What's the Best Law School? Depends Who You Ask...

If you are at law school or thinking of applying, you’ve probably spent some time poring over the U.S. News and World Report Law School Rankings. Well, it’s time to get one step ahead of the game—the legal blog Above the Law has leaked the 2009 rankings. What is this, a mixtape!?!? I guess these guys really do think they’re “above the law”…

At any rate, here’s the Top 10 according to U.S. News:

1) Yale Law School
2) (tie) Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School
4) Columbia Law School
5) New York University School of Law
6) University of California – Berkeley (formerly Boalt Hall)
7) University of Chicago Law School / University of Pennsylvania Law School
9) Northwestern University School of Law / University of Michigan Law School (Ann Arbor) / University of Virginia School of Law

To add to the intrigue and confusion, Vault.com has created it’s own rankings of the Top 25 schools. Here’s what they have to say about the Top 10:

1) Stanford University Law School
2) University of Michigan - Ann Arbor Law School
3) New York University School of Law
4) University of Virginia School of Law
5) University of Chicago Law School
6) Harvard Law School
7) Columbia Law School
8) University of California, Berkeley - Boalt Hall School of Law
9) Northwestern University School of Law
10) Yale Law School

Damn, Yale got pOned! Yet at the same time, it seems ridiculous that these lists are so significantly different. Probably because the criteria and formulae they use are as inexplicable as the BCS rankings system. But people care, a lot. Read some reactions here, here, and here.

Then check out our survival guide on “Getting Into Law School” to figure out if you even want to deal with all these shenanigans.

Via Metafilter