<p>I know for law schools, specialty rankings are often released by third-party (ie, not the schools themselves or US News) for law schools. Some specialty rankings include international law, environmental law, and so on.</p>
<p>Conventional and empiral wisdom seem to suggest these rankings are little more than ego-padding for lower ranked law schools, and that only the school's overall ranking really matters. In other words, if you want to get into international law and you get accepted by Yale (which has a average international law program) and also accepted by BU (which is ranked #1), it is still a better idea to go Yale</p>
<p>Does the same principle apply to business programs? A friend of mine is very interested in going to the University of Sout Carolina School of Business, which is ranked #2 for International Business by (I believe) US News. She really wants to get into to International Business (it is her major, after all), but I warned her against going to a lower-ranked business school to chase after her specialty.</p>
<p>Is this good advice?</p>