And with more rankings news, U.S. News is now considering extending the numerical rankings to the third tier as well, as reported by The National Law Journal. Until now, the Top 100 schools have been ranked numerically, with the third and fourth tiers just listed alphabetically.
Sentiment has been divided on this issue, with those opposed expressing that as it is, the rankings create greater distinctions between schools then is necessary, and that “there is very little difference between the quality of education offered at most schools.”
However, ranking the third-tier schools could be beneficial for those schools at the end of the alphabet, generally placed at the end of the list, and potentially affecting how they are viewed. The numerical ranking could also remove the third tier from the “outer darkness” of the bottom tiers.
So how helpful will these new rankings be to potential law students? Above the Law puts an interesting spin on the debate: “Really, it all comes down to whether or not you believe there is a rankings ‘cutoff’ below which you should reconsider your desire to go to law school. Obviously, there are a lot of students who don’t believe there is a cutoff — even the fourth tier schools are not struggling to fill seats.” So perhaps for these aspiring lawyers, rankings of any kind would assist them in their law school decisions, whether sensible or not.
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