Report Documents How USNEWS Affects Law School Spending & Behavior

A new report concludes (unsurprisingly) that USNEWS's law school rankings are having negative effects on some law schools' behavior. It's long been known that law school administrators -- particularly admissions deans who are often held accountable for negative changes to a school's rank -- constantly feel the pressure to improve their standing (and reputation) in the the publisher's annual law school rankings. This pressure has caused some law schools to adopt some questionable tactics to help them to gain (or at least maintain) an edge in the USNEWS ranking calculation, by:

- allocating more money every year for merit scholarships with the sole purpose of attracting applicants with high LSAT scores (a significant factor that USNEWS uses to calculate its selectivity ranking);
- admitting students as "part-time" or "probationary" since their LSAT scores traditionally went uncounted (a policy change announced by USNEWS earlier this year to include part-timer LSAT scores in their calculations has already influenced some top-ranked schools to take fewer part-time students);
- cutting the size of their size of their 1L classes, but aggressively recruiting 2L transfers (students for whom schools need not report LSAT scores under the current USNEWS calculation); and
- hiring some of their graduates to improve their employment standings.

There's clearly no love lost between law school admissions officers and the USNEWS; in fact there is downright hatred for the rankings, USNEWS's methodologies and what they purport to represent.  The report quoted one administrator as saying: "I wish Al Qaeda would make [USNEWS] their next target."  Pretty harsh stuff!

Overall, the report reveals nothing new with how schools (and students) feel about the USNEWS rankings. It simply documents USNEWS "gaming" practices that have long been known in law school admissions circles and, as a recently released Government Accountability Office report concluded, which have resulted in skyrocketing tuition costs.