U.S. News & World Report is modifying its law school ranking system after several top schools pulled out of the rankings altogether, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The ranker will give dean, faculty, lawyer and judge “reputational surveys” less weight and will no longer consider per-student expenditures which critics have said favor the wealthiest schools during the ranking process, according to the WSJ. The announcement comes after top law schools Yale, Harvard, Georgetown, Columbia, the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford pulled out of the rankings, with many saying the report hurts schools that admit students with lower test scores because they could not afford tutoring and academic services. (RELATED: ‘Writing On The Wall’: Here’s Why Top US Universities May Be Pulling Out Of High-Profile Ranking System)
A ranking team for U.S. News met with more than 100 deans and law-school administrators after the prestigious law schools announced they would no longer be participating in the rankings, the WSJ reported.
“Based on those discussions, our own research and our iterative rankings review process, we are making a series of modifications in this year’s rankings that reflect those inputs and allow us to publish the best available data,” Robert Morse, U.S. News’ chief data strategist, and Stephanie Salmon, senior vice president for data and information strategy, told the WSJ.
Yale Law School, U.S. News & World Report’s top law school, was the first school to pull out of the national ranking system, calling the program “flawed.”
“While academic scores are an important tool, they don’t always capture the full measure of an applicant,” Yale Law School Dean Heather Gerken said in a press release. “This heavily weighted metric imposes tremendous pressure on schools to overlook promising students, especially those who cannot afford expensive test preparation courses. It also pushes schools to use financial aid to recruit high-scoring students. As a result, millions of dollars of scholarship money now go to students with the highest scores, not the greatest need.”
Students walk through the campus of Yale University on the day the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee was holding hearings for testimony from Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh September 27, 2018 in New Haven, Connecticut. (Photo by Yana Paskova/Getty Images)
U.S. News said law school administrators have concerns on how the ranking system weighs diversity and loan forgiveness which “potentially encourages awarding scholarships based on LSAT scores rather than on financial need,” the WSJ reported. For those concerns “additional time and collaboration” will be needed, the U.S. News & World Report told the law schools.
The company also will offer “more detailed profiles” to law schools who choose to stay in the rankings and give the report information, the WSJ reported.
“U.S. News & World Report and its journalists have an important job – to inform the public, to hold powerful institutions accountable and to foster a free and fair exchange of ideas,” U.S. News told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “In the past few weeks, U.S. News has engaged more than 100 deans and representatives of law schools as part of our review of our Best Law Schools ranking. We listened to their recent feedback and we’re currently developing ways to be responsive, while maintaining our independence, mission, and purpose.”
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