Top Law Schools

Are there any schools that are slipping in the rankings? Any schools that have an upward trend.

This is what I've noticed so far:

Michigan- slipping down (used to be #3 fifteen years ago)
UCLA- moving up (fairly new school)
Duke- moving up (broke into the T10) this year
Chicago- moved up (shifted focus from high LSAT to high GPA and jumped up a few ranks)


What do you guys think? Bad to attend a school slipping down or good to attend school moving up?

rankings are meaningless
focus primarily on placement, costs, and location instead

Yeah. Doesn't matter.

Is this a serious post?

Yeah, serious post....just curious, not trolling

BigZuck wrote:Yeah. Doesn't matter.

Is this a serious post?

People live and die by these rankings, man.

Cal Trask wrote:

BigZuck wrote:Yeah. Doesn't matter.

Is this a serious post?

People live and die by these rankings, man.

Yeah I know a lot of people care but the Michigan line seemed particularly jokey

http://employmentsummary.abaquestionnaire.org/

http://www.abarequireddisclosures.org/

thank me later

ticklemesilly wrote:Bad to attend a school slipping down or good to attend school moving up?

Its current ranking as a proxy for job placement is many times more important than where it will be in US News 10 years from now.

I do wonder why Michigan fell so far though. Maybe one year they revamped the rankings algorithm and knocked it down a few spaces, which then discouraged top students from attending and put it in free fall.

BigZuck wrote:

Cal Trask wrote:

BigZuck wrote:Yeah. Doesn't matter.

Is this a serious post?

People live and die by these rankings, man.

Yeah I know a lot of people care but the Michigan line seemed particularly jokey

Oh, I was being sarcastic.

BigZuck wrote:

Cal Trask wrote:

BigZuck wrote:Yeah. Doesn't matter.

Is this a serious post?

People live and die by these rankings, man.

Yeah I know a lot of people care but the Michigan line seemed particularly jokey

I'm planning on attending Michigan. I have a lot of respect for the quality of the law school. But I wonder why their medians have fallen a lot more than other law schools due to the decline in applications.

Cal Trask wrote:

BigZuck wrote:

Cal Trask wrote:

BigZuck wrote:Yeah. Doesn't matter.

Is this a serious post?

People live and die by these rankings, man.

Yeah I know a lot of people care but the Michigan line seemed particularly jokey

Oh, I was being sarcastic.

Oh

Well. Poop.

ticklemesilly wrote:Are there any schools that are slipping in the rankings? Any schools that have an upward trend.

This is what I've noticed so far:

Michigan- slipping down (used to be #3 fifteen years ago)
UCLA- moving up (fairly new school)
Duke- moving up (broke into the T10) this year
Chicago- moved up (shifted focus from high LSAT to high GPA and jumped up a few ranks)


What do you guys think? Bad to attend a school slipping down or good to attend school moving up?

None of this is valid except that Michigan used to be more prestigious a very, very long time ago... much longer than 15 years ago. Take a look at the thread I'm linking below. You'll find that nothing that you've stated in your initial post is valid. For instance, Michigan was ranked #7 15 years ago. UCLA was ranked #14 in the initial USNWR rankings in 1987 and ever since there ranking has held pretty consistent just outside the T14. Duke has historically ranked in the T10 very often. Chicago is consistently, historically placing in the 4-6 spot.

Also, law school reputations really don't change that quickly, they take a long time. The reputation of whatever school you choose to attend isn't going to change between the time you matriculate and the time you graduate. If there's any change in the rep of the school it probably won't be noticeable until 15-25 years later and at that point in your career it will be completely irrelevant for you, and even then the change in the reputation will likely be very marginal.

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... ?f=1&t=213

I hope michigan sees all the bad press on tls and decides to offer me a darrow

so I can leverage it with duke

ha.. god I hate myself

ticklemesilly wrote:

BigZuck wrote:

Cal Trask wrote:

BigZuck wrote:Yeah. Doesn't matter.

Is this a serious post?

People live and die by these rankings, man.

Yeah I know a lot of people care but the Michigan line seemed particularly jokey

I'm planning on attending Michigan. I have a lot of respect for the quality of the law school. But I wonder why their medians have fallen a lot more than other law schools due to the decline in applications.

I don't think Michigan's medians have fallen more than a lot of other schools in the T14. I think they've kept pace for the most part. Whether there employment numbers have or haven't is debatable and probably has a lot more complex factors associated with it than reputation. Michigan's employment numbers do seem to be falling behind its peer schools, what this is due to is quite uncertain, but I certainly don't think it has to do with the reputation of the school. If anything Michigan is a prime example of why it's important to focus on employment outcomes rather than rankings.

BigZuck wrote:

Cal Trask wrote:

BigZuck wrote:Yeah. Doesn't matter.

Yeah I know a lot of people care but the Michigan line seemed particularly jokey

I'm planning on attending Michigan. I have a lot of respect for the quality of the law school. But I wonder why their medians have fallen a lot more than other law schools due to the decline in applications.

I don't think Michigan's medians have fallen more than a lot of other schools in the T14. I think they've kept pace for the most part. Whether there employment numbers have or haven't is debatable and probably has a lot more complex factors associated with it than reputation. Michigan's employment numbers do seem to be falling behind its peer schools, what this is due to is quite uncertain, but I certainly don't think it has to do with the reputation of the school. If anything Michigan is a prime example of why it's important to focus on employment outcomes rather than rankings.

Hmm... well ATL which ranks law schools based on employment outcomes still lists Michigan as #10......

14% of the ranking methodology ATL uses is based off of current federal judges and SCOTUS clerks. It's useless. Stop looking at rankings and browse the damn websites I linked. Tbh, that ranking list is just as bad as USN

the only good ranking is a dead ranking

Brut wrote:the only good ranking is a dead ranking

I bet you only say that because your school fell in the rankings this year.

(no but really do more research. basing a major life decision on as small a snapshot as a ranking provides is ridiculous)

Cal Trask wrote:

Brut wrote:the only good ranking is a dead ranking

I bet you only say that because your school fell in the rankings this year.

(no but really do more research. basing a major life decision on as small a snapshot as a ranking provides is ridiculous)

wat

cal where do you think i go

read the small text you goober

ya i did

we didn't change in the rankings tho so idgi

or mayb that's the joke and it just wooshed me

It was a joke. I don't even know where you go. God, this site sometimes.

ok sry i didn't get your brilliant joke

Cal's killing it

Also: Lol non-T5 schools