CHAPTER O.6 
PROPERTIES OF USNews SCORE 


FACTS ABOUT USNews SCORE

 
  • HOW USNews DETERMINES A LAW SCHOOL'S SCORE. First a WEIGHTED AVERAGE OF TWELVE FACTORS  of quality is calculated for each law school under consideration. For each of these law schools, its weighted-average is divided by the the weighted-average of the highest scoring law school; this quotient is then multiplied by 100, this gives us the percent of the top score this law school has. This percent is defined to be the law school's SCORE.   

 

 

Ex 1

 

Ex2

 

Ex 3

 

 

Ex 4 

 

Ex 5 

 

 Ex 6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

USN Weightd-Average of Law School A   

 

 1300

 

  1450 

 

  1600  

 

 

  1400

 

  1400

 

  1400

 

USN Weightd-Average of the Top Law School 

 

 1700

 

  1700

  1700

 

 

  1600

 

  1800

  2000 

 

Quotient of the Two Preceding Numbers 

 

 0.765 

 

 0.853 

 

  0.941 

 

 

  0.875 

 

  0.778 

 

 0.700

 

SCORE (Percent) of Law School A  

   

  76.5 

 

  85.3

 

   94.1

 

 

  87.5

 

   77.8

 

  70.0

 

  • EXAMPLE. Consider Example 3 (the fourth column in the table above) where we are given the weighted average (1600)  of  a given law school (Calledl Law School A) and the weighted average of the top law school (1700; taking the quotient, we see that  1600/1700 = 0.941. Multiplying this quotient by 100 gives us (approximately 94.1). Thus the score of Law School A, after rounding to the nearest integer, as USN does, is  94.
     
  • We use "Score" whereas USNews uses "Overall Score" .
      
  • Ignoring the first column in the table above, we have that for each of the columns,the last row is the quotient of the first two rows multiplied by 100. 
          
  • One can say that the SCORE of a law school is a fraction turned into a percent. The numerator of the fraction is the law school's weighted-average and the denominator of this fraction is the highest scoring law school's.
      
  • To increase the value of a fraction, one must either increase the numerator or decrease the denominator. More relevant to us, if a law school's score increases, we conclude that the weighted-average of the law school's increased or the weighted average (the denominator) decreased.  
      
  • The SCORE can range from 0 to 100 inclusive.  
      
  • The law school with the best weighted average will have the SCORE of 100 exactly. 
       
  • A law school's SCORE indicates the law school's performance with respect to the law school with the best weighted average  (Yale). For example, if a law school's weighted average was 70 percent of the highest weighted average, its SCORE would be 70. 
       
  • SCORE compares a law school to the top law school and, ipso facto, to all ranked law schools.
       
  • A law school's rank is determined completely from its SCORE.  

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