USNWR 2007 rankings CONFIRMED, REAL; from xoxo

[LitDoc]

Of course there's going to be a discrepancy between the reputation scores and the overall rankings.  Why?  It's a professional program, not a liberal arts graduate school.  Our concerns are somewhat different from an average Philosophy Ph.D's.

I think it's obvious that there will be a discrepancy. If there wasn't, then one could just use the reputation rankings AS the overall rankings. The fact that there are other factors leads to a discrepancy. I think Leiter's point was to point out how large the discrepancy is in some cases.

I'm not sure I buy that this is super significant. But I do understand the reasoning. You would think that "how good a school is" would be represented in its reputation rankings (from both faculty/academics and lawyers/judges); likewise, you would think "how good a school is" should be represented in its overall ranking. If there's a large discrepancy between the two, then this throws into question "how good the school is." Or, from Leiter's pov, it throws into question the overall ranking methodology.

You don't have to confuse law school with a philosophy PhD program to see where he's coming from.

[LitDoc]

I agree with you on the multiple definitions of "good." That's what makes ANY rankings system so problematic to begin with. Everyone has a different idea of what it means to be "good."

But I disagree with you on Leiter. Just as everyone has different ideas of what is "good," every law school applicant has different ideas about what matters in a law school. For some students (e.g., me), Leiter's system makes a lot more sense. I care about faculty scholarship and the academic rep of each law school, because I'm interested in an academic career (an area Leiter covers quite thoroughly). Leiter's rankings are, for me, far superior to USN's.

For others -- often, for those who simply approach the rankings blindly -- USN is all there is.

Out of curiosity, what is it that makes Leiter's rankings so "off-base" for you? Is it just that you don't think faculty scholarship matters that much?

[blocke123]

I agree with you on the multiple definitions of "good." That's what makes ANY rankings system so problematic to begin with. Everyone has a different idea of what it means to be "good."

But I disagree with you on Leiter. Just as everyone has different ideas of what is "good," every law school applicant has different ideas about what matters in a law school. For some students (e.g., me), Leiter's system makes a lot more sense. I care about faculty scholarship and the academic rep of each law school, because I'm interested in an academic career (an area Leiter covers quite thoroughly). Leiter's rankings are, for me, far superior to USN's.

For others -- often, for those who simply approach the rankings blindly -- USN is all there is.

Out of curiosity, what is it that makes Leiter's rankings so "off-base" for you? Is it just that you don't think faculty scholarship matters that much?

A question, is there a good ranking out there for students who don't care about anything except their ability to get a job out of school.  All I want to see ranked is % hired in 9 months in JD REQUIRED careers (because that's what I'm interested in, I want to be a lawyer).  And the average salary of each specialty, Iowa gave me this exact information when I visited them.  As a result I know Iowa is superior to many other schools I am looking at, purely because I have this data.

My opinion is that there should be a ranking (reputation among lawyers is a good proxy) that provides the reviewer with the answer "which school is more impressive from a reputation standpoint".  I think the vast majority of law school students care only about what career they have out of school, not how often the school's professors are cited, not how many books are in the library not the LSAT/GPA numbers of the students, only the reputation and if possible reliable hiring data... think its pretty easy to work that out.

 

[jmec4172003]

does anyone have the specialty rankings for legal writing. I still don't have the issue here in GA.

Thanks!

[krumanadi]

does anyone have the specialty rankings for legal writing. I still don't have the issue here in GA.

Thanks!

1. Seattle
2. Mercer
3. Temple
4. Stetson
5. John Marshall
   Northwestern
7. UNLV
8. Michigan
9. Brooklyn
10. Boston College
    Illinois Institute of Technology
    Villanova

[robjeter]

Can someone post the Excel Spreadsheet that allows you to make your own rankings?  I had it before but it somehow got lost on my comp.

Thanks

[AtlantaSteve]

Georgia-  34
Mercer-  87
Ga state-  97

WOW.  I'm no ratings whore... but Ga. State breaks its steady upward trend, takes a double-digit dive, swaps places with Mercer, and is left barely hanging on from TTT?!?  This made my day... since Ga. State is the only school remaining where my app is still pending, it'll be alot easier to brush it off if I'm rejected there.