The 2009 U.S News And World Report law school rankings are out. The good news is that my alma mater, University Of Pittsburgh School Of Law rose 2 spots from 73 to 71. Does this tiny ranking upgrade matter? If Penn. State grads can take to the streets and yell “We are number 66!” after winning the NIT basketball tournament, why shouldn’t I proclaim Pitt Law’s academic #71 status to all those who care.
Who does care? I wrote a complaint email to the Dean of Pitt Law after our Dow Jones like drop last year from 57 to 71. You can read that email and her response here.
Pitt was and always will be a regional school regardless so why do I care where we fall in rankings? I graduated in 1986. I have no idea where Pitt was ranked at that time. Since 1997, it has ranked as high as 47 and as low as 93, almost out of the 1st tier.
Maybe it’s just ego. Living in Dallas, Texas, I wanted to at least be able to brag to the local regional Tier 1 law school, Southern Methodist University that my school was less “rank” than theirs but alas this is not the case. SMU School Of Law, while dropping a couple spots, still put a rankings “beat down” on Pitt coming in at 49 this year. When I come across a grad from SMU Law, I just say that I went to law school “back east”. It sounds better than bragging on #71.
I should not complain. Another Dallas-Fort Worth law school, Texas Wesleyan University Law School does not even rank a number. They are simply labeled “Tier 4″. In fairness to Texas Wesleyan, they are a relatively new law school. However, regardless of what they report in terms of legal employment numbers for their grads, I know several Wesleyan grads that are either not working in their chosen field or working the dreaded “contract hourly” at 20 dollars an hour, reviewing and summarizing depositions and other legal documents while dreaming of an opening in the Jack In The Box management training program.
Then there is the other “local” school, University of Texas. While it is in Austin, 225 miles away , the Dallas legal community is full of U.T. grads so I consider it local. University of Texas Law School is in the rarifed highly ranked air of number 15. Pretty good stuff when you are sitting in the black hole of Tier 4 looking up or a number 71 wannabe. I even asked a U.T. Law grad out once. She told me she did not “slum it” with anyone attending a law school ranked lower than 50 and I should give her a ring next year when the new rankings come out. Those SMU law guys have all the luck, at least until they drop to 51. No worries though, I hear Texas Wesleyan law girls are easy.
All is not lost for Dallas however. The rumor is that we will soon have a new state law school. Another “Tier 4″ school giving students a low cost education that they will be unable to pay back when they enter the ranks of the ever growing number of legal unemployed. The upside is that I hear the new Dallas law school will be offering a dual degree in conjunction with The Gap.
Think Rankings Dont Matter? Think again.
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April 27th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
Aaw. It's never too late to go back for a PhD online. Pick and Ivy league Tier 1 and go for it Brian.
April 27th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
As a Law School hopeful, I am very aware of the impact a top 15 school will play in my future. I feel like I can say with certainty, (by testimonies and research) that my chances of BigLaw are hightened by law school association. The placement rates alone are enough persuasion for me!
…Northwestern bound
April 27th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Go to school, get good grades, meet as many people as you can, and start your own business.
April 27th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
The new T4 UNT law school should be cheap. So that graduates can pay back the debt on their contract salaries. I have to concur with you on the Texas Wesleyan grads. I show them my UT law degree, unzip my pants, and they know what to do.
April 27th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
Good post. Legal practice trades on elite values and prestige so it's foolish to pretend rankings don't matter. That said, I don't believe a school's ranking reflects that deeply on a graduate's skill as a working lawyer.
April 27th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
How is #93 Tier One? There are only like 180 or so ABA accredited law schools in the US. Arguably 1st rate is H/Y/S, then top 14 (maybe 15), then the rest is the dreaded TTTs. To be fair, I'm pretty cynical about my prospects post-graduation (and I'm not even bottom half at UT), thus my bitching.
April 28th, 2009 at 2:07 am
I always tell people that with 180 plus law schools any idiot can get into law school and a lot of idiots do. How hard could it really be to get in the bottom of the Tier 4 schools and what type of job do you get when you graduate from the bottom of the class at the bottom law school?
Law schools collect the tuition regardless of whether their graduates get jobs, so they are incentivized to let anyone in that they can. Imagine if law schools only got paid after the fact, and then only got paid 3% of what their graduates made over the next 10 years. Schools would defintitely be more discriminating…
April 28th, 2009 at 2:52 am
GAWD!! I'm hungry for a Jack n Box burger! Are you embedding your blog with subliminal messages?
April 28th, 2009 at 3:59 am
Penn State's 65 and the NIT was great, but I give more credit to making the Rose Bowl.
April 28th, 2009 at 4:31 am
Just become a plaintiffs lawyer, go into mass torts and make your millions. You don't need a top tier law school education for that.
April 28th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Ranking is only relevant if you want to slave away for someone else for the rest of you life. I agree with the previous post. Being a high priced call girl for BigLaw isn't quite as satisfying as making it on your own. Toiling away your life only to "make partner" truly sounds depressing…
April 28th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
This is a great post Brian, I am currently at Emory hoping to go to a top 20, and people need to know RANKINGS MATTER in the law profession. The only thing that aspiring law school students need to no are: GPA, LSAT, LIFE EXPERIENCES. The rest is history
April 29th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
I don't think you need to go to a top-tier law school J.D. to sponge off your brother, do you?
April 29th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
If I would have known I was going to be able to sponge off my brother I would have dropped out of high school….
April 29th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Well, I am sure if you have your brother's dancing skills, you also do not need to throw around which law school you graduated from to get laid.
April 29th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
I went to Emory law and transferred to what has now become a 50 or so ranked school. Big firms cared about one thing–my class rank. They didn't care if I was at #20 or #50. Now, tier 3 & 4 (which is equivalent of "I should never have gone to law school") schools, the name (or lack thereof) matters. My advice, go to a tier one school that you will be in the top 10% at (unless you get into a top 10 law school–then go for the name). You're much better off being in the top 10% at the 48th ranked law school then in the middle of your class at the 18th ranked school.
April 29th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
I don't know, maybe I do…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbzFqZxvGq0
May 1st, 2009 at 3:38 am
Get out the tweezers and microscope? You must have a tiny johnson to be such a prick. Probably finished at the bottom of your class at UT.
November 5th, 2010 at 11:29 pm
As a graduate of Wesleyan and a successfully employed corporate attorney, I take considerable offense to this post. There are also plenty of Tier 1 law grads who are unable to obtain desirable legal employment, while you pigeonhole Wesleyan grads in that category. You cannot equate your school's tier with your future success. There are so many more factors to consider. This entire post unfairly labels the legal profession, and you should be ashamed that you would put this out in public, as it can easily influence others.
I would put myself up against any socially inept bookworm from UT in an interview, and we will see who comes out on top. Good Day.
November 6th, 2010 at 12:26 am
Over a year later I am pretty apathetic to any new offense taken by Weslyan Law grads #shouldershrugandyawn
November 11th, 2010 at 4:30 pm
ABOLUTELY! I agree 100% (BTW…Weslyan law school girls are not easy; they're just not snobby bitches. They're down to earth, hard workers who will kick ass doing what really matters – representing the under respresented, as opposed to prostituting themselves to the big law firms only to die sitting at their desks at the ripe old age of 55).
It's the person who makes the success; not the school (unless you consider the above referenced, success).