Simkovic On The U.S. News Rankings Boycott

Michael Simkovic (USC; Google Scholar):

• Who Are Law School Rankings Meant to Help? (Nov. 30, 2022)
• Should Student Loan Balances Be Included in Law School Rankings? (Dec. 2, 2022)
• School-Funded Jobs, Long-Term Outcomes, and Law School Rankings (Dec. 5, 2022)
• “Unemployment” and Law School Rankings (Dec. 7, 2022)

Standardized Test Scores and Law School Rankings (Dec. 9, 2022):

My bet is that if the rankings emphasized standardized test scores less, most law schools would shift even more toward serving students from wealthier backgrounds, and would also increase their net prices and the shadow price of expected donations from students' families.  In other words, law schools—like the unreformed, less effective, and corrupt British Navy of old—would sell seats to the highest bidder. 

Idiosyncratically defined diversity will likely continue to serve as a rationalization for profit-maximizing practices.  Educators, public officials, and media organizations have been arguing for decades that diversity justifies departures from identity-neutral meritocratic standards.  Nevertheless, most of the population still considers universities' race, ethnicity, and legacy admissions policies unethical.  They prefer test scores, grades and community service.

David Bernstein (George Mason; Google Scholar), USC Lawprof Michael Simkovic Defends the LSAT:

FWIW, when I was at Yale Law, first semester was pass/fail, so there was no objective way for employers to determine how one was performing in law school. The result was a clear pattern: students with connections, who went to the most elite private colleges (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford and the like), or otherwise appeared attractive on rather subjective grounds to employers got summer jobs at big firms. My friends who went to excellent-but-not-quite-Harvard undergrads like Berkeley, Trinity, or SUNY Binghamton, and who didn't have parents who were prominent lawyers, politicians, or the like did not. So agree or disagree overall with Simkovic, it does strike me that the absence of the objective indicator of grades un-leveled the playing field, and I think the same would happen in law school admissions.

U.S. News coverage:

