{"id":148155,"date":"2026-04-07T10:18:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T18:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/04\/07\/u-s-news-rankings-lose-prestige-retain-iron-grip-on-legal-academias-soul\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T10:18:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T18:18:20","slug":"u-s-news-rankings-lose-prestige-retain-iron-grip-on-legal-academias-soul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/04\/07\/u-s-news-rankings-lose-prestige-retain-iron-grip-on-legal-academias-soul\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. News Rankings Lose Prestige, Retain Iron Grip On Legal Academia\u2019s Soul"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are few rites of passage in legal education more enduring than the annual ritual of obsessing over the U.S. News & World Report rankings<\/a>. And yet, according to a new survey from Kaplan<\/a>, the people who arguably should care the most \u2014 law school admissions officers \u2014 are increasingly willing to admit the rankings might be kind of\u2026 nonsense.<\/p>\n

A full 58 percent of admissions officers say the rankings have \u201clost some of their prestige over the last couple of years.\u201d Not surprising, since Yale Law\u2019s decision<\/a> to nope out of the rankings in 2022 led to a pile on and a change in methodology<\/a> that tanked the OG ranking\u2019s credibility. That\u2019s down slightly from 62 percent in Kaplan\u2019s last survey, but still up from 51 percent in 2023 \u2014 which is just a long, slow march toward \u201cwe all see the emperor, and yes, he\u2019s definitely underdressed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The quotes from admissions officers read like a group therapy session where everyone knows the problem but no one wants to be the first to log off.<\/p>\n

Rankings are a \u201cdouble-edged sword.\u201d That are \u201chelpful for students if they are used properly, but I don\u2019t think students fully comprehend rankings.\u201d They\u2019re \u201cbiased.\u201d They\u2019re \u201ccontrived.\u201d They \u201cpromote the same T14.\u201d They \u201ccreate an opportunity gap.\u201d They \u201climit student choices.\u201d<\/p>\n

And yet schools keep playing along because the alternative is worse. One admissions officer admitted their higher-ranked specialty program could take a hit if they opted out, which is the rankings equivalent of \u201cI\u2019d quit social media, but my brand would suffer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaplan\u2019s Krystin Major puts it a little more diplomatically:<\/p>\n

\n

For law school leaders, the rankings can influence everything from student recruitment to alumni donations, and in some cases, even their own job security. Some admissions officers have joked with us that they stay up just past midnight when the rankings drop, unable to wait until morning, because they know that by sunrise their inboxes will be flooded with either ecstatic or apoplectic messages from colleagues and law school leaders. It\u2019s important to note that while a few schools have withdrawn in protest and many acknowledge the rankings\u2019 flaws, most still participate, showing just how powerful they remain. We continue to tell students that while the rankings can offer helpful data on employment outcomes and starting salaries, they\u2019re just one piece of the puzzle. We advise them to focus on the law schools that fit their long-term professional goals, not just their rank.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Meanwhile, the broader context makes this all feel even more absurd. Law school applications are surging, up 11 percent from last year and a whopping 32 percent from two years ago, according to the Law School Admission Council. Whether that\u2019s driven by recession anxiety, political chaos, or the enduring belief that a JD is a personality trait remains an open question. What\u2019s not in question is that applicants are still using rankings as a north star, even as the people behind the curtain are waving frantically and mouthing, \u201cmaybe don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post U.S. News Rankings Lose Prestige, Retain Iron Grip On Legal Academia\u2019s Soul<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are few rites of passage in legal education more enduring than the annual ritual of obsessing over the U.S. News & World Report rankings<\/a>. And yet, according to a new survey from Kaplan<\/a>, the people who arguably should care the most \u2014 law school admissions officers \u2014 are increasingly willing to admit the rankings might be kind of\u2026 nonsense.<\/p>\n

A full 58 percent of admissions officers say the rankings have \u201clost some of their prestige over the last couple of years.\u201d Not surprising, since Yale Law\u2019s decision<\/a> to nope out of the rankings in 2022 led to a pile on and a change in methodology<\/a> that tanked the OG ranking\u2019s credibility. That\u2019s down slightly from 62 percent in Kaplan\u2019s last survey, but still up from 51 percent in 2023 \u2014 which is just a long, slow march toward \u201cwe all see the emperor, and yes, he\u2019s definitely underdressed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The quotes from admissions officers read like a group therapy session where everyone knows the problem but no one wants to be the first to log off.<\/p>\n

Rankings are a \u201cdouble-edged sword.\u201d That are \u201chelpful for students if they are used properly, but I don\u2019t think students fully comprehend rankings.\u201d They\u2019re \u201cbiased.\u201d They\u2019re \u201ccontrived.\u201d They \u201cpromote the same T14.\u201d They \u201ccreate an opportunity gap.\u201d They \u201climit student choices.\u201d<\/p>\n

And yet schools keep playing along because the alternative is worse. One admissions officer admitted their higher-ranked specialty program could take a hit if they opted out, which is the rankings equivalent of \u201cI\u2019d quit social media, but my brand would suffer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaplan\u2019s Krystin Major puts it a little more diplomatically:<\/p>\n

\n

For law school leaders, the rankings can influence everything from student recruitment to alumni donations, and in some cases, even their own job security. Some admissions officers have joked with us that they stay up just past midnight when the rankings drop, unable to wait until morning, because they know that by sunrise their inboxes will be flooded with either ecstatic or apoplectic messages from colleagues and law school leaders. It\u2019s important to note that while a few schools have withdrawn in protest and many acknowledge the rankings\u2019 flaws, most still participate, showing just how powerful they remain. We continue to tell students that while the rankings can offer helpful data on employment outcomes and starting salaries, they\u2019re just one piece of the puzzle. We advise them to focus on the law schools that fit their long-term professional goals, not just their rank.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Meanwhile, the broader context makes this all feel even more absurd. Law school applications are surging, up 11 percent from last year and a whopping 32 percent from two years ago, according to the Law School Admission Council. Whether that\u2019s driven by recession anxiety, political chaos, or the enduring belief that a JD is a personality trait remains an open question. What\u2019s not in question is that applicants are still using rankings as a north star, even as the people behind the curtain are waving frantically and mouthing, \u201cmaybe don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post U.S. News Rankings Lose Prestige, Retain Iron Grip On Legal Academia\u2019s Soul<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are few rites of passage in legal education more enduring than the annual ritual of obsessing over the U.S. News & World Report rankings. And yet, according to a new survey from Kaplan, the people who arguably should care the most \u2014 law school admissions officers \u2014 are increasingly willing to admit the rankings […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-148155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148155\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}