The recently released U.S. News & World Report’s 2010 edition of “America’s Best Graduate Schools” has the U’s S.J. Quinney College of Law up six spots from the previous year. It is now tied at No. 45 with American University, Tulane University and the University of Colorado-Boulder, which dropped from No. 32 in last year’s rankings
The law school’s rise is the fourth-largest increase in this year’s edition.
U.S. News has ranked the law school every year since it was first ranked in 1995, and its 15-year average is now 44.93, with the highest rank being 36 in 1995 and ’96, and the lowest being 58 in 2008.
U.S. News did not specify what factors contributed to the law school’s rise.
Whether or not the rankings affect the numerical quality8212;with regard to GPA and LSAT scores8212;in a given pool of applicants and of those who decide to attend, is up for debate according to Reyes Aguilar, associate dean of the law school.
“While the rankings do likely have an effect on who is applying to a particular school, it cannot fully explain why,” Aguilar said. “Just as importantly, it cannot explain why particular candidates elect to enroll in specific schools.”
Aguilar also said that there is likely a more geographically diverse pool of applicants when rankings rise, but that rankings alone cannot provide the full explanation for the change.
A factor for which rankings don’t account, and which Aguilar also pointed to, is the present state of the economy. More people are returning to school to gain credentials while job growth is slow or negative, which in turn makes admissions more competitive in certain cases.
Among other ranked law schools in the Mountain West, BYU placed 41, UNLV placed 71, and UNM placed 77.