Top 2008 Law School Rankings

Top Law Schools consolidates all of the 2008 law school rankings available, thereby giving you the necessary information to determine which law schools you should apply to. The variability in these rankings should illustrate that the 2008 law school rankings can only act as a guide, and that you should be the final evaluator of what law school is best for you.

After acceptance, we recommend that you personally visit each law school that you are seriously considering attending. Which law school you attend not only impacts where you will spend three enjoyable and educational years, but also where you will get a job and probably settle down.

Below the 2008 Law School Rankings is a short description of all of the law school ratings listed below. A* indicates that this school is tied with another law school for that position.

Please click on the links of several law schools, which are our exclusive, in-depth profiles of these schools.

2008 USN Rank (March 29, 2008)	Law School	Gourman Report	Educational Quality Rankings	2006 GPA 25th-75th Percentile	2006 LSAT 25th-75th Percentile	Student/ Faculty Ratio
1	Yale U (CT)	3	1	3.77-3.97	170-177	7.4
2*	Harvard U (MA)	1	2*	3.75-3.95	170-175	10.3
2*	Stanford U (CA)	6	4	3.74-3.95	167-172	8.3
4	Columbia U (NY)	7	5	3.56-3.81	169-174	9.5
5	New York U	11	6	3.54-3.86	169-173	10.4
6	UC Berkeley (Boalt)	5	7	3.64-3.90	163-170	12.3
7*	U Chicago	4	2*	3.49-3.76	169-173	10.3
7*	U Pennsylvania	9	11	3.52-3.86	166-171	12.1
9*	Northwestern U (IL)	14	14*	3.40-3.80	166-172	10.4
9*	U Michigan-Ann Arbor	2	8	3.49-3.79	167-170	12.7
9*	U Virginia	16	10	3.51-3.87	167-171	13.3
12	Cornell U (NY)	10	14*	3.54-3.78	166-168	11.2
12*	Duke U (NC)	8	17	3.61-3.82	167-170	13.9
14	Georgetown U (DC)	17	12	3.44-3.82	167-171	13.2
15	Vanderbilt U (TN)	15	18	3.54-3.83	164-168	12.9
16*	UCLA	13	14*	3.54-3.85	163-169	12.9
16*	U Texas-Austin	12	10*	3.38-3.80	163-168	14.2
18	U Southern California	27	12	3.46-3.72	165-167	12.7
19	Washington U (MO)		29*	3.30-3.70	163-167	11.6
20	George Washington U	32	22*	3.40-3.86	163-168	14.9
21	Boston U		19*	3.51-3.81	164-166	12.3
22*	Emory U (GA)		29*	3.28-3.62	162-166	10.8
22*	U Minnesota-Twin Cities	19	21	3.28-3.78	163-167	12.1
22*	U Notre Dame (IN)	18	46*	3.40-3.76	164-167	14.7
25	Washington & Lee U		32*	3.25-3.81	161-167	10.6
26	Boston College		32*	3.44-3.78	162-165	12.6
27*	Fordham U (NY)		26*	3.41-3.74	163-167	14.6
27*	U Illinois (UIUC)		22*	3.18-3.80	160-167	12.4
27*	U Iowa		19*	3.41-3.86	159-163	13.0
30*	William and Mary (VA)		37*	3.44-3.82	159-166	14.8
30*	U Washington			3.47-3.82	159-165	10.2
32*	Ohio State U	8	32*	3.34-3.81	158-164	12.6
32*	U Alabama			3.31-3.84	160-165	9.8
32*	U Colorado-Boulder		40*	3.33-3.83	160-165	12.2
32*	U Georgia		31	3.42-3.86	159-165	14.8
36*	Indiana U-Bloomington		40*	3.03-3.67	158-165	11.4
36*	U Wisconsin-Madison		22*	3.32-3.74	157-163	13.4
38*	George Mason U (VA)		26*	3.11-3.86	159-166	16.7
38*	U Arizona (Rogers)		40*	3.23-3.73	157-164	11.7
38*	UC (Hastings)	11	29*	3.36-3.74	160-165	16.2
38*	U North Carolina		32*	3.45-3.80	157-164	15.7
42*	U Maryland			3.47-3.84	160-166	11.4
42*	Wake Forest U (NC)			3.17-3.68	159-166	10.3
44*	Tulane U (LA)		40*	3.37-3.75	158-163	15.4
44*	UC Davis		32*	3.38-3.75	159-165	12.4
46*	American U (DC)		46*	3.14-3.59	161-163	13.8
46*	Brigham Young U (UT)			3.51-3.85	162-167	18.9
46*	Southern Methodist U			3.28-3.84	157-165	14.7
46*	U Connecticut			3.24-3.64	160-164	11.0
46*	U Florida		46*	3.44-3.83	156-162	15.7
51	U Utah			3.31-3.77	156-162	9.9
52*	Arizona State U		40*	3.30-3.81	156-162	9.4
52*	U Cincinnati			3.39-3.87	157-162	9.6
52*	U Tennessee-Knoxville			3.35-3.82	157-162	13.1
55*	Baylor U (TX)			3.38-3.78	157-162	16.6
55*	Florida State U			3.30-3.77	158-162	13.7
55*	U Houston			3.30-3.79	158-163	13.9
55*	Yeshiva U (Cardozo)		28	3.30-3.70	162-166	16.2
59*	Pepperdine U (CA)			3.42-3.73	158-162	16.9
59*	Temple U (PA)			3.27-3.65	160-164	12.8
59*	U Kentucky			3.36-3.79	156-162	15.0
59*	U Missouri-Columbia			3.26-3.80	156-161	17.2
63*	Brooklyn Law School		46*	3.17-3.63	162-165	19.9
63*	Case Western Reserve			3.17-3.60	156-160	13.7
63*	Loyola (Los Angeles)			3.22-3.65	159-163	15.8
66*	IIT (Chicago-Kent)		37*	3.20-3.77	157-164	11.5
66*	Seton Hall U (NJ)			3.22-3.65	157-162	15.4
68*	Indiana U-Indianapolis			3.36-3.78	151-158	17.0
68*	U New Mexico			3.09-3.72	152-159	10.0
68*	U Oklahoma			3.35-3.78	154-160	11.9
68*	U Richmond (VA)			3.23-3.66	158-162	15.6
68*	Villanova U (PA)			3.14-3.63	160-163	16.0
73*	Lewis and Clark (OR)			3.15-3.73	157-163	10.6
73*	U Kansas			3.09-3.77	155-160	12.1
73*	U Nebraska-Lincoln			3.50-3.82	153-159	12.5
73*	U Pittsburgh			3.11-3.65	158-161	14.1
77*	Georgia State U			3.11-3.62	158-162	12.8
77*	Pennsylvania State U			3.02-3.69	156-159	11.5
77*	Rutgers-Camden (NJ)			3.09-3.65	160-162	14.1
77*	Rutgers-Newark (NJ)			3.08-3.55	155-161	14.8
77*	Santa Clara U (CA)			3.16-3.59	156-161	15.9
82*	Loyola U Chicago			3.35-3.75	159-163	14.5
82*	Seattle U			3.17-3.62	155-161	14.4
82*	U Hawaii			3.09-3.62	155-160	8.5
82*	U Miami (FL)			3.21-3.63	155-160	19.1
82*	U Oregon			3.27-3.68	156-160	17.6
82*	U San Diego		22*	3.10-3.53	160-164	14.0
88*	Catholic U (DC)			3.08-3.57	156-160	13.6
88*	DePaul U (IL)			3.10-3.66	159-162	13.6
88*	Louisiana State U			3.16-3.70	155-159	16.2
88*	Northeastern U (MA)			3.14-3.61	156-162	16.9
88*	St. John's U (NY)			3.19-3.74	157-162	16.4
88*	U Denver (Sturm)			3.15-3.66	155-160	18.7
88*	U Nevada-Las Vegas			3.20-3.66	156-161	14.0
95*	Marquette U (WI)			3.20-3.65	155-159	17.5
95*	St. Louis U			3.24-3.74	154-159	17.6
95*	U South Carolina			3.04-3.69	156-161	14.3
95*	University of the Pacific			3.13-3.60	155-159	13.5
99	Hofstra			3.11-3.69	154-159	15.5
100*	Mercer U (GA)			3.20-3.69	155-158	13.3
100*	Stetson U (FL)			3.48-3.71	153-157	17.9
100*	Syracuse University			3.09-3.59	152-156	12.7
100*	U at Buffalo-SUNY			3.19-3.65	154-159	15.6
100*	U Louisville (KY)			3.17-3.73	155-159	14.4

