Here's the criteria from last year: https://www.usnews.com/education/best-g ... ethodologychili_davis wrote:Thanks for weighing in on this! Yes, definitely sucks. So I fail to see the correlation between this program and a 9 spot drop in the rankings? Am I missing something? Also did the administration say anything about trying to stop the bleeding? It seems as if UC Davis is on a free fall from low twenties to possibly outside the T50 in the foreseeable future. A little worried as Davis is a top contender for where I end up. Thoughts?politibro44 wrote:I'm a current Davis student. According to our administration, the drop is due to the introduction of Public Service Fellowships from the UC Office of the President last year (http://ucop.edu/public-service-law-fell ... index.html). Aside from that our metrics have not changed much. That fellowship program could explain other UCs taking a hit too (though obviously not Irvine or UCLA).RC_Cola wrote:http://blog.spiveyconsulting.com/2017-u ... re-here-2/Ashleighjarm wrote:Where are you guys seeing this? The list I see shows they're 30, and I'm pretty sure that's where they've been the whole cycle.chili_davis wrote:Must be the case. (-9) is a little absurd. Largest drop in the top50.amta wrote:they hate UCs
Still sucks and am not happy about it.
There's a line in there that says, "[f]or the second consecutive year, U.S. News discounted the value of jobs held by graduates that were funded by the law school or the university." That's under the "placement success" category, which accounts for 20% of the rankings. Obviously, I don't know exactly what caused the decline, but it seems plausible that all the schools in this range (30-40) have very similar "scores" and slight fluctuations could have big effects. But again, that's speculation.
The administration has said nothing, I just heard about that reason through the grapevine. The feeling when I was applying to law school was that Davis was trending up and Hastings was trending down. The last two years Davis improved in the rankings. I think to characterize it as a "free fall" is an overstatement. And I question how impactful these rankings' fluctuations actually are. Davis remains a regional-level law school and movement in the 30s won't affect your employment prospects that much, if at all. Even if Davis reaches 28 and ties Irvine, I can't imagine your employment prospects differing that much from it being 39. I could be wrong though.
That said, I still would only attend here if you received a hefty scholarship (or have parental support) and want to practice in California. I can answer more specifically if you have specific goals, i.e., regions you want to practice, type of law, etc.
