2006 USNEWS Rankings - Here it is

[stateofbeasley]

I agree that the US News methodology is fatally flawed. The "reputation" scores don't make any sense. As far as peer assessment goes, I think it is common sense that most law school deans don't have firsthand knowledge of the quality of other law schools. When was the last time a Harvard dean visited Michigan State or Cooley in order to evaluate facilities and teaching? Probably never. The same thing goes for Lawyer/Judge assessment. A 9th Circuit judge might know something about Stanford or Hastings, but nothing about Rutgers-Camden or OSU. Lack of firsthand knowledge, I suspect, makes the 'assessment' scores suceptible to high profile news and recent events, as lolita suggests.

Being from a school that doesn't benefit much from the rankings, I can't claim to be unbiased when I say that I think US News is generally trash journalism that stays alive only because its school rankings became so popular.

On the other hand, I find the whole ranking game strangely entertaining. It's like watching a game of Calvinball, where the rules are made up (with US News, Cooley, and Leiter making up their own rules) and weird things happen from time to time. I'm still rooting for Cardozo to beat Brooklyn in the Cooley rankings, but it doesn't look like it's gonna happen.

Not that I know for sure that a rise in Pepperdine's assessment score it what raised it's overall score.  Just guessing...   

But if this is the case, it just shows how terribly flawed US News' methodology is...

[AllisonAzee]

Wow I went and visited Pepperdine today and it was freakin gorgeous and now I come home and they've jumped in teh rankings, maybe the gods are telling me something.  They're giving me $ and they're in Malibu, hmmm

oh great, another damn malibu barbie wannabe up in here.

Meow, no more like Malibu is looking damn good in comparison to commuting Loyola and being mugged.  Still pretty good chance that is where I will be though.

[AllisonAzee]

Wow I went and visited Pepperdine today and it was freakin gorgeous and now I come home and they've jumped in teh rankings, maybe the gods are telling me something.  They're giving me $ and they're in Malibu, hmmm

Well, at least you're into God.  That'll be useful at Pepperdine.

She said gods, lower case and plural.  I think Pepperdine is into God.

Yeah I'm not too into God myself, which is why I hate this board it keeps talking me out of Pepperdine, even though it would mean lots of money and being in a gorgeous location.  I mean I am a very liberal, well travelled, athiest, so the who Ken Starr thing scares the hell out of me, but is it really going to make that big of a difference in my day to day life in Law School?  Maybe it will, but I just don't know.  I mean this is California and I find it hard to believe there won't be a pretty large group of people like me who are there for the location and cash.  Maybe I'm wrong and I'm definitely not decided at all yet, but it seems silly to dismiss Pepperdine, when it's rank is rising, along with it's bar passage rate.  They have really good connections for jobs and I won't be battling the traffic or worrying about my safety all while saving 14k a year.

[blinkuldhc]

http://www.utexas.edu/law/faculty/bleiter/rankings/

This may be a reasonable alternative to the usnews rankings. it may be a little dated, but the methodology seems a little more sound.

[SleepyGuyYawn]

Pepperdine's ranking rose... but I don't agree that it's rising.  There isn't a good enough methodology here for there to be any science to it.  It's coincidence.

And did it ever occur to you that you might want to be careful b/c Pepperdine's alumni network (i.e. the people to whom you'll likely go to for a job) might be really conservative and religious?

I'm not trying to rain on your parade.  But I just think you should be careful -- that's all.  I mean, you're talking about going to a school that will kick you out if they find out you're having an intimate same-sex relationship.

[blinkuldhc]

Pepperdine's ranking rose... but I don't agree that it's rising. There isn't a good enough methodology here for there to be any science to it. It's coincidence.

And did it ever occur to you that you might want to be careful b/c Pepperdine's alumni network (i.e. the people to whom you'll likely go to for a job) might be really conservative and religious?

I'm not trying to rain on your parade. But I just think you should be careful -- that's all. I mean, you're talking about going to a school that will kick you out if they find out you're having an intimate same-sex relationship.

Intimate same-sex relationship? What about just casual same sex relationships. LOL

[SleepyGuyYawn]

Well, the AALS requires that law schools not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.  So Pepperdine (and Liberty, Regent, Baylor, BYU, etc) discriminate on the basis of sexual behavior -- at least in policy, which is enough to scare LGBT people away.

So I suppose a "casual" same sex relationship is allowed, although I'm not sure it's a very nice atmosphere for it. 

By the way, to all of those people who are going to say that it's okay b/c they don't allow sex outside of marriage either, it's not the same.  When Pepperdine endorses same sex marriage, then we'll talk.

[Bahamut]

thank god baylor is out of tier 1.

Give me a break. 

[AllisonAzee]

Pepperdine's ranking rose... but I don't agree that it's rising.  There isn't a good enough methodology here for there to be any science to it.  It's coincidence.

And did it ever occur to you that you might want to be careful b/c Pepperdine's alumni network (i.e. the people to whom you'll likely go to for a job) might be really conservative and religious?

I'm not trying to rain on your parade.  But I just think you should be careful -- that's all.  I mean, you're talking about going to a school that will kick you out if they find out you're having an intimate same-sex relationship.

Whoa are you serious?  I knew they were religious in principle, but I didn't know they enforced that on their students.  Once again I'm straight, so this wouldn't effect me, but that is crossing a major line for me.  Alright I didn't realize Pepperdine was sort of like Liberty in practice, any other insane rules they have.  And does anyone know of anything that has actually happened to a student for violating the rules?

[AllisonAzee]

Boo, alright just read about how Pepperdine blocked a student group against homophobia (not gay rights here, just against homophobia) by one of its sophmores, who had like 3 roommates move out on him as soon as they found out he was gay.  Then the school threatened him, etc.. God dammit, but it's so pretty.  Grr alright Loyola is back in the front, why won't you give me money Loyola?