Law School Rankings Released by US News

The US News law school rankings for this year were officially published online on Thursday, even though they were leaked a few days ago. It's good to be aware of them, but take them with a grain of salt.

A few articles accompanying the rankings on the US News site:

"Law School Rankings Methodology"

"Part-Time Law School Rankings Methodology"

"Attractions of Part-Time Law School"

"How to Use Our Lists Wisely"

"FAQ Law School Rankings"

Analysis:
Law School Almanac created an excellent chart showing changes in the US News rankings of the top 14 law schools from 1987-2009.

Wall Street Journal Law Blog discusses some changes to the rankers' methodology.

Law Librarian Blog links to a few useful posts about law schools' reputational scores and the biggest rank changes.

TaxProf Blog covers a few potential errors in the rankings.

Finally, LawSchoolHeadlines (defunct) did the legwork to calculate ALL changes in the top 100 law school rankings from last year:

Rank School +/-
1 Yale
2 Harvard
3 Stanford -1
4 Columbia
5 NYU
6 Berkeley
6 Chicago +1
8 Penn -1
9 Michigan
10 Duke +2
10 Northwestern -1
10 UVA -1
13 Cornell -1
14 GULC
15 UCLA +1
15 Texas +1
17 Vanderbilt -2
18 USC
19 WUSTL
20 BU +1
20 Emory +2
20 Minnesota +2
23 IU - Bloomington +13
23 Illinois +4
23 Notre Dame -1
26 BC
26 Iowa +1
28 William and Mary +2
28 GWU -8
30 Fordham -3
30 Alabama +2
30 UNC +8
30 U of Washington
30 Washington and Lee -5
35 OSU -3
35 UC - Davis +9
35 Georgia -3
35 Wisconsin-Madison +1
39 UC - Hastings -1
40 Wake Forest +2
41 BYU +5
41 GMU -3
43 Arizona -8
43 Maryland -1
45 American +1
45 Tulane -1
45 CU - Boulder -13
45 Utah +6
49 SMU -3
49 Cardozo +6
51 U of Florida -5
52 Florida State +3
52 U of Cincinnati
52 Uconn -6
55 Arizona State -3
55 Case Western +8
55 Pepperdine +4
55 Kentucky +4
59 Houston -4
59 Tennessee -7
61 Brooklyn +2
61 Lewis & Clark +12
61 San Diego +21
61 Villanova +7
65 Baylor -10
65 Georgia State +12
65 Penn State +12
65 Temple -6
65 U of Kansas +8
65 U of Missouri -6
71 Loyola LA -8
71 Miami +11
71 Oklahoma -3
71 Pitt +2
75 Louisiana State +13
75 UNLV +13
77 Chicago-Kent -11
77 Rutgers Camden
77 Seattle +5
77 Seton Hall -11
77 Denver +11
77 New Mexico -9
77 Oregon +5
77 Richmond -9
85 Santa Clara -8
85 SUNY-Buff +15
87 DePaul +1
87 Indiana-Indianapolis -19
87 Loyola Chicago -5
87 Marquette +8
87 Rutgers Newark -10
87 St. John’s +1
87 South Carolina +8
94 Catholic -6
94 Northeastern -6
94 St Louis +1
94 Arkansas Fayetteville NEW
98 Louisville +2
98 USF NEW
100 Gonzaga NEW
100 Hofstra -1
100 UMaine NEW

The top 10 part-time law schools are below: (full list here)

1. GULC
2. GW
3. Fordham
4. American
5. GMU
6. Maryland
7. Temple
7. San Diego
9. Denver
10. Chicago Kent

Hardest LSAT: Feb, June, Oct, or Dec?

Which LSAT is the hardest? Rumor has it the February LSAT is the toughest exam each year. This rumor probably originated because February's exam is traditionally undisclosed, leading to an air of mystery arond it.

Believe me, if the LSAT-writers are smart enough to write this exam, they're smart enough to realize people are going to analyze it for patterns of difficulty between months. If one month's exam were consistently tougher than another's, you would have heard about it by now, and the test-makers would have corrected this huge mistake.

Sure, the Logic Games on one exam may be "easier" than those on another. While there's some agreement about particular Logic Games being harder than others, one person may find a game to be easy while another finds it difficult. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses.

However, one test-taker will not automatically get a higher score if his/her games are easier and he/she answers more questions correctly as a result. After all, this is a "standardized" test. Your LSAT score is determined by taking the number of questions you answer correctly (your raw score) and converting into a score from 120 to 180 based upon the performance of previous test-takers, who took those sections as their "experimental section."

Bottom line: When it comes to question difficulty, no particular month's LSAT is consistently easier or harder than another's. Even if it were the case, it wouldn't matter. Take the LSAT when you're ready.

LSAC's Official Guide to Law Schools

Want more law school data than you'll ever need?

LSAC's site can be difficult to navigate, but it's full of useful information. One especially useful section is its "Official Guide to Law Schools."

You can search it by clicking on All Law Schools. Then, use the top navigation bar to sort law schools according to a variety of different factors and get more information on each.

Law School Admissions Index: LSAT vs. GPA Ranking

How exactly do admissions officers weigh your LSAT score and GPA? Well, it's complicated.

Law School Admissions Index: LSAT vs. GPA

LSAC's website will help you calculate your chances at various law schools. It uses each law school's "admissions index" (a formula unique to each school weighing LSAT and GPA) and contains data from the Fall 2007 admissions cycle.

Enter your undergraduate GPA and (presumed) LSAT score. Sort the results by likelihood in descending order to see at which schools you have the highest likelihood of success.

Enjoy!

Correlation Between SAT and LSAT Scores?

Yes, there is some correlation between them. However, a low SAT score doesn't condemn you to a low LSAT score, and a high SAT score doesn't guarantee you a high LSAT score.

Some factors that limit the usefulness of any formula relating the two:

1. Brain cells killed while partying in college
2. Differences in your preparation for each exam
3. Differences in the nature of each test

However, I've received several requests recently for information about the relationship between SAT and LSAT scores.

This formula suggests with a moderate degree of certainty (note the qualifying statement here), what your LSAT score might be. I haven't seen any information regarding the origins of this formula, so if you have any, please let me know. This formula is not a prediction or guarantee: simply a suggestion.

LSAT = (SAT Math + SAT Verbal)/20.7 + 100.7

If you studied for 100 hours for the SAT, this formula provides a general guideline for how you might do on the LSAT if you study for 100 hours. Remember to take preparation into account. If you studied for the SAT and got a 1400, but your score prior to studying is only a 150, don't be discouraged. This just means that you have to study.

If you underperformed on the SAT but had a killer GPA in college, this means the LSAT is not likely to accurately predict your performance in law school. If this describes you, I recommend you write an addendum noting this.

For all the visual learners and statistics junkies out there, here's a graph displaying the correlation between SAT and LSAT (using a more complicated equation and a set of only 70 individuals). I found it here. It's far from comprehensive, but I'll share the info and let you decide.