THE USNews 2010 TOP 50 LAW SCHOOLS

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. RANK   LAW SCHOOL   SCORE           1   Law School A   100 2   Law School B   95 3   Law School C   94 4   Law School D   90 4   Law School E   90 4   Law School F   90 7   Law School G   88 7   Law School H   88 9   Law School I   82                RANK   LAW SCHOOL   SCORE           1   Law School A   100 2   Law School B   95 3   Law School C   94 5   Law School D   90 5   Law School E   90 5   Law School F   90 7.5   Law School G   88 7.5   Law School H   88 9   Law School I   82          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