Law School Rankings: What Do They Mean?
Various organizations, including most prominently U.S. News & World Report magazine, rank law schools using a variety of criteria–from professorial scholarship to alumni giving to entering student’s LSAT scores. How useful these rankings are for the most important issue–the law school’s ability to teach you law–is questionable. For better or for worse, however, the rankings have considerable importance. If you go to a high ranked law school, your fellow students are, on average, likely to have much higher LSAT scores than if you attend a low ranked school. As a result, your in-class experience is likely to be richer and more challenging. The rankings also have a major impact on your job opportunities immediately after law school. If you graduate from a top ranked school, many major law firms and other employers are likely to seek you out for high-paying jobs and you will usually have many opportunities to practice law in a variety of settings. If you attend a lower ranked school, yo
