The annual U.S. News and World Report (USN) ranking of the Top 100 law schools appeared in the April 2009 issue of USN; due to a three-way tie for position 100, the top 102 were given. The USN publication AMERICA'S BEST GRADUATE SCHOOLS (2010 edition) makes an attempt to rank the remaining 82 accredited law schools by partitioning them into Tier 3 (law schools ranked 103 to 139) and Tier 4 (law schools ranked 140 to 184). No explicit ranking of the law schools withn Tier 3 is given; the same applies to Tier 4. The publication America's Best Graduate Schools (2010 edition) lists the three law schools tied for 100 (each ranked 101 by us) in the Top 100 and in Tier 3; it is reasonably clear that these three law schools are tied for 101 and do not belong in Tier 3; we removed these three law schools from Tier 3. Amazingly enough, this same error (albeit wth five law schools tied for 100) occurred in last years (April 2008) ranking. Tuition at Brigham Young Universiity is $18,480 for non-Mormons and $9240 for Mormons. In calculating average tuition (see the bottom of this chart), we excluded Brigham Young University.
2010
LAW SCHOOL
2010
PEER
Judge/
GPA
LSAT
TUITION
USN
USN
SCORE
Lawyer
PERCENTILE
PERCENTILE
OUT-
RANK
SCORE
5 MAX
SCORE
25TH
75TH
25TH
75TH
OF-STATE
IN-STATE
1
Yale University (CT)
100
4.8
4.8
3.81
3.97
169
177
$46,000
2
Harvard University (MA)
95
4.8
4.8
3.74
3.95
170
176
$42,926
3
Stanford UniversIty (CA)
93
4.7
4.8
3.76
3.94
168
172
$42,080
4
Columbia University (NY)
88
4.6
4.6
3.58
3.82
170
175
$45,674
5
New York University
87
4.5
4.5
3.56
3.85
169
173
$44,247
6.5
UC Berkeley
84
4.5
4.5
3.70
3.92
164
170
$43,188
$30,943
6.5
University of Chicago
84
4.6
4.6
3.57
3.79
169
173
$41,835
8
University of Pennsylvania
82
4.3
4.4
3.46
3.88
166
171
$44,330
9
U Michigan, Ann Arbor
81
4.4
4.5
3.54
3.82
166
170
$44,500
$41,500
11
Duke University (NC)
80
4.2
4.4
3.55
3.85
165
170
$42,938
11
Northwestern U (IL)
80
4.0
4.3
3.40
3.81
166
172
$45,332
11
University of Virginia
80
4.3
4.6
3.56
3.89
166
171
$41,800
$36,800
13
Cornell University
78
4.2
4.3
3.24
3.84
166
168
$45,800
14
Georgetown U (DC)
75
4.1
4.4
3.43
3.79
166
170
$42,065
15.5
UCLA
74
4.0
3.8
3.49
3.87
164
169
$41,624
$31,103
15.5
University of Texas, Austln
74
4.1
4.2
3.42
3.82
164
168
$38,697
$23,427
17
Vanderbilt UnIversity (TN)
73
3.8
4.1
3.52
3.86
164
169
$42,206
18
U SouIhern California
72
3.7
3.6
3.48
3.71
165
167
$44,510
19
Washington U, St Louis
69
3.6
3.9
3.20
3.70
162
168
$40,436
21
Boston University
66
3.4
3.6
3.48
3.82
163
166
$38,266
21
Emory University
66
3.5
3.8
3.42
3.71
164
166
$39,776
21
U Minnesota, Twin Cities
66
3.5
3.7
3.29
3.82
163
167
$35,089
$24,686
24
Indiana U, Bloomington
65
3.3
3.5
3.39
3.85
156
165
$37,373
$19,988
24
U Illinois, UC
65
3.4
3.6
3.20
3.80
160
167
$39,262
$31,262
24
U Notre Dame
65
3.3
3.8
3.42
3.78
163
166
$37,650
26.5
Boston College
64
3.4
3.7
3.49
3.77
162
165
$38,450
26.5
University of Iowa
64
3.4
3.8
3.36
3.83
158
164
$39,138
$21,432
28.5
