Once considered pivotal, the U.S. News & World Report law school rankings may no longer hold sway over prospective law students, according to a new study by University of Kentucky’s Brian Frye and Indiana University’s Christopher “CJ” Ryan. The scholars assert that the rankings, which once determined a law school’s fate, have dramatically waned in influence, potentially to the point of irrelevance.
Frye and Ryan analyzed a decade’s worth of U.S. News rankings and compared them with “revealed preferences rankings,” which are based on the enrollment choices of students with the strongest credentials. They found no significant correlation between changes in a school’s rank and the academic strength of its incoming class. This led them to conclude that prospective law students are considering other factors beyond these rankings.
While the claim of the rankings being “entirely irrelevant” might be an overstatement, Frye and Ryan acknowledge that the impact of rank changes on student decisions might take longer to manifest. Historically, the perceived prestige of schools, such as the top-14 or “T14” schools, has been relatively stable since the rankings began in 1987.
Additionally, it appears that law schools may respond to rank changes by adjusting tuition discounts, a factor almost 80% of law students experience. However, tracking this influence is challenging due to the opacity of schools’ pricing practices.
The decreasing influence of U.S. News rankings was underscored by the actions of Yale and Harvard Law Schools. In November 2022, both institutions announced they would no longer provide data to U.S. News, with Yale dean Heather Gerken criticizing the rankings as “profoundly flawed.” Following this, many other schools also withdrew, prompting U.S. News to enact methodological changes.
Frye and Ryan believe that U.S. News needs to reassess who the rankings are intended for and consider developing a more tailored approach. Such an approach could include leveraging an interactive tool to allow prospective students to input their personal criteria, such as overall prestige, bar passage rates, debt upon graduation, geographical location, and placement success in various sectors. This tool could customize rankings based on individual preferences, thereby making it more relevant.
While such a shift might not generate the same level of buzz or revenue as traditional rankings, it could reinstate the relevance of U.S. News among prospective law students. Meanwhile, the current prestige ranking remains one of the few valuable components, offering insights into the long-term career effects of attending a particular law school.
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