The Legal Beat

Law School Rankings Aren’t All That For Prospective Students
Posted on Thursday March 14, 2019

We talk a lot about rankings here at Above the Law. And it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, since the legal profession is obsessed with them — hell, 15 years after you graduate law school, firms you’re thinking about lateraling to are still asking about it.

But it turns out wannabe lawyers don’t put nearly as much stock in rankings. According to a recent survey of pre-law students done by Kaplan Test Prep, the net cost of tuition mattered more to students than the reputation of the law school — by a measure of 55 percent to 45 percent:

I guess those law schools that didn’t do as well as they wanted on the latest U.S. News rankings shouldn’t freak out. Just spend that extra time putting together financial aid packages that wow.

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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