Most Over-Ranked/Under-Ranked Schools Forum

[romothesavior]

Over Ranked:

Duke
UVA
UPenn
Michigan
BOALT
NYU
GW
WUSTL
USC
Vanderbilt
UT
UCLA
GULC

Underranked:

Northwestern
UIUC

So wait... 6 of the top-10 are overranked and 6 of the 11-20 schools are overranked? Including Vanderbilt, which is the only school to increase its NLJ 250 numbers this year?

Crap. Forgot to include Cornell in the overranked section. Apparently my moving NU and IL up that far was too subtle.

Still, if all these overranked schools should move down, who should replace them? You can't just say everyone in the T20 is overranked.

[futurelawyer413]

UC IRvine waayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Over-ranked , too much hype

[arhmcpo]

EVERYONE IN THE T20 IS OVERRATEDDDDDDD.

There I said it

[JCougar]

Overranked:
IU-B
Tulane
WUSTL
NYU
Minnesota
Hofstra
Syracuse

Underranked:
Michigan
Wisconsin (although not so much this year finally)
Vanderbilt
BU
Chicago-Kent
Loyola

[jayn3]

UC IRvine waayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Over-ranked , too much hype

obvi

[Stringer Bell]

Overranked
IU-B
Bama
UC Davis

Underranked
SMU
Houston
Yale

[NayBoer]

Law school itself is overrated. It's a white-collar vocational degree.

[jayn3]

Law school itself is overrated. It's a white-collar vocational degree.

+1

[BarbellDreams]

Overrated:

American
UCLA
Pepperdine
ASU
Wash - STL
UC-Irvine
USC
Indiana
Iowa
William and Mary
George Mason
St. Johns
Hofstra


Underrated:
OSU
Texas
Vandy
Hastings
Fordham
UIUC
Marquette
Florida
UWASH
Seattle
Pittsburgh
BU
BC
Georgetown

[Blindmelon]

Under:
BC
Hastings
WM
Fordham

Over:
UMinn
WUSTL
IUB

[3 Stripes]

Overrated:

[strike]American[/strike]
[strike]UCLA[/strike]
Pepperdine
[strike]ASU[/strike]
[strike]Wash - STL[/strike]
UC-Irvine
USC
Indiana
Iowa
[strike]William and Mary[/strike]
[strike]George Mason[/strike]
St. Johns
Hofstra


Underrated:
OSU
Texas
Vandy
Hastings
Fordham
UIUC
[strike]Marquette[/strike]
Florida
UWASH
Seattle
Pittsburgh
BU
[strike]BC[/strike]
Georgetown

FTFY

[SaintClarence27]

Over Ranked:

Duke
UVA
UPenn
Michigan
BOALT
NYU
GW
WUSTL
USC
Vanderbilt
UT
UCLA
GULC

Underranked:

Northwestern
UIUC

So wait... 6 of the top-10 are overranked and 6 of the 11-20 schools are overranked? Including Vanderbilt, which is the only school to increase its NLJ 250 numbers this year?

Crap. Forgot to include Cornell in the overranked section. Apparently my moving NU and IL up that far was too subtle.

Still, if all these overranked schools should move down, who should replace them? You can't just say everyone in the T20 is overranked.

Northwestern and UIUC move up to 6 and 7. Everyone else slides down accordingly. Obvs.

[holydonkey]

Overrated:

American
UCLA
Pepperdine
ASU
Wash - STL
UC-Irvine
USC
Indiana
Iowa
William and Mary
George Mason
St. Johns
Hofstra

FTFY

[sdv]

Pitt. Closest T1 geographically is Ohio State, and the next closest is Georgetown (really). Unquestioned, unchallenged dominant placement in its region, which also happens to be the most livable city in America, and houses 2 of the top 20 NLJ 250.

Is UPENN not close to Pitt?

Philly is 6 hours from PIttsburgh, DC is 4.

[SaintClarence27]

Pitt. Closest T1 geographically is Ohio State, and the next closest is Georgetown (really). Unquestioned, unchallenged dominant placement in its region, which also happens to be the most livable city in America, and houses 2 of the top 20 NLJ 250.

Is UPENN not close to Pitt?

Philly is 6 hours from PIttsburgh, DC is 4.

Wow, you drive slowly.

[kittenmittons]

Overrated:
Stanford
boalt

Honestly, can their graduates even read?

[danquayle]

I think WA schools in general are very underrated. Both UW (Washington) and Seattle U are underrated IMHO. UW, as many people have said in the above thread, is rated around top 30 according to USN&WR, but it is generally regarded as the best school in the entire Pacific Northwest. Additionally, Seattle U has a very strong reputation in the Pacific Northwest but is ranked around 70 or 80 depending on the year according to USN&WR. I think this is due to the East Coast bias inherent in the rankings and the fact that most people who live in the Pacific Northwest don't want to leave after coming here.

