Today the US News rankings have come out on the Best Law Schools of 2014. There is not much to be said. My school fell a few points, but so has every school in NYC except for the top schools. Does this matter? No, it does not. People who put their self-worth into these things are only going to met with sadness and heartache in the end. Rankings are just another way for US News to make money. However, with that being said, many people are upset by these rankings.
The rankings are arbitrary in many ways. First, the rankings of schools outside of the areas that I want to work (other than the very top schools) are meaningless. So what a few schools came in below mine? That does not mean that they are better schools. Perhaps for the area they are located in they are. But for the region I am going to, my school's rank in context with its competitors is the same. Further, ones ability to get a job does not hinge on the ranking or the tier of their law school. One's chances of getting a job after school are almost solely dependent on them as a person. If an employer is to interview a person from a school ranked 27 and a person from a school ranked 35, the hiring decision will be based on the person. Many employers do not even care about this stuff. The partners at the firm I am working about do not care about rankings. They care about making money. They hire because they need employees. I would venture to guess that those who hire based on the rankings are few and far between. Some bloggers, however, would have you think that unless you go to a top school, you will not get a job. They are wrong on all counts.
I will be glad to have this issue with rankings behind me. It is the last time I will have to go through it as a student. It is perhaps one of the most annoying parts of law school. The fact that some people put so much into it just makes me shake my head in disgust. It's time to move beyond the idea of rankings. It is irrelevant.
The rankings are arbitrary in many ways. First, the rankings of schools outside of the areas that I want to work (other than the very top schools) are meaningless. So what a few schools came in below mine? That does not mean that they are better schools. Perhaps for the area they are located in they are. But for the region I am going to, my school's rank in context with its competitors is the same. Further, ones ability to get a job does not hinge on the ranking or the tier of their law school. One's chances of getting a job after school are almost solely dependent on them as a person. If an employer is to interview a person from a school ranked 27 and a person from a school ranked 35, the hiring decision will be based on the person. Many employers do not even care about this stuff. The partners at the firm I am working about do not care about rankings. They care about making money. They hire because they need employees. I would venture to guess that those who hire based on the rankings are few and far between. Some bloggers, however, would have you think that unless you go to a top school, you will not get a job. They are wrong on all counts.
I will be glad to have this issue with rankings behind me. It is the last time I will have to go through it as a student. It is perhaps one of the most annoying parts of law school. The fact that some people put so much into it just makes me shake my head in disgust. It's time to move beyond the idea of rankings. It is irrelevant.
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