Law School moves up in U.S. News rankings; Receives record number of applications
The College of William & Mary Law School moved
up in this year’s U.S. News & World Report rankings of the best
graduate programs in the nation. According to the report released
Friday, the law school came in this year at 30th, tied with the
University of Washington. Last year, the school was ranked at 31st in
the nation, tied with Ohio State and the University of Wisconsin –
Madison.
"We are pleased to see that we went up one place but continue to view
these rankings with some skepticism," said Lynda Butler, interim dean
of the law school and the Chancellor Professor of Law. "This year only
one point separates us from three schools ranked 27th," continued
Butler, "while two points separate us from the 26th ranked school. What
we do know is that the law school is more vibrant and healthy than
ever."
The law school, which is celebrating its 228th year, has consistently
ranked among the best law schools in the country in the U.S. News
survey. The movement in the rankings continues a strong spring for the
nation’s oldest law school. The law school received a record number of
applications – receiving 4,561 applications for approximately 200 spots
available in the school’s juris doctor program. That total reflected a
7.3 percent increase from last year while the national law school
applicant pool dropped 1.3 percent.
U.S. News annually ranks graduate and professional school programs in
engineering, law, medicine, education and business using a variety of
scoring categories, such as peer assessments, student/faculty ratios
and funding for faculty research. Highlights of the graduate school
rankings will be published in the April 7-14 edition of U.S. News &
World Report, and the “America's Best Graduate Schools” guidebook will
go on sale April 1.
