The annual U.S. News and World Report survey is out on law schools and George Washington is ranked 20th. The ranking has become a dominant element in the field with a heavy influence on applications and even alumni giving. In the current downturn in the legal field (with decreases in applications), that influence has only grown.
George Washington is tied with Minnesota (down 1) and USC (down 2). The school also did well on specialty area. George Washington is ranked second in the country for part time law schools, third in the country for Intellectual Property Law, sixth in the country for International Law, and eleventh in the country for Environmental Law. Placing in the top ten in three and almost four of these categories speaks well for the school.
The top school remained remarkably unchanged. Stanford dropped one in the rankings this year and Washington University moved up five. Texas moved up one. With ties, slight changes are not particularly important. The movement in the top 20 is one of the smallest changes that I recall from one year to the next. Here are the current rankings:
#1 Yale University
#2 Harvard University
#3 Stanford University
#4 Columbia University
#4 University of Chicago
#6 New York University
#7 University of Pennsylvania
#8 University of Virginia
#9 University of California—Berkeley
#10 Duke University
#10 University of Michigan—Ann Arbor
#12 Northwestern University
#13 Cornell University
#13 Georgetown University
#15 University of Texas—Austin
#16 University of California—Los Angeles
#16 Vanderbilt University
#18 Washington University in St. Louis
#19 Emory University
#20 George Washington University
#20 University of Minnesota—Twin Cities
#20 University of Southern California (Gould)
I agree with Rich. In seeing Washington Univ of Saint Louis there I am doubting these guys judgment. Saint Louis University in the same city is unranked and in reality exceeds Wash U. Generally, Washington DC is a great place for a law school. Students can go see things happen in the capitol city. Such things don’t happen in Cambridge or New Haven or even New York City. University of Chicago is a good pick. West Coast? Ah, three time zones behind.
Well, my school’s still in there. And, whether you agree or not, the rankings do have some significance.
Congratulations !
What is the world coming to?
I wonder what criteria and achievements are these schools judged?
A failed news magazine is the last place I’d go looking for law school rankings. Even the metrics used among education foundations and different fields are very flawed and often based on outdated knowledge of departments (i.e., schools retain high ratings based on citations and reputation long after the productive faculty have moved, retired, or died).
Seriously, I’m glad to not see the U. of Wi. on there. They don’t deserve to be in the top 100.
“We’re #20, we’re #20!!” The school should get those big foam hands declaring “20.” They’ll need to sell them in a 5 pack, so it is a money maker.
Well….
Who cares? Weren’t you guys dropped from the rankings as recently as last year for manipulating them? Its a silly bit of elitism with little bearing on reality, generally based on useless metrics and pointless reading of the quality of education you will receive.
Remove Duke, Cornell, USC, Univ of Minnesota, and Emory. Its shocking to see these schools even in the top 30?
I doubt Daniel Muessig went to any of these. Then again, I could be wrong.