The latest U.S. News & World Report Law School rankings are out — or leaked, at least. Let’s take a look and see what changes they have in store, because nothing could be more important to your law school choice than where some magazine ranks schools according to arbitrary factors.
The top 8 this year were all in the same spots last year. Boooring. Lame. We need drama, U.S. News. You couldn’t even do something trivial, like flip Columbia and Chicago? Come on.
Below that, there’s some movement. Virginia slipped from a tie for 8th all the way to…
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… 9th. If he were still alive, Thomas Jefferson would die of embarrassment. But on second thought, if he were alive today he’d have other things to answer for.
Berkeley’s a big winner, rising 3 spots into a tie for 9th. Back in the top 10, baby. The previous set of rankings saw Berkeley drop four spots. Why can’t U.S. News make up its mind? Just think of the poor aspiring lawyers who chose, say, Northwestern over Berkeley because of last year’s rankings. What will they do now? I guess they’ll be left with no choice but to apply to transfer.
Speaking of Northwestern, Berkeley’s ascent kicked them and Duke from a tie for 10th to a tie for 11th. Wow. Anyway, there’s not much big movement until we get to…
… UC Irvine. UCI is the fastest riser of the top 50 this year, up 7 spots to #21. Go Anteaters. Yes, seriously, that is their mascot. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Richmond also jumped 7 spots, to 41st and 50th respectively.
Just as there are winners, there are losers. It’s a bad year from the Rockies as Colorado and Utah each dropped 10 spots. But that’s nothing compared to University of Nebraska – Lincoln, which dropped 23 spots to 80th place. Wouldn’t you like to be a fly on the wall in their offices this week?
Anyway, since these rankings are out, you should peruse them carefully. Everyone knows they’re the only thing you should consider when you choose a law school.