C of William and Mary
63
3.3
3.6
3.35
3.79
160
166
$30,346
$20,146
28.5
George Washington U
63
3.5
3.8
3.28
3.83
162
168
$40,100
32
Fordham University (NY)
62
3.3
3.4
3.32
3.72
161
166
$42,076
32
U North Carolina
62
3.5
3.9
3.40
3.77
157
163
$27,863
$15,045
32
University of Alabama
62
3.0
3.3
3.22
3.83
158
165
$24,158
$12,564
32
University of Washington
62
3.2
3.5
3.52
3.85
159
166
$28,809
$19,585
32
Washington and Lee (VA)
62
3.4
3.8
3.27
3.70
160
166
$36,297
36.5
Ohio State University
61
3.3
3.5
3.36
3.78
159
164
$35,869
$20,919
36.5
U Wisconsin, Madison
61
3.5
3.6
3.39
3.76
157
163
$34,654
$14,730
36.5
UC Davis
61
3.4
3.5
3.45
3.75
158
163
$40,756
$28,511
36.5
University of Georgia
61
3.1
3.3
3.39
3.82
159
164
$29,940
$13,090
39
UC Hastings
60
3.3
3.7
3.38
3.72
161
165
$40,089
$28,864
40
Wake Forest Universiy
59
3.1
3.6
3.30
3.70
160
165
$34,666
41.5
Brigham Young
58
2.8
3.3
3.51
3.88
161
166
See below
41.5
George Mason University
58
2.8
3.3
3.31
3.79
160
165
$31,948
$18,732
43.5
University of Arizona
57
3.2
3.3
3.36
3.76
159
164
$32,221
$19,584
43.5
University of Maryland
57
2.9
3.1
3.37
3.77
160
165
$33,323
$22,044
46.5
American University (DC)
56
3.0
3.2
3.11
3.59
159
163
$39,402
46.5
Tulane University (LA)
56
3.1
3.4
3.33
3.76
159
163
$38,724
46.5
U Colorado, Boulder
56
3.0
3.1
3.41
3.79
160
165
$32,560
$22,048
46.5
University of Utah
56
2.8
3.1
3.38
3.79
157
162
$28,593
$13,371
49.5
Southern Methodist U (TX)
54
2.7
3.2
3.29
3.85
154
165
$34,576
49.5
Yeshiva U (Cardozo) (NY)
54
2.8
2.9
3.29
3.72
159
165
$42,570
AVERAGE
Rank 1-7
90.14
4.64
4.66
3.67
3.89
168.4
173.7
$43,707
$30,943
Rank 8-14
79.43
4.21
4.41
3.45
3.84
165.9
170.3
$43,824
$39,150
Rank 15-18
73.25
3.90
3.93
3.48
3.82
164.3
168.3
$41,759
$27,265
Rank 19-25
66.00
3.43
3.70
3.34
3.78
161.6
166.4
$38,265
$25,312
Rank 26-34
62.67
3.33
3.64
3.36
3.79
159.7
165.4
$34,137
$17,754
Rank 35-50
57.81
3.05
3.32
3.35
3.76
158.9
164.2
$35,326
$20,189
Rank 1-25
77.68
4.06
4.20
3.49
3.83
165.1
169.8
$41,904
$29,964
Rank 26-50
59.56
3.15
3.44
3.35
3.77
159.2
164.6
$34,880
$19,378
Rank 1-50
68.62
3.61
3.82
3.42
3.80
162.1
167.2
$38,464
$23,060
TIES
Consider the following situation:
RANK
LAW SCHOOL
SCORE
1
Law School A
100
2
Law School B
95
3
Law School C
94
Law School D
90
Law School E
90
Law School F
90
Law School G
88
Law School H
88
9
Law School I
82
We see that Law School D, Law School E, and Law School F are tied for fourth. One could be generous and give each of these three law schools a rank of 4, as USNews does; this is the best choice if you are very generous or believe that being tied for fourth is just as good as being fourth. Alternatively, one could give each of these three law schools a rank of 5; 5 is chosen because it is the average of 4, 5, and 6. Simliarly, we see that Law School G and Law School H are tied for seventh. In this situation, a rank of 7 or a rank of 7.5 (he average of 7 and 8) is appropriate. USNews would give you the table on the left, I would give the table on th right.
