Law schools form the basis of education for the various lawyers, advocates and judges who help us live in a safe and friendly world inspire of all the crimes taking place around the world. Law schools are usually of 3 years/2 years duration for the basic law degree in most countries and then the graduate can start practising law after some practical guidance in the hands of experienced advocates.
Among the highest ranked law schools in the United States are the Yale University with the number 1 ranking followed by Harvard University which has a 2008 GPA 25th-75th percentile of 3.76-3.96. Then comes Stanford University and then Columbia university, University of Chicago, New York University, UC Berkley, University of Pennsylvania, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, University of Virginia, Duke University, North-western University(Illinois), Cornell University(New York), Georgetown University and followed by hundreds of other universities.
From the above list, the popularity of the law schools is obvious as there are hundreds of universities available in the United States alone. From this, the top fifteen universities, as of 2010, is pointed out in the above paragraph. What differentiates the top law schools from other law schools is of course the quality of education. However, there are a lot of other criteria that create a distinct division between these several law schools and hence their ranking.
The various criteria that determine that a law school is one among top law schools are, the Educational Quality ranking, which is based on the survey conducted among various persons associated with a particular university and takes into account the three main factors, quality of student body, faculty and teaching. Then there is the GPA, which stands for grade point averages and the universities with students who constantly get a higher GPA than their other university counterparts are naturally placed higher in the ranking table. The infrastructure of the university is taken into account, which is a very important concern. The student/faculty ratio is also considered and some ranking programs also take this into account and reduce points for the university as the number of students per faculty increase. For subject specific ranking, the Gourman report is considered, which, proposed by Dr. Jack Gourman takes, not the overall university, but the particular subject into consideration.
Gourman report however is controversial as some sections criticize that it favours large state universities and also it is quite outdated now as the last report came out only in 1997. The next important factor that determines the ranking of a law school is the LSAT score of the students who choose a particular law school. LSAT stands for Law School Admission Test and this score is directly proportional to the ranking of the university.
As a result, it takes immense preparation and hard work to get into one of the top law schools and a top law school assures a very good career, not to mention the accolades it entitles you to. It is also essential to choose the law school best suited for you depending on locality and other measures apart from the ranking of the law school.
