US News releases its 2020 law school rankings
There’s little variation in U.S. News & World Report’s 2020 rankings among the top 20 law schools, and the top seven are identical to last year.
Yale University is again listed as the country’s No. 1 law school, followed by Stanford University and Harvard University. Among the top 10 law schools, the University of Virginia went up to No. 8, moving up from No. 9 last year. The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor went down one spot, from No. 8 to No. 9.
The University of California at Berkeley also saw a one-spot drop, from No. 9 to No. 10. This year, that spot had a three-way tie, with Northwestern University and Duke University joining the University of California at Berkeley. Last year, Northwestern and Duke tied for the No. 11 spot.
The University of Southern California got a better ranking this year, moving up to No. 17 after being in the No. 19 spot last year. The University of California at Los Angeles is ranked 15th this year—up one spot from last year.
Here are the schools that made the top 20 on the U.S. News list of 2020 best law schools:
1) Yale University
2) Stanford University
3) Harvard University
4) University of Chicago
5) Columbia University
6) New York University
7) University of Pennsylvania
8) University of Virginia
9) University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
10) Duke University (tie)
10) Northwestern University (tie)
10) University of California at Berkeley (tie)
13) Cornell University
14) Georgetown University
15) University of California at Los Angeles
16) University of Texas at Austin
17) University of Southern California
18) Vanderbilt University (tie)
18) Washington University in St. Louis (tie)
20) University of Minnesota
The graduate rankings are based on expert opinions and statistical indicators that measure the quality of faculty, research and students, according to a U.S. News press release.
This year, the publication added the GRE analytical writing score into the full- and part-time law ranking methodology; previously, only the GRE quantitative and verbal scores were used. The release notes that a small number of law school programs admit students with GRE scores.
