2022 Law School Rankings: Should You Care?

Would you rather listen to this blog post? Listen to our podcast episode, The New Rankings: Should You Care, on Spotify or wherever you stream podcasts.

If you’re in the middle of your law school applications, you’ve likely heard that the new U.S. News & World Report (USNWR) rankings were released recently. There were some shakeups, some schools that rose, and some schools that fell in the rankings. 

But honestly, how much does this matter? How important is this to your law school decisions or your applications process? What if you’re already in school? Let’s talk about it. 

What Makes Law School Rankings “Important”

In general, my rule of thumb is that all law school rankings should be taken with a grain of salt.

They are important insofar as people and society still place importance on them. It’s one of those things where, if we all woke up and decided that we didn’t care about the rankings, they would hold no weight. Rankings are one of those things that don’t really matter unless we give it the time and energy to. 

We give it power because we care. But I’m also not going to pretend like we operate in a just world. 

What do I mean by that? I know as a woman of color that I have to work sometimes twice as hard to get half as much. If you’re neurodiverse, from a marginalized community, LGBTQ+, a woman, etc., you know that the world is not a level playing field. 

So, to the extent that you are already climbing an uphill battle, I think that’s where this nuanced conversation of how important rankings are really comes in. Sometimes things like perceived prestige, these markers of elitism, are the signal that lets those with power and those in a position to make the rules let us into the room. 

There is nothing just about that. There is nothing okay with that being a metric or a bar for which certain people are able to get their foot in the door to certain jobs or professions over others. But the reality of the situation is that there are certain doors and opportunities that are easier for me, for example, to open because I went to Harvard Law School. 

I’m not saying that there are doors that I can only get to because I went to Harvard Law School, I just said those doors might be easier to open, but you can do what you want from a wide variety of law schools. Your path just might not be the same. 

You can work in a big law firm as a graduate of any law school, but it is certainly easier from the top schools because they come to you. Those jobs are given to you on a silver platter. If you really want that, and you’re not looking at schools that will give you that access, your path is just going to be a little different. 

I am saying this to explain that I’m not saying rankings don’t matter. They do, insofar as they make certain doors easier to open because of the elitist society that we live in. It is a flawed system, and I’m not going to tell you to pretend we live in a just society. 

When it comes to making that law school decision, you should consider rankings to some exent, especially if you’re from a marginalized community, because that’s the world that we’re operating in. Until the world changes and the game changes, we need to play by the rules, get into positions of power, and then we disrupt things. 

But you have to get into the position of power first before you can disrupt things.  

Why the Rankings Changed

A lot of what went into the changes in the rankings had to do with the bar passage rate. They changed the fact that they’re now looking at bar passage rates across all jurisdictions that students took the exam, and there are a number of states that had rules changed because of COVID-19. 

I think it’s good that the rankings place more of an emphasis on the overall bar passage rate, but I think we can’t ignore the fact that the data is an anomaly because of COVID-19. 

That being said, the rankings are so sensitive that even variances very slight can cause really big shakeups in the rankings, and that’s kind of what happened now.

One example is that Harvard Law School fell out of the top three for the first time in however many decades. It’s now tied for fourth. I remember seeing a question on TikTok asking if Columbia is now better than Harvard Law School. 

The important thing to remember is that nothing about either school has changed. The day before the rankings came out, Harvard Law School wasn’t a different school than the day they did come out. There are institutions that have been around for hundreds of years versus one ranking methodology. 

If tomorrow's USNWR rankings said that the University of Maryland was number one, nothing will have substantially changed about Stanford, Columbia, Harvard, or any of those schools. The only thing that changed is the methodology that they’re using to rank.

That’s not to say that there aren’t changes that happen over time. Schools that have new diversity measures or are really working on their employment score or 1L retention rate are changing, but that is a gradual process. So, if you look at last year’s and this year’s rankings and see that a school dropped 21 points, it did not become 21 points less of a school. 

I think that distinction is really, really important. If you're sitting here thinking, “Well, now I don’t know if I want to go to Columbia or Harvard,” I would tell you the same advice whether or not the rankings change. You need to figure out what kind of environment you want. What do you want to do with your career after school? Who are your students, the professors? Do you like New York City? What’s the financial difference? Those are the questions that I would ask you. 

Those are some of the questions I would be giving you now, because, honestly, who really cares that Harvard is now tied for fourth? It’s not changing any of their programming. It’s not changing their professors. People are not quitting in drove and giving up those tenures. None of that has happened, because it’s the same school. 

The Importance of Looking at Metrics

When you’re trying to decide which law school is right for you, you should be paying attention to their metrics rather than their overall rankings. 

Did their employment score, their bar passage rate, or their median salary change? Those are the three things that you should be focusing on. A good place to find this information is on Law School Transparency and the 509 ABA reports, which it will show you historical data on those rates. 

 Once you look at that information, see if there is a big difference now from last year. (Make sure to keep in mind the influence that COVID-19 could have on these scores, as well.) If there aren’t changes, then most likely what happened is that the school dropped because the methodology changed. 

It’s important to remember, too, that USNWR makes money off of rankings coming out. When they change the methodology, people are very excited and purchase full access because of their curiosity. The likelihood of them changing their methodology in the next three to five years is very high. So, why would you make a decision about what the rankings look like today? 

You want to make decisions based on factors that are actually going to impact what kind of lawyer you’re going to be. As I mentioned before, there is some logic to a person going to a higher ranked school for prestige, especially if you’re from a marginalized community, but it’s important to understand the numbers behind the rankings, too. 

The Takeaway

If I told you the sky is purple, you can’t just take my word for it. I want you to go outside and look. It’s the same thing with rankings. 

Don’t just take the word from USNWR and decide that you suddenly don’t like a school anymore.

I want you to be your own detective. Figure out what changes from last year and what your goals are, and make an informed decision from there.  Use the rankings as an invitation to do more research, but not as the answer itself.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to decide between law schools and my advice on law school applications, make sure to check out my podcast and YouTube channel. I also offer one-on-one consulting services and boot camps to help you through the law school application process! If you have any questions or are looking for support, don’t hesitate to email us at hello@smontgomeryconsulting.com.