Yale Law School has pulled out of a national school ranking, calling the program “flawed” because it hurts schools that admit students with lower test scores, according to a press release.
Yale Law School is removing itself from the U.S. News & World Report after consistently ranking first because it fails to reward schools which help students who come from “low-income backgrounds,” according to a press release. Yale Law School Dean Heather Gerken said the rankings discriminate against schools that accept students with lower grades because they could not afford tutoring and academic services. (RELATED: Colleges Chose Diversity Over Merit. Now, They’re Getting Neither)
“While academic scores are an important tool, they don’t always capture the full measure of an applicant,” Gerken wrote in the 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.”
Gerken added that the law school application process is weighted heavily on merit and can cause schools to “overlook promising students,” the press release stated. She noted the law school’s attention to “economic equity” and its recent initiative to help students attend the law school who are “below the poverty line,” the press release showed.
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)
Because of the law school application process, scholarships are awarded to students on the basis of academic achievement, rather than on a need-basis, Gerken stated in the press release.
“These students overcame nearly insurmountable odds to get to Yale, and their stories are nothing short of inspiring,” the press release stated. “Regrettably, U.S. News has made it difficult for other law schools to eliminate the financial barriers that deter talented minds from joining our profession.”
The U.S. News & World Report has been ranking academic institutions, including liberal arts colleges, law schools and engineering programs, since 1983, its website stated. The report is considered one of the nation’s largest education grading systems to help “parents and students find the perfect school.”
Yale Law School and the U.S. News & World Report did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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