<p>Duke up; Vanderbilt down. Washington & Lee down a LOT. New York Law ranked! (As far as I know until now, it's always been in the unranked second tier.) Suffolk fell out of the rankings to that second tier. Abovethelaw has more commentary about major moves in the rankings. </p>
<p>What’s with Boston College at 36th?! It’s been sliding for several years now. Not long ago it was 21st. Is it those darn Jesuits with their emphasis on integrity and service to others that just doesn’t cut it?</p>
<p>The biggest thing is that state law schools are moving up fast, and expensive privates (e.g. BC, W&L) are plummeting. Given this legal job market, it shouldn’t be that hard to figure out what is really going on - and “integrity and service” isn’t it.</p>
<p>(I hope that wasn’t too snarky, but I see nothing involving “integrity” in selling young people a law degree for $200,000 that will take two decades to pay off under the best of circumstances.)</p>
<p>“expensive privates” – like most of the ‘top14’?! – I don’t see them “plummeting”. Also, those other higher ranked and equally expensive ‘privates’ leave one with an equal (or close to it) amount of debt, without the added ‘burden’ of instilling in their charges a ‘calling’, if you will, to go out and try to make the world a better place – for others – rather than for themselves. Yes, indeed, I can see why those ‘more liberated’ schools would do better in the rankings game.</p>
<p>The T14 is the T14 precisely because there are 14 schools that are always in the top 14; the others change. Like the expensive private schools that are falling in the rankings because, when choosing between a school that gives students “a calling” and one that won’t suffocate them in debt, students feel called to the latter.</p>
<p>(As a FYI, I find it massively hypocritical of law schools to talk about a “calling” to law while charging $200,000 for a law degree. Here’s a hint: if a school actually cares about ensuring that its students have fulfilling lives, they would not raise tuition by 10% a year during the worst economy, and legal job market, in a generation.) </p>
<p>Oh, then these rankings are actually based on ‘value’, specifically, lower cost, rather than something like academic quality, reputation, job prospects, etc. How silly of me! Why not just call it that?</p>
<p>Are we arguing amongst ourselves about what criteria should be assessed in designating a top 14, or are we arguing about the USNews rankings themselves? The methodology is not a secret: <a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/articles/2014/03/10/methodology-2015-best-law-schools-rankings”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/articles/2014/03/10/methodology-2015-best-law-schools-rankings</a> It does indeed consider reputation (peer and legal professionals’ assessments), and job prospects (placement success, bar passage), as well as selectivity and resources.</p>
<p>This actually wasn’t about the top 14 but rather about very selective private law schools whcih used to be ranked higher and now find themselves below a number of comparatively undistinquished, state law schools.</p>
<p>“It does indeed consider reputation (peer and legal professionals’ assessments), and job prospects (placement success, bar passage), as well as selectivity and resources.”</p>
<p>Fine - if that’s the case then are you saying that a number of state schools, for example Alabama, are ‘suddenly’ doing better in those spheres than, say, Boston College, which had been ranked as high as 21st (I think) not too long ago. Or, is it, as ariesathena proffered that the privates’ high costs and resulting long term debt is what has knocked them off their higher perch?</p>
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<p>Small nit: the T14 exists because it is comprised of 14 schools (Doh!) that were at ranked in the top 10 of USNews at least once. So, for the T14 to “change”, UCLA or Vandy or Texas or? would have to jump into the top 10 (at which time, the T14 would become the T15). </p>
<p>Since USNews doesn’t change its methodology much year-to-year, a 5+ spot rankings’ jump by one of those schools is highly unlikely, so the T14 will remain intact for quite awhile.</p>
<p>Most of selectivity is getting students to apply and enroll. The reason that state law schools are now more selective is that their tuition model makes them more attractive than schools that cost $200,000. The US News methodology does not distinguish among schools that are selective because students really want the awesome legal education and job prospects that are offered, because they are cheap, or because they have an awesome location and free ice cream. </p>
<p>I think that T14 means “national school with a reasonable chance to get a BigLaw job in NYC if you are about the middle of the class.”</p>
<p>Meaning that T14 = Duke/Penn etc.</p>