Deconstructing USNWR

Faculty Resources

This one, boys and girls, is impossible to reproduce.  Of the four numbers that comprise this ranking, only one is published.  So there is absolutely no way to deconstruct it.  

Selectivity

There is no way to actually reproduce USNWR's selectivity ranking.  They report 25th and 75th percentile GPA and LSAT, but calculate based on medians.  

Moreover, they report acceptance rates -- the ratio of applications to acceptances -- as a measure of selectivity.  This is a meaningless number for several major reasons. 

Once you factor out geography, most of what you're left with is reputation.  Just as an experiment, I tried calculating acceptance ratio in the 25%-75% gpa and LSAT range, and below that range, for a few schools that publish grids in the Official Guide.  Yale accepted 27% within that range, and 3% below it.  Penn accepted 54% and 6%; Fordham accepted 70% and 9%; and George Washington accepted 72% and 14%.  So why does Penn have a much lower selectivity ratio in the USNWR?  Because it's a safety for many people with a gpa and LSAT higher than its 25/75 numbers.  

If I had the time and the data, I'd do this calculation for all schools.  But I don't have either, so we'll live with the USNWR number, even though I don't like it.

So one can't really produce the USNWR selectivity ranking, but one can make an effort.  By looking at the median GPA and LSAT (as reported in the NALP Directory of Law Schools, 2000-2001 ed.) and the reported USNWR acceptance ratio, then weighting them as USNWR does (50% LSAT, 40% grades, and 10% acceptance rate), you get the following results:

Schools marked * did not report medians in 2001, so I used data from the 2000 NALP Directory.  Schools marked ** did not report there either, so I estimated based on 25th and 75th %ile.

