestern
17 U. of Illinois
17 USC
19 Minnesota
20 Wisconsin

Viewing the u.s. news law school rankings through the years can help you determine whether the law schools that you are considering are on the rise or decline.

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

This Boston Globe article may partially explain the shift in standings. BC has traditionally been pretty high up there while BU has only recently come up in standing.

hi

awesome info! does anyone know what happened in 2004/2005?

Dang useful thread. Thanks Ken, dtrossen and Stjobs.

Again, I must point out that there a mistake and Boston U. should really be Boston College.

See http://www.concurringopinions.com/archi ... ing_1.html

Its obvious from the fact that in 2002, Boston U is listed TWICE.

Ken, can you correct the data? It gives people the wrong impression about two similar schools.

I am curious as to why Georgetown has remained stagnant at #14 while nearly all of the other top 15 schools seem to jostle around from year to year.

Personally, I feel that Georgetown is underranked at #14 and deserves, at the very least, to be above Cornell and Northwestern. Of course, this is my own bias shining through, as I am a GULC student, but Georgetown does boast the #1 clinical program in the nation, the #3 international law program, and the #3 tax law program. All around, I believe GULC is stronger than its #14 ranking suggests. Would anyone else agree?

Also, Ken, maybe you could give me your thoughts on this, especially why Georgetown seems to be "stuck" at #14.

Personally, I feel that Georgetown is underranked at #14 and deserves, at the very least, to be above Cornell and Northwestern. Of course, this is my own bias shining through, as I am a GULC student, but Georgetown does boast the #1 clinical program in the nation, the #3 international law program, and the #3 tax law program. All around, I believe GULC is stronger than its #14 ranking suggests. Would anyone else agree?

Looking at US News, Georgetown stacks up with the schools ranked just above it in everything except student/faculty ratio, and to a lesser degree bar passage rate. Note that only 2 raw points separate GT from Cornell, 4 from NW, and 5 from UVA/ Duke. I know this is highly misleading, but 10 points separate Y from HS and 5 from Columbia and Chicago. So the difference is small, they're all good schools.

As noted above, I think the primary reason why GULC is ranked below Northwestern and Cornell is the same reason why Harvard is ranked below Yale: class size. According to the LSAC blue book, Harvard and GULC have the largest classes of the T14 at 550~ and 580~ respectively; Yale, Cornell, Northwestern are at 190-200ish. All things equal, larger class size necessarily means lower per student spending as well as a higher student-faculty ratio, and a subsequent lower USNWR rank.

These rankings don't tell the whole story obviously. From my experiences, GULC has been more selective than some schools ranked above it; the high median numbers offer some quantitative support to this anecdotal evidence. I think it's central location in DC probably contributed to a strong yield and consequently, their strong position comparing to their peers.

Would anyone else agree?

Sorry, but no. Bottom third at NU can still (probably) get market jobs; at GULC they have a hard time.

I also don't think GULC is more selective than schools ranked above it. It seems to be the easiest T14 to get into.

I also don't think GULC is more selective than schools ranked above it. It seems to be the easiest T14 to get into.

Like I said, that statement stemmed mostly from personal and anecdotal evidence, but a glance at the numbers seem to suggest that GULC is more selective than some schools ranked above it as well.

Median LSAT as according to the 2007 LSAC blue book

GULC : 169
NU : 169
UVA : 169
Mich : 168
Duke : 168
Cornell : 167
Boalt : 166

This is of course not to that say just because the LSAT numbers are low, these law schools are easy to get into; Boalt is a glaring reason why that isn't true. However, high median LSAT does imply a heightened level of selection, at least quantitatively, and given that I believe that Duke and Cornell is more similar to GULC, in terms of their admissions practice, than to Boalt, I find the assertion, that GULC is the easiest of the T14 to get into, a little hard to swallow.

I'd say Cornell is easiest. But everyone overlooks it because no one wants to go there. Which is why it's so easy. Unless you're a victim of their bizarre YP efforts.

I'd say Cornell is easiest. But everyone overlooks it because no one wants to go there. Which is why it's so easy. Unless you're a victim of their bizarre YP efforts.

Agreed!

Ha, well, I didn't get into Cornell, so maybe that colors my perception. However it is possible it was YP.

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.

possum... where did you chose in the end?

It's not true that nobody wants to go to Cornell. Cornell does have a charm that other law schools and other locations don't have.

One of my closest friends chose Cornell over Michigan primarily because of the small class size and because she liked the prof/student ratio. However, she was slightly disappointed by Cornell's resources and the fact that the prof/student ratio is slightly misleading because actual class sizes aren't that far off from most schools.

He's going to Michigan with ME!

Michigan baby!

It's not true that nobody wants to go to Cornell.

I have nothing against Cornell at all; in fact, if given a choice, I would have chosen Cornell over GULC, but for most people, DC>Ithaca.

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.....

I would pick Ithaca over DC for law school, but mainly because I am cheap. I'd rather be a student in Ithaca. I'd rather be a professional in DC.