Just my 2 cents.

Yeah, but its not like the "entire Pacific Northwest" is as large of a market as it seems... you're really talking about like what... 12 million people? About the same as Ohio or Pennsylvania?

It's growing fast so it has better potential, but its not like we're talking about one decent law school for 30,000,000 people. Its probably in about the same situation as Ohio State and Case Western. And Oregon/Lewis Clark/Gonzaga/Willamette/Idaho are arguably better than Cincinnati and the litany of also-ran Ohio law schools. (Why does Cleveland State need a law school? Tim Russert could've gone to Case...)

[PDaddy]

I think WA schools in general are very underrated. Both UW (Washington) and Seattle U are underrated IMHO. UW, as many people have said in the above thread, is rated around top 30 according to USN&WR, but it is generally regarded as the best school in the entire Pacific Northwest. Additionally, Seattle U has a very strong reputation in the Pacific Northwest but is ranked around 70 or 80 depending on the year according to USN&WR. I think this is due to the East Coast bias inherent in the rankings and the fact that most people who live in the Pacific Northwest don't want to leave after coming here.

Just my 2 cents.

The job prospects at SU are notoriously bad, and SU doesn't whore to the numbers, even though it probably could. But you're right; SU is probably one of those schools that just doesn't get its due.

[Fark-o-vision]

PDaddy is a dick.

Aside from that, there isn't any way we can know this. Law schools are largely regional. None are over-ranked, or underranked, outside of the t14. Cornell is overranked. UCLA, texas and possibly George Washington should be ahead of it.

[PDaddy]

Overranked:
IU-B
[strike]Tulane[/strike] (Are you joking...or smoking? Tulane should be at least top-40 and arguably top 30-35)
WUSTL
[strike]NYU[/strike] (No way! If anything, NYU is underranked/underrated)
Minnesota
Hofstra
[strike]Syracuse[/strike] (some people think it's very under...)

Underranked:
[strike]Michigan[/strike]
Wisconsin (although not so much this year finally)
Vanderbilt (+1)
BU
Chicago-Kent (+1)
Loyola (+1 on L.A., Chicago and NOLA)

[sconnielaw13]

Overrated:

American
UCLA
Pepperdine
ASU
Wash - STL
UC-Irvine
USC
Indiana
Iowa
William and Mary
George Mason
St. Johns
Hofstra


Underrated:
OSU
Texas
Vandy
Hastings
Fordham
UIUC
Marquette
Florida
UWASH
Seattle
Pittsburgh
BU
BC
Georgetown

I will agree that this year Marquette is underrated it should def be a solid t2 school. It's medians are not bad and it has solid job placement in the state of wisconsin... plus didn't they just build a new building or something???

[Fark-o-vision]

Also, HasTTTings isn't underrated. It has a better tradition, but many people have been turning towards Davis in recent years. Unfortunately, lay prestige=law prestige. If you disagree, ask yourself why the consensus generally holds that all law school faculty is more or less equal, but Harvard is considered leagues above UCLA.

[sconnielaw13]

Overrated:
IUB
Georgetown
UIUC
UMN

Underrated:
U of Wisconsin (is at least as good as UMN, UIUC, IUB, and Iowa)
U of Florida
U of Maryland (even though it is located in a shit hole)
Marquette (should be a t2 like I stated earlier)

[JCougar]

Overranked:
IU-B
[strike]Tulane[/strike] (Are you joking...or smoking? Tulane should be at least top-40 and arguably top 30-35)WUSTL
[strike]NYU[/strike] (No way! If anything, NYU is underranked/underrated)
Minnesota
Hofstra
[strike]Syracuse[/strike] (some people think it's very under...)

Underranked:
[strike]Michigan[/strike]
Wisconsin (although not so much this year finally)
Vanderbilt (+1)
BU
Chicago-Kent (+1)
Loyola (+1 on L.A., Chicago and NOLA)

Tulane is one of the most flagrant gamers of starting salary/placement statistics out there. Once you take into account that their starting salary statistics are juiced, you realize that they belong in the T2.

NYU is a diploma mill in the largest legal market in the world. It is to the T6 what Georgetown is to the T14. Sure, you can get a market-paying job there, but the COL is through the roof, and the same salary in every other city goes much farther. If I were going to a T10, I'd be looking at clerkship/academia placement.

[kittenmittons]

Lawl @ any school outside T6 being underrated. You should just be happy USNWR bothers to rank such lackluster institutions as anything other than Lolglhfwithjobs.