Malcolm Gladwell on Law School Rankings

May 19, 2011 Law School Office of Communications

In the February 14, 2011 issue of the New Yorker, Malcolm Gladwell published a piece analyzing educational rankings systems, particularly the US News & World Report law school rankings. Gladwell shows how any ranking is nothing more than the results of choices made by editors as to what weight certain bits of information should be given relative to each other, and what inputs should go into the calculus in the first place. While it was certainly pleasant to come out well in Gladwell’s simulated rankings analyses, we are posting the article here to draw further attention to his central theme: that rankings are fundamentally flawed.

As stated on the University of Chicago website, “While the media outlets and other organizations that develop rankings often collect useful data, controversy has arisen over how that data is aggregated and weighted to create a final ranking. In some cases, those methods have changed from year to year, causing an institution’s ranking to rise or fall with little change in the underlying data. Prospective students should consider rankings in that context, and look beyond them to the university’s academic program, culture, and opportunities for enrichment. A successful education depends more on finding an institution that best fits a student’s needs and goals