2005 USNWR Law School Rankings

[elo]

Don't worry, I'm sure the Berkeley community will be pissed.  I know I am!  I'm sure the new dean will do everything in his power to get Boalt back into the top 10.  In fact, the new dean has stated he intends to make sure Boalt gets into the top 5 in a few years.  As far as I'm concerned, let's just get back into the top 10 first.  ARGH!

I would hope that the dean to whom you refer would focus on continuing to deliver a high-quality education and not on rankings. One does not equal the other. It is nonsensical to assume there is a difference between being ranked twentieth and ranked tenth.

E.L.

[JG]

Unfortunately, the difference between 10th and 20th does matter.  Not because the quality of education is different, but because the rankings are so self-reinforcing.  It's totally circular.

Why is school X ranked highly?  Because smart people choose to go there.  Why do smart people choose to go there?  Because it's ranked highly.

A school that changes in rank gets a different set of applicants, and that changes its reputation without its actual educational quality changing at all.

[siyang]

i think that the effect of the rankings is apparent.

rankings affect who applies.
who applies affects rankings.
law schools affect who apply.
law schools care about rankings for the applications it will bring in.

it seems university of washintgon has only half-recovered from its mistaken ranking last year, perhaps because of the ranking-application correlation.

[Revenant]

how do bc and bu flip flop like that?  Glad I got into BU?   

Oh yeah, I just found some data to back up BU's rise in rank.  In 2002 data had their 25th-75th percentile GPAs at something like 3.17-3.55.  In a data sheet they gave me during one of their college visits, their 2003 data was 3.3x-3.6x. 

[Miltra]

Vindicated!  <laughter fills the room>

[tahoetahoe]

Glad to see BU going up?  It's hard to doubt the power of the rankings.  I know several soon to be law students.  We jokingly refer to US New and World Report as the bible.  It absolutely affects a school's rep amongst all candidates.

Unfortunately, Cali schools got killed this year.  I guess the terminator hasn't helped our education system too well.

[rcjackson]

I JUST PICKED UP THE MAGAZINE.  THE RANKINGS ARE REAL.

do you by any chance have a scanner?

(and could possibly scan them for us? =P)

Top 50 are scanned here:
http://www.planetzack.com/files/files/1-50.JPG

maybe 51-100 are the same address just change the end?

[jas9999]

http://www.planetzack.com/files/files/51-100.JPG

second tier

[asuhelms]

thanks!

[Revenant]

Vindicated!  <laughter fills the room>

Hehe