If you want to see what happens to prospective law students when they think they’ve found the new U.S. News rankings, check this discussion site out. I think it’s credible these are the real rankings, by the way, but that’s not the point. What is scary is that, given the rather absurd ranking methodology–in which more than half the criteria are self-reported by the schools and unverifiable by US News; more than one-third of the criteria favor small schools over large ones; and less than half the criteria have anything to do with academics!–students actually seem to hang on changes in overall rank as though they mean anything! Wow!

UPDATE: A graduate of Pepperdine’s law school writes with some fair points:

“In your post about the US News ranking insanity, you wrote that ‘students actually seem to hang on changes in overall rank as though they mean anything!’ I agree with you that the US News rankings are a fraud. I also agree with your conclusion, in that whether Harvard or Yale is ranked #1 means very little for those students.

“But, changes in overall rank are important for people like me who went to schools like Pepperdine. Unfortunately, many employers still weed out applicants by only granting interviews to those from ‘top 20 law schools.’ Granted, Pepperdine isn’t near the top 20 (or 40, 60, and 80 for that matter), but getting out of the ‘second 100’ to the top 60 can only raise the reputation of Pepperdine among law firms, which leads to more interviews and more jobs.

“I’ve been hiding my bitterness pretty well so far, but I’m a 2003 graduate still looking for employment. Granted, I’m looking for work in a tough legal market, southern California, but I graduated cum laude, did Law Review, and externed for a 9th Circuit judge. Perhaps I’m mistaken, but I feel that if I made one change to my resume – switching Pepperdine with a school ranked around the top 60, say University of San Diego, or if that’s too bold, Santa Clara – I might
actually get a job. Or just an interview. Or at least a goddamn rejection letter.”

I would note that I think students overestimate how much effect US News has on law firms; law firms form their view of the merits of schools and their graduates based on long experience, typically, not fluctuations in rankings. Still, over time, it is a reasonable supposition that if a regional school were consistently ranked around 50 rather than around 100, that might begin to have some impact on decisions by recruiters.

By the way, if it turns out to be true that Berkeley is ranked 13th this year–behind, e.g., Duke and Northwestern–that would just prove that the US News rankings are untrustworthy, rather than showing anything pertinent about Boalt. But we’ll see….