School gpa LSAT admit% Selectivity Rank
Yale 3.9 171 9 96.7 1
Harvard 3.8 170 15 95.4 2
Stanford 3.7 167 11 94.0 3
Columbia 3.6 169 19 93.4 4
NYU 3.7 169 23 93.1 5
Cal-Berkeley 3.8 165 19 92.8 6
Chicago 3.7 169 30 92.2 7
Northwestern 3.5 167 21 91.9 8
Cal-UCLA 3.7 164 20 91.5 9
Virginia 3.7 165 28 91.2 10
Georgetown 3.6 166 28 90.9 11
Cornell 3.6 165 28 90.4 12
Southern Cal. 3.5 164 24 90.2 13
Penn 3.6 165 31 90.2 13
Duke 3.5 165 28 90.1 15
Boston College 3.5 164 28 89.7 16
Michigan 3.6 165 36 89.6 17
Fordham 3.5 164 31 89.1 18
Washington 3.6 162 29 89.1 18
Vanderbilt 3.6 162 32 88.9 20
N. Carolina 3.6 160 28 88.7 21
Notre Dame 3.4 163 30 88.6 22
Georgia 3.6 161 31 88.4 23
Wash & Lee 3.4 164 37 88.3 24
George Wash. 3.5 162 32 88.2 25
Texas 3.6 161 36 88.2 26
Cal-Hastings 3.4 162 30 88.1 27
Florida 3.5 157 20 88.1 27
Brigham Young 3.6 160 33 88.0 29
William & Mary 3.4 163 34 87.9 30
Colorado 3.5 161 34 87.9 30
Arizona 3.4 160 27 87.8 32
Minnesota 3.6 162 43 87.6 33
Baylor 3.6 160 38 87.1 34
Arizona St. 3.4 157 22 86.9 35
Illinois 3.4 161 38 86.9 35
Cal-Davis 3.4 160 36 86.8 37
Boston U. 3.4 161 38 86.8 37
Kentucky 3.5 158 38 86.2 39
Emory 3.4 160 40 86.1 40
Utah 3.5 159 41 86.1 40
Ohio State 3.6 157 38 86.0 42
Cincinnati 3.5 159 42 85.8 43
Ind. Bloomington 3.4 160 43 85.7 44
Louisville 3.4 157 35 85.6 45
Connecticut 3.3 159 39 85.6 45
Tennessee 3.5 156 36 85.4 47
Wake Forest 3.3 160 44 85.2 48
Loyola-Chicago 3.3 158 39 85.1 49
Georgia St. 3.3 156 30 85.1 49
San Diego 3.2 160 41 85.0 51
Iowa 3.5 158 47 85.0 51
Loyola-L.A. 3.3 158 39 84.9 53
George Mason 3.2 158 34 84.9 53
Wash. U. 3.4 161 54 84.9 53
Rutgers-Newark 3.2 157 33 84.7 56
Houston 3.3 158 42 84.6 57
Florida St. 3.3 155 33 84.5 58
Wisconsin 3.4 158 47 84.4 59
Hawaii* 3.2 157 36 84.4 59
Alabama 3.3 158 45 84.4 59
SMU 3.3 157 43 84.3 62
Maryland 3.4 156 41 84.2 63
New Mexico 3.3 155 34 84.2 63
Temple 3.3 156 38 84.2 63
American 3.4 156 43 84.0 66
Cardozo 3.3 157 45 84.0 66
S. Carolina 3.2 155 34 83.9 68
Tulane 3.3 159 51 83.9 68
Campbell 3.2 154 31 83.8 70
Brooklyn 3.4 157 49 83.7 71
Pepperdine 3.3 156 43 83.6 72
Northeastern 3.2 157 44 83.5 73
Richmond 3.2 157 43 83.5 73
Hofstra 3.3 156 48 83.1 75
Texas Tech 3.4 155 48 83.1 75
Mississippi 3.3 153 37 83.0 77
Oregon 3.3 156 52 82.8 78
N. Kentucky 3.1 152 27 82.8 78
Santa Clara 3.3 156 51 82.7 80
San Francisco 3.2 155 44 82.6 81
MO-Columbia 3.3 155 51 82.5 82
Rutgers-Camden 3.1 157 50 82.4 83
Memphis 3.3 152 40 82.4 83
Stetson 3.4 152 47 82.2 85
Wayne State 3.3 154 49 82.0 86
Roger Wms 3.0 147 16 81.9 87
Villanova 3.4 156 63 81.9 87
Ind. Indianapolis 3.3 155 55 81.8 89
W. Virginia 3.3 152 47 81.7 90
Oklahoma 3.5 154 59 81.7 90
Kansas 3.3 154 55 81.7 90
Seton Hall** 3.1 154 46 81.6 93
Catholic 3.1 155 50 81.5 94
Lewis & Clark 3.2 158 64 81.4 95
Ark-Fayetteville 3.3 152 51 81.3 96
Pace 3.2 151 41 81.3 96
NY-CUNY** 3.1 150 36 81.2 98
N. C. Central 3.0 149 29 81.1 99
S. Dakota 3.3 152 51 81.0 100
Miami 3.2 153 52 81.0 100
Nebraska 3.5 153 66 81.0 100
Saint John's 3.1 154 49 81.0 100
Howard 3.0 151 36 81.0 100
Ark. Little Rock 3.4 152 57 81.0 100
N. Illinois 3.0 153 45 80.9 106
Akron 3.2 152 49 80.7 107
Case Western 3.2 156 63 80.7 107
Penn State 3.2 153 54 80.7 107
Saint Louis 3.3 154 62 80.5 110
Idaho 3.3 153 62 80.4 111
Seattle 3.3 154 63 80.3 112
Montana 3.2 153 55 80.3 112
Mercer 3.2 152 53 80.2 114
Suffolk 3.3 154 66 80.1 115
Louisiana St. 3.4 153 65 80.1 115
S. Illinois 3.3 151 58 80.0 117
Maine 3.2 152 56 79.9 118
Buffalo-SUNY 3.2 153 60 79.9 118
Detroit C./MSU 3.2 151 53 79.9 118
Pittsburgh 3.3 154 67 79.8 121
Marquette 3.1 155 64 79.8 121
Syracuse 3.3 151 60 79.8 121
N. Dakota 3.3 150 58 79.5 124
Golden Gate 3.1 151 54 79.5 124
Loyola-N.O. 3.0 152 52 79.2 126
Willamette 3.2 154 70 79.2 126
Chicago-Kent 3.2 153 64 79.2 126
NYLS 2.9 151 47 79.2 126
Samford* 3.0 151 53 79.2 126
Drake 3.2 151 60 79.1 131
Denver 3.1 153 65 79.0 132
Cleveland St. 3.2 150 57 79.0 132
Toledo 3.2 152 67 79.0 132
Capital 3.1 149 50 78.9 135
Dayton 3.1 152 61 78.8 136
MO-Kansas City 3.2 151 65 78.6 137
DePaul 3.1 152 64 78.5 138
Wyoming 3.2 152 70 78.5 138
Southwestern** 3.0 151 56 78.4 140
Hamline 3.2 152 71 78.2 141
William Mitchell 3.3 152 74 78.2 141
Southern** 2.8 144 27 78.1 143
Creighton 3.1 151 65 78.0 144
Whittier 3.0 150 58 78.0 144
John Marshall 3.0 150 60 78.0 144
Miss. Coll 3.1 149 60 78.0 144
Texas Wesleyan* 2.9 149 52 77.9 148
Valparaiso 3.1 151 68 77.9 148
Albany** 3.2 150 66 77.8 150
Touro** 2.9 148 49 77.7 151
Baltimore 2.9 149 56 77.4 152
McGeorge 3.0 151 69 77.3 153
Quinnipiac 3.0 147 52 77.3 153
Regent 3.1 148 61 77.2 155
Duquesne 3.1 150 71 77.1 156
Nova 2.9 147 50 77.1 156
Vermont 3.0 151 70 77.1 156
Cal. Western 3.1 150 70 77.0 159
Washburn 3.1 149 68 77.0 159
Franklin Pierce 2.9 151 67 77.0 159
S. Texas 2.9 149 62 76.8 162
Tulsa 3.0 149 66 76.8 162
Saint Mary's 2.9 149 61 76.8 162
Ohio Northern 3.0 150 68 76.7 165
Detroit Mercy 3.0 147 64 76.1 166
Widener 3.0 147 65 76.0 167
Gonzaga 3.2 149 82 75.7 168
W. New England 3.0 146 64 75.5 169
New England** 3.0 147 77 74.3 170
Texas Southern 2.8 142 55 74.0 171
Oklahoma City 3.0 145 75 73.8 172
Saint Thomas 2.8 145 71 73.4 173
Thomas Cooley 2.9 142 83 71.5 174

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