The 2014 Law School Rankings from U.S. News and World Report are out! Pretty exciting until you realize there wasn’t considerable change from 2013. Predictable? Yes. The movement within the rankings are typically glacial, but this year everyone anticipated some huge changes because the weighting factors were adjusted to allow for long term post-graduation employment differently than in the past. The T14 lead with pack without much change.
A quick review indicates some shake ups in the rankings from about #50 - #100 but, really not a lot has changed. Brooklyn Law, unfortunately, dropped like dead weight from #65 to #80. Above the Law also noted that St. John's dropped from #79 to #98. Illinois Law continues to lose rank in the wake of its recent scandal; falling all the way down to #47. Don’t get me wrong, #47 is a decent ranking but the poor students graduating this year selected their law school based on its solid position in the top 25. No more. Rankings can be so fickle.
People attending BYU in Utah will be chagrined to learn the University of Utah has now bested them in the rankings by rising from #47 to #41; while BYU dropped from #39 to #44. Ouch.
On a happier note, some of the schools fared well. The University of Connecticut School of Law dropped from #52 to #62 in a short four years when they lost their Dean over a slight drop in ratings. They’re back up to #58 – and with a new Dean freshly hired (just yesterday) - they are hoping to resume (or exceed) their previous rank in the coming years. The University of Alabama moved up 8 levels to #21. University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) enjoyed a boost to #31 from #44 – and most likely to still be considered a best value school due to their relatively low tuition.
Are you wondering how your favorite law schools fared in the 2014 rankings? The rankings may not be perfect, but they will give you a good overview of how the law schools are performing when compared against each other. If you’re in the throes of selecting your law school, best wished to you; hopefully these updated rankings will make your choice a bit easier.
A quick review indicates some shake ups in the rankings from about #50 - #100 but, really not a lot has changed. Brooklyn Law, unfortunately, dropped like dead weight from #65 to #80. Above the Law also noted that St. John's dropped from #79 to #98. Illinois Law continues to lose rank in the wake of its recent scandal; falling all the way down to #47. Don’t get me wrong, #47 is a decent ranking but the poor students graduating this year selected their law school based on its solid position in the top 25. No more. Rankings can be so fickle.
People attending BYU in Utah will be chagrined to learn the University of Utah has now bested them in the rankings by rising from #47 to #41; while BYU dropped from #39 to #44. Ouch.
On a happier note, some of the schools fared well. The University of Connecticut School of Law dropped from #52 to #62 in a short four years when they lost their Dean over a slight drop in ratings. They’re back up to #58 – and with a new Dean freshly hired (just yesterday) - they are hoping to resume (or exceed) their previous rank in the coming years. The University of Alabama moved up 8 levels to #21. University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) enjoyed a boost to #31 from #44 – and most likely to still be considered a best value school due to their relatively low tuition.
Are you wondering how your favorite law schools fared in the 2014 rankings? The rankings may not be perfect, but they will give you a good overview of how the law schools are performing when compared against each other. If you’re in the throes of selecting your law school, best wished to you; hopefully these updated rankings will make your choice a bit easier.
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