Top Law Schools

As a professional 0L and noob my list would be the following:

Most Over Ranked:
IOWA
Pepperdine
Boston College
University of San Diego

Most Under Ranked:
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
Brigham Young University
Tulane
Pace

El_Gallo wrote:As a professional 0L and noob my list would be the following:

Most Over Ranked:
IOWA
Pepperdine
Boston College
University of San Diego

Most Under Ranked:
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
Brigham Young University
Tulane
Pace

What up w/ the bolded? Also UW-Seattle IS the most underrated school in the country by far.

I think Hastings is underrated. It's T30 in terms of both peer reputation and lawyer/judge reputation, and is close to that in terms of LSAT/GPA, but is harmed by its huge classes and things like expenditures/student, faculty:student ratio, etc.

.

eldizknee wrote:

El_Gallo wrote:Most Over Ranked:
Boston College

wut. If anything BC should be included with BU/Emory/Minn/UIUC/GW as a strong regional.

Agree and also agree wrt Hastings.

I think Temple is under-ranked, but I'm also extremely biased.

It's an extremely strong regional school in a major metropolitan area.

A bit biased, but I think SMU is under-ranked, as is UConn.

I think UWash is definitely under-ranked.

General Tso wrote:I think Hastings is underrated. It's T30 in terms of both peer reputation and lawyer/judge reputation, and is close to that in terms of LSAT/GPA, but is harmed by its huge classes and things like expenditures/student, faculty:student ratio, etc.

Strongly agree. Hastings is probably the most underrated T1 school.

As someone attending in the fall, I like to think that Case Western is underrated, but it's not very underrated. It should be hanging around the mid-tail end of T1 rather than the top of T2. I think it's difficult for schools in badly depressed economies to attract new talent, and the former Dean's crusade against USNews and in favor of making Case the PI/social justice capital of the rust belt didn't help (not that PI is bad)...for whatever it's worth, Leiter and Vault both called it underrated back when it still was in T1.

Overrated? I don't know. I think some regional schools get pumped up by being in NYC or other big markets and attracting people who can't get into the T14/T1 school but can get into the other one. On the other hand, there's a reason people want to work there, and it's easier to build a quality law school in a huge market. I suppose I'd say UC-Irvine is...provisionally overrated.

Harvard.

... yeah, I went there.

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.

Over-ranked:
WUSTL
Minnesota
IU-B
Iowa
Arizona State

Under-ranked:
Fordham
UWash
Florida (I cringe to admit this)
Stetson

manbearwig wrote:I think Temple is under-ranked, but I'm also extremely biased.

You could make the same argument for Villanova.

Over-Ranked:
Indiana (Bloomington)
University of Washington
WUSTL
Brooklyn
Cardozo

Under-Ranked:
BC
William and Mary
Hastings
SMU
Oregon
Wisconsin
Temple
Fordham
Florida

Wu do people consider wustl to be over ranked?

karmakmsa wrote:Wu do people consider wustl to be over ranked?

Because they hate the Midwest.

karmakmsa wrote:Wu do people consider wustl to be over ranked?

They don't place as well as several schools placed below them in clerkships (easily verifiable) or biglaw (little harder to demonstrate, but still doable). It also has less national reach than schools ranked below it.

Additionally, academic types are familiar with the fact that all of WUSTL's programs tend to aggressively work the rankings.

karmakmsa wrote:Wu do people consider wustl to be over ranked?

Because their NLJ placement lags behind their current ranking. It really isn't the best school if you want big law, but they still place remarkably well into non-NLJ 250 small-mid sized firms that pay in the 6 figure range. The reason for this is that they send a lot of students into smaller markets (KC, STL, Indianapolis, etc.). They also have a reputation for "buying" their students with big scholarship offers. Apparently giving scholarships to help people pay for school is a bad thing?

WUSTL is at the top of the next "tier" of schools, meaning that they aren't quite up there with USC, Vanderbilt, UCLA, Texas, etc. They are (arguably) the leader of the ND/Minn/UIUC pack, but not by any substantial margin. Those schools are their rightful peers, and people shouldn't let the higher ranking influence them when it comes down to choosing between these schools.

romothesavior wrote:

karmakmsa wrote:Wu do people consider wustl to be over ranked?

Because their NLJ placement lags behind their current ranking. It really isn't the best school if you want big law, but they still place remarkably well into non-NLJ 250 small-mid sized firms that pay in the 6 figure range. The reason for this is that they send a lot of students into smaller markets (KC, STL, Indianapolis, etc.). They also have a reputation for "buying" their students with big scholarship offers. Apparently giving scholarships to help people pay for school is a bad thing?

WUSTL is at the top of the next "tier" of schools, meaning that they aren't quite up there with USC, Vanderbilt, UCLA, Texas, etc. They are (arguably) the leader of the ND/Minn/UIUC pack, but not by any substantial margin. Those schools are their rightful peers, and people shouldn't let the higher ranking influence them when it comes down to choosing between these schools.

+1 That's more or less exactly what was going through my mind in choosing between the 4 schools you list in the "next tier."

El_Gallo wrote:As a professional 0L and noob my list would be the following:

Most Over Ranked:
IOWA
[strike]Pepperdine[/strike]
[strike]Boston College[/strike]
[strike]University of San Diego[/strike]

Most Under Ranked:
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
[strike]Brigham Young University[/strike]
Tulane
[strike]Pace[/strike]
UCLA
Wayne State
Howard
Wisconsin
Miami
Temple
Chicago Kent
UC Hastings
Suffolk

Fixed

GeePee wrote:Harvard.

... yeah, I went there.

Over ranked right?

Most over-debated topic...

I can't quite understand the Iowa hate that so often pervades these boards. The school isn't particularly selective for a T1, but its placement stats are similar to other regional schools like Minnesota, Illinois, or University of Washington. What am I missing?

JOThompson wrote:I can't quite understand the Iowa hate that so often pervades these boards. The school isn't particularly selective for a T1, but its placement stats are similar to other regional schools like Minnesota, Illinois, or University of Washington. What am I missing?

It's in Iowa.

JOThompson wrote:I can't quite understand the Iowa hate that so often pervades these boards. The school isn't particularly selective for a T1, but its placement stats are similar to other regional schools like Minnesota, Illinois, or University of Washington. What am I missing?

The fact that the school is in Iowa.

I personally have nothing against Iowa, but many people only think of fields, toothlessness, corn mash, and big offensive lineman/bad big 10 football when they hear the name Iowa.