The dean of West Virginia University’s College of Law suspects that the wording used in an ABA survey may have skewed this year’s US News & World Report law school rankings — and explain his school’s fall from 3rd to 4th tier status.
Dean John Fisher noted that an ABA survey of law school graduates this year had added language that asked whether respondents were employed or were studying for the bar exam, implying that it was an either-or choice.
USN&WR staff had confirmed that placement statistics were an issue in WVU’s 4th tier ranking. In the past, WVU had always placed in the 90th percentile of law schools in placement. This year, however, it only placed in the 79th percentile.
Fisher was critical of the rankings methodology overall, saying that it relied on ‘bits and pieces of information’ that some schools deliberately manipulated.
He doubted that in-state applications to WVU will be affected by the 2007 USN&WR rankings. “Most individuals will know that the ranking is not a reflection of the quality of education they receive here. Those who know about our school firsthand will consider this to be marginal,” he told the Charleston Daily Mail.
He worried, however, that prospective out-of-state applicants may decide against applying to WVU on the basis of the rankings.
(Source: “Law School’s Ranking Drops,” by Jessica M. Karmasek, the Charleston Daily Mail, April 12, 2006 – http://www.dailymail.com/news/News/2006041226/)
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