Pre-Law Ponderings: Law School Rankings

As I began to navigate the law school arena I heard a lot about law school rankings. Apparently they're kind of a big deal. Not one to take things at face value, I decided to learn more and dive into what the rankings really meant.

Although rankings tend to be based on reputation and are somewhat superficial, it is important to have some method of measuring schools against each other. Most of the time people only focus on the U.S. News and World Report rankings. But not everyone takes the time to understand the ranking methodology. If you choose to focus on one set of rankings as you select schools be sure you understand the reasoning behind it. Even Above the Law's Top 50 (in which they place emphasis on employment placement statistics) has its flaws.

Nevertheless there are quite a few different ranking lists to explore, so productively procrastinate LSAT prep or personal statement drafting by seeing how your favorite schools stack up!

If you're like me and are still trying to figure out how to process all of these rankings when selecting law schools, take a deep breath (and a break) before diving into the resources below. I've found that there is not a one size fits all formula for finding your perfect law school. So keep the rankings in the back of your mind and do some serious soul searching to determine what is most important to you in a law school.