For another excellent source on law school rankings, visit the Prelaw Handbook which lists the most prestigious law schools and also includes law school rankings on selectivity and other factors.

US News law school rankings - the most well known and controversial of all national law school rankings, this report has defined what are perceived as the top law schools.

Gourman Report - the originator of law school ratings, the Gourman Report is an established academic report that measures the academic quality of graduate and undergraduate schools. Dr. Gourman is a professor at California State University - Northridge. Unfortunately, the latest Gourman Report rankings came out in 1997.

Educational Quality Rankings ("EQR") - are published by Brian Leiter, a professor at the University of Texas law school. These recently updated law school rankings focus "exclusively on the three factors central to a good legal education: the quality of the faculty, the quality of the student body, and the quality of teaching."

A * indicates that this school is tied with another law school for that position. Links are to the in-depth profiles we have written on several top law schools.

With law school admissions becoming increasingly competitive, be prepared and spend time on every aspect of your law school application. The best book I have found for increasing your chances of admission is How to Get Into the Great Law Schools. We also recommend several other excellent books for law school applicants.

A final note of caution on the 2008 law school rankings - what is the best law school is a personal choice and should not be solely determined by national law school ratings but instead by what school best suits all of your desires. For example, because I wanted to live and practice law in California, I choose to attend the University of California, Berkeley (Boalt Hall) over other top law schools that were ranked higher.

The best advice, personally visit the law schools you are seriously thinking of attending after you have been accepted. Put time and thought in to what is one of the most important decisions of your life.