Tuesday, March 13, 2012
2013 U.S. News law school rankings: A call on Yale Law to drop out
[Cross-posted at Law School Innovation]
Today is the day that the US News Law School Rankings are released. This is not a reason for celebration even where a school jumped up in the rankings. As I have written recently, these rankings create bad incentives and are a poor measure of what we do, at any school.
Big scandals at Villanova and Illinois should have sent a message out about the risks of trying to cheat. But, gaming of the numbers continues. I was shocked to see in this NY Post article that Fordham Law School is boosting its employment numbers by giving almost 15% of its graduates temporary jobs at the school itself. This matters a great deal in the rankings, since most schools in Fordham's range report an employment rate well over 80%-- so a true reporting of independent employment would knock Fordham down the rankings significantly.
We'd be better off without these rankings, all of us.
Treating the US News Rankings like they matter is something that nearly all law schools do, because no one wants to drop out of the system and go to the 4th Tier. We all know it is wrong, and we all keep doing it, even when it is worsening (or, some would say, creating) the crisis in legal education.
It's time for the leaders to lead. Yale Law should drop out of the system, and urge others to follow. I loved my time at Yale Law, value what they do, and will feel the same way about my alma mater regardless of rankings. True leadership is bold, often selfless, and always moves towards what is true and good. It is time for Yale to lead.
Today is the day that the US News Law School Rankings are released. This is not a reason for celebration even where a school jumped up in the rankings. As I have written recently, these rankings create bad incentives and are a poor measure of what we do, at any school.
Big scandals at Villanova and Illinois should have sent a message out about the risks of trying to cheat. But, gaming of the numbers continues. I was shocked to see in this NY Post article that Fordham Law School is boosting its employment numbers by giving almost 15% of its graduates temporary jobs at the school itself. This matters a great deal in the rankings, since most schools in Fordham's range report an employment rate well over 80%-- so a true reporting of independent employment would knock Fordham down the rankings significantly.
We'd be better off without these rankings, all of us.
Treating the US News Rankings like they matter is something that nearly all law schools do, because no one wants to drop out of the system and go to the 4th Tier. We all know it is wrong, and we all keep doing it, even when it is worsening (or, some would say, creating) the crisis in legal education.
It's time for the leaders to lead. Yale Law should drop out of the system, and urge others to follow. I loved my time at Yale Law, value what they do, and will feel the same way about my alma mater regardless of rankings. True leadership is bold, often selfless, and always moves towards what is true and good. It is time for Yale to lead.
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The comments to the NY Post article are hilarious, in that degenerate type of humor only NY Post readers have.
marta
marta
# posted by 
: 11:19 AM
: 11:19 AM 
The Post article also mentions that NYU provided temporay jobs to approximately 10% of its 2010 class. Columbia refused to provide this information.
# posted by : 2:31 PM
: 2:31 PM
From your mouth to God's ears, Mark. I hate the rankings. Ranking schools (any school) is like trying to rank spouses. Or children. Or religions. "Woo-hoo, Hinduism jumped up 3 spots from last year!" It's ridiculous. An attempt has been/is being made by presidents of liberal arts colleges to not participate in the rankings. I wish all universities and colleges would follow suit. There is nothing wrong (and everything right) with a magazine such as U.S. News providing info to prospective students and their families on colleges and universities. But when they rank them, using arbitrary criteria - and then change the methodology from year to year - well, the so-called rankings are just bunk.
Sigh. I'll get off the soapbox now. It's been a long day. Must prepare: the med school rankings are coming our any day now........
Sigh. I'll get off the soapbox now. It's been a long day. Must prepare: the med school rankings are coming our any day now........
In one of his books, Al Franken ranked world religions in order of quality. Reform Judaism was #1.
Now he is my Senator.
Now he is my Senator.
US News has become the de facto strategic plan for Boards of Regents (who are, for the most part, not educators and come, for the most part, from competitive backgrounds and have an affinity for "winning", which is not all bad). Schools are losing their unique qualities as they strive to meet the US News criteria. I hate it all.
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