Boycott

• Yale Law School Will No Longer Participate In 'Profoundly Flawed' U.S. News Rankings (Nov. 16, 2022)
• Harvard Joins Yale In No Longer Participating In The U.S. News Law School Rankings (Nov. 16, 2022)
• UC-Berkeley Is The Third Top 10 Law School To Refuse To Participate In The U.S. News Rankings (Nov. 17, 2022)
• With Stanford, Columbia And Georgetown, 6 Of The T14 Refuse To Participate In The U.S. News Law School Rankings (Nov. 19, 2022)
• The U.S. News Law School Rankings Are Like The Hotel California: You Can Check Out Any Time You Like, But You Can Never Leave (Nov. 19, 2022)
• U.S. News Law School Rankings, ABA Optional LSAT, And Harvard Affirmative Action Supreme Court's Case (Nov. 21, 2022)
• Why Law Schools Outside The T14 (Like UCLA, Wash U, George Mason, Boston University, Pepperdine) May Refuse To Join The U.S. News Rankings Boycott (Nov. 21, 2022)
• Michigan Is Seventh T14 Law School To Refuse To Participate In The U.S. News Rankings (Nov. 21, 2022)
• Antitrust Implications Of The U.S. News Law School Rankings Boycott (Nov. 21, 2022)
• With Duke And Northwestern, Nine Of T14 Refuse To Participate In U.S. News Law School Rankings (Nov. 22, 2022)
• Colin Diver: Are The U.S. News Rankings Finally Going To Die? (Nov. 22, 2022)
• UCLA Is Tenth Top 15 Law School To Refuse To Participate In U.S. News Rankings (Nov. 22, 2022)
• Dan Solove: Slaying The U.S. News Law School Rankings Dragon (Nov. 23, 2022)
• Bill Henderson: The Dollars And Math Behind Yale Law School's Withdrawal From U.S. News — 'Are Limits on Federal Student Loans The Best Way To End The Rankings Madness?' (Nov. 23, 2022)
• UC-Irvine Is First Non-Elite Law School To Join U.S. News Rankings Boycott (Nov. 24, 2022)
• Chicago And (Maybe) Cornell Are First Elite Law Schools To Refuse To Join U.S. News Rankings Boycott (Nov. 24, 2022)
• Is This The Beginning Of The End Of The U.S. News Rankings Dominance? (Nov. 25, 2022)
• Penn Evaluates Whether To Join Boycott Of U.S. News Rankings By Ten Of Top 15 Law Schools (Nov. 26, 2022)
• Law School Admissions Without LSATs, Race, And Rankings (Nov. 26, 2022)
• Here’s Why Top Law Schools May Be Pulling Out Of The U.S. News Rankings (Nov. 28, 2022)
• Yale Law School’s Revolt Of The Elites (Nov. 28, 2022)
• UC-Davis Is 12th Law School (5th In California) To Boycott U.S. News Rankings (Nov. 29, 2022)
• More Commentary On The U.S. News Law School Rankings Boycott (Part 1) (Nov. 30, 2022)
• Wash U Joins Chicago And Cornell In Refusing To Boycott U.S. News Law School Rankings (Dec. 1, 2022)
• More Commentary On The U.S. News Law School Rankings Boycott (Part 2) (Dec. 2, 2022)
• With Penn And University Of Washington, 14 Law Schools Are Not Participating In U.S. News Rankings; Georgia Is 4th School To Resist Boycott (Dec. 3, 2022)
• George Mason Is 5th Law School To Reject Boycott Of U.S. News Rankings  (Dec. 5, 2022)
• The Impact Of The U.S. News Rankings Boycott On Individual Law Schools (Dec. 5, 2022)
• NYU Is 15th Law School (And 12th Of Top 15) To Boycott U.S. News Rankings (Dec. 5, 2022)
• More Commentary On The U.S. News Law School Rankings Boycott (Part 3) (Dec. 6, 2022)
• U.S. News Law School Rankings Boycott Is A Big Nothing Burger (Dec. 8, 2022)
• A Law School Rankings Revolution? Hardly. (Dec. 9, 2022)
• The U.S. News Law School Rankings Boycott Is A Chance To Rethink Legal Education (Dec. 10, 2022)
• Virginia Is 16th Law School (And 13th Of Top 15) To Boycott U.S. News Rankings (Dec. 10, 2022)
• Simkovic On The U.S. News Rankings Boycott (Dec. 12, 2022)
• Deans Of Lower Ranked Law Schools Join Boycott And Criticize U.S. News Rankings (Dec. 13, 2022)
• Dean Of Georgia Law School (1 Of 5 Schools Publicly Not Joining Boycott Of U.S. News Rankings) Has Questions For The 17 Boycotting Schools (Dec. 15, 2022)
• New Hampshire Is 18th Law School To Boycott U.S. News Rankings (Dec. 16, 2022)
• CLEA Statement On U.S. News Rankings For Clinical Programs (Dec. 17, 2022)
• More Commentary On The U.S. News Law School Rankings Boycott (Part 4) (Dec. 20, 2022)
• With Southwestern, 10% Of ABA-Accredited Law Schools Are Boycotting The U.S. News Rankings (Dec. 20, 2022)
• Cal-Western Is 20th Law School To Boycott U.S. News Rankings (Dec. 24, 2022)
• Morrison: AALS Should Provide A Law School Guide To Supplant The U.S. News Rankings (Dec. 27, 2022)
• Muller: What Is The Endgame For Law Schools Boycotting The U.S. News Rankings? (Dec. 28, 2022)
• With UC-SF, St. John's, And Idaho: 23 Schools Are Now Boycotting The U.S. News Law School Rankings (Jan. 7, 2023)
• U.S. News Law School Rankings Boycott Scorecard (Jan. 9, 2023)
• Fordham Is 24th Law School To Boycott U.S. News Rankings (Jan. 14, 2023)
• Roger Williams Is 25th Law School To Boycott U.S. News Rankings (Jan. 18, 2023)
• Law School Rankings Revolt Spreads To Medical Schools: #1 Harvard Will Not Send Data To U.S. News (Jan. 18, 2023)
• With Maryland, USF, And South Texas, 28 Schools Are Now Boycotting The U.S. News Law School Rankings (Jan. 19, 2023)
• U.S. News Law School Rankings Boycott Scorecard (Updated) (Jan 23, 2023)
• Will The U.S. News Law School Rankings Arms Race Resume In Three Years? (Jan. 23, 2023)
• The Clash And The U.S. News Law School Rankings: Should I Stay Or Should I Go? (Jan. 25, 2023)
• With Gonzaga, Quinnipiac, Rutgers, And Seattle, 36 Law Schools Are Boycotting The U.S. News Rankings (Jan. 26, 2023)
• With Vanderbilt, Wisconsin, Tulane, And Creighton, 40 Law Schools Are Boycotting The U.S. News Rankings (Jan. 28, 2023)
• WSJ: Rebellion Over U.S. News Rankings Seems Likely To Fail (Jan. 30, 2023)
• Two Perspectives On The Growing U.S. News Rankings Boycott (Feb. 2, 2023)
• In Defense Of The U.S. News Law School Rankings (Feb. 4, 2023)
• Will The Boycott Actually Strengthen The U.S. News Rankings? (Feb. 9, 2023)
• With Connecticut And Pittsburgh, 42 Law Schools Are Boycotting The U.S. News Rankings (Feb. 10, 2022)

U.S. News Response to Boycott

• In Response To Boycott, U.S. News Dramatically Changes Law School Rankings Methodology. Who Are The Winners And Losers? Will Harvard Be #1? (Jan. 2, 2023)
• U.S. News Drops Student Loans And Employment-At-Graduation (In Addition To Expenditures-Per-Student) From Forthcoming Law School Rankings (Jan. 3, 2023)
• Muller: Did Schools Boycotting The U.S. News Rankings Kill Law Faculty's Golden Goose? (Jan. 4, 2023)
• More Coverage Of The U.S. News Law School Rankings Methodology Changes (Jan. 4, 2023)
• Muller: Winners And Losers In The Elimination Of At-Graduation Employment In The U.S. News Law School Rankings (Jan. 11, 2023)
• U.S. News Provides Additional Information On Forthcoming Law School Rankings (Jan. 13, 2023)
• Summary Of Changes To The Forthcoming U.S. News Law School Rankings (Jan. 14, 2023)
• Muller Models And Projects Forthcoming U.S. News Law School Rankings (Jan. 18, 2023)