In a unique approach to law school rankings, Fortuna Law, under Fortuna Admissions, has sought to provide a comprehensive view of the best institutions. The recently launched Fortuna Ranking of Law School Rankings combines results from four major law school rankings providers: U.S. News & World Report, Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings by subject, QS Quacquarelli Symonds, and ShanghaiRanking Consultancy’s Academic Ranking of World Universities, curating an aggregate perspective on law school excellence.
The director of Fortuna Admissions, Matt Symonds, has shared insights on this new method of ranking, stating, “Fortuna Admissions compiled the ranking of law school rankings to provide law school applicants with a comprehensive look at how different popular rankings each take different approaches to prioritizing schools.” He optimistically posits that this approach might help applicants research their target programs more effectively, and assess the continuity of some schools across time and varying rankings systems. Yet, he also cautions that the ranking of a law school isn’t a final determinant for a student’s career opportunities and outcomes Law.com.
Fortuna’s top three law schools were Yale, Harvard and Stanford, a comparable result to other rankings. However, there were significant changes amongst other schools in the top 25 when compared to the U.S. News rankings. Examples of these differences include, Penn tying at No. 7 rather than standing alone at No. 4, and notably, Northwestern Law school being positioned at No. 16 versus its placement at No. 10 in the U.S. News rankings. Other placing adjustments of interest include UCLA at No. 11 and Georgetown at No. 12 in the Fortuna rankings.
While the new approach may be deemed innovative by some, it has also triggered discussions in the legal community questioning the validity and utility of this new method. The law professionals are encouraged to provide feedback through multiple channels shared, such as email, text message or tweets to @ATLblog. Additionally, Fortuna’s ranking method predictions and methodology can be found at the Fortuna Admissions page.