Law.com, Ahead of the Curve: Will the US News Rankings Ever Be Viewed the Same Again?:
Since Nov. 16, I have written 44 pieces (stories and columns combined) about U.S. News & World Report—and the law school rankings aren’t even out yet!
This has made me a bit of an expert: I’ll participating in a session on the U.S. News law school rankings—on June 15 from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. ET—during the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Institutional Advancement Conference, “Making a Difference in a Changing World” which will be held virtually on June 14 and 15 exclusively for law school faculty and staff. [I will also be on the panel.] …
With each delay, the news agency has said the cause for the delay is “due to an unprecedented number of inquiries from schools during the initial embargo period and verification of publicly available data.”
“The cryptic message from U.S. News also shifts the blame to the number of school inquiries but doesn’t say why the schools are inquiring at such a heavy rate,” Dave Killon, CEO of PowerScore Test Preparation, told Law.com on April 24.
“Perhaps U.S. News has made errors in the data? At this point we don’t know but the lack of transparency here further undermines the already tenuous credibility of these rankings,” he added. …
[Press] reports are saying that the law schools that boycotted U.S. News aren’t getting what they anticipated.
I’m not sure about that: Wasn’t part of their goal to “blow up” the rankings, or at least to point out the deficiencies in the methodology?
If that’s the case, I’d say the boycott has been a raging success.
With everything that has transpired in the past five and a half months since that fateful November day when Yale Law, quickly followed by Harvard Law, announced their plan to pull out of the rankings, will the rankings ever be viewed the same way again?
U.S. News has weathered its fair share of controversy and credibility hits over the years, so it would be unwise to underestimate the resilience of these rankings.
But a battle this public and this prolonged may not be so easy to shake off.
Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:
- U.S. News Releases Preview Of 2024 Law School Rankings: Top 14 And New Methodology (Apr. 11, 2023)
- Will Law Schools With Strong Tax Programs Get A Boost In The 2024 U.S. News Rankings? (Apr. 11, 2023)
- Will U.S. News Refuse To Count Votes From Deans, Faculty, Lawyers, And Judges From Boycotting Law Schools In Reputation Metric In 2024 Rankings? (Apr. 12, 2023)
- U.S. News Delays Release Of Law School Rankings By One Week Due To ‘Unprecedented Number Of Inquiries From Schools.’ Is Bar Data To Blame? (Apr. 14, 2023)
- The U.S. News Law School Rankings: Say Hello To The New T14 (Apr. 15, 2023)
- What Is Behind The Delay In Releasing The U.S. News Law School Rankings? (Apr. 18, 2023)
- U.S. News Delays Release Of Law School Rankings Again Due To ‘Unprecedented Number Of Inquiries,’ Including From Schools That Are Ostensibly Boycotting The Rankings (Apr. 19, 2023)
- U.S. News Indefinitely Postpones Law And Medical School Rankings Amid Backlash (Apr. 21, 2023)
- NY Times: Rankings Schadenfreude — Elite Law Schools Boycotted U.S. News But Now May Be Paying A Price (Apr. 22, 2023)
- Muller: Some Law Schools Don’t Understand The U.S. News Rankings, In Part Because Of The Opaque Methodology (Apr. 24, 2023)
- What Is Causing The 3+ Week Delay In The U.S. News Law School Rankings? (May 3, 2023)
