What's The Fuss Over Law School Rating?What is all the fuss over a law school rating? Obviously a lot; both aspiring students and even law schools themselves place a heavy premium on how a school places on the list of America's top 100. A survey of students show that at least in the early stages of choosing which law school to attend, the first criteria on their list is how a school rates or ranks. For the law schools, a prominent placing on the list inevitably means more potential enrollees. There is without question that of all academic fields, legal education gets the most publicity. A fantastic law school rating can boost that school to unprecedented heights, just as a poor one can be disastrous on so many levels. And yet the issue or validity of law school rankings or ratings is far from being ever clear cut. Take for example South Texas law school's Trial Advocacy Program which has been universally praised for its excellence, earning consistent ratings and ranking first in its category. Yet over-all rankings for the law school itself were such that in 2007, the U.S. News & World Report placed it in Fourth Tier rankings. The U.S. News & World Report is without doubt the leading authority of compiling and publishing law school rankings yet has received its fair share of criticisms. It has been accused of "tweaking" its annual law school ratings to boost not only readership, but the salability of its own publications. But despite perceived or alleged manipulation, a law school rating is still seen as what it is as an indication of a school's capability to provide educational excellence. A glance at the rankings for the current year and of past years show that the list of top law school ratings inevitably belongs to a core group whose rankings may only change a few places or two. As expected, the elite group of Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton, etc. dominates and on some years, a few unexpected dark horses appear. Supporters of rankings use the consistency of these schools as proof that a law school rating is never arbitrary, but nonetheless, critics are pointing to a more fundamental objection to such rankings that is not based on statistics alone. The Association of American Law Schools (AALS) for one which counts a 160 law school membership points out the ranking of law schools as misleading because they fail to consider the diversity of schools and universities across the country. It argues that even as standardized testing despite some issues against its supposed biases can hold up to its own, a standardized measure for schools cannot. A ranking the Association says, can never fully consider the breadth and scope of what colleges and universities can offer and that bar passing percentage rates indicate only just that, bar passing rates. A law school's ability to churn out graduates who later excel and make a difference in their profession and in the community can never be measured by a scientific ranking or rating. Still, rankings dominate as well as the obvious belief in what they have to offer. Most schools post their current rankings prominently on their website or brochures and press releases. |