Rankings of Particular Programs at Schools Forum

[osgiliath]

How does USNWR rank the programs at each school? What do they take into account?

eg. International Law, Accounting Law, etc

[dpk711]

The specialty rankings don't matter. But to answer your question, from my understanding they do it solely by peer review. Lastly, why did you double post the same thread?

[Gideon Strumpet]

These measure what programs law professors would rather be working in, compared with their own. Most of them mean nothing for you. But the ones for clinical programs are somewhat useful, because they reliably indicate how much respect clinical programs get at each school (e.g., tenure, pay, resources). Since it's common for schools to treat clinical profs as one step up from the janitors, you can rely on high rankings in this category to indicate a strong, well resourced program. Georgetown, for instance, tends to get high rankings in this category almost entirely because it's one of the few schools to grant full tenure to all clinical faculty. If you intend to spend a lot of hours in clinical courses, a low ranking in this category means you can expect few options, little support, and generally miserable faculty.

[bbvk05]

Virtually no impact on employment decisions. However, if some school has a top-flight program in something you want to do or learn a bunch about at the expense of employment chances then by all means go there. Many do.

[flcath]

I think they're useful; just not for choosing which school to go to.

Just like the overall rankings manage to do (despite their arbitrary emphasis on odd, manipulable factors), they tend to reflect the common perception of those who know best.

My school is below average in IP. Obviously, this is irrelevant to whether or not I should've gone there, but if I end up working in IP and hating/sucking at it it b/c of my lack of familiarity w/ the subject matter due to my school's sparse course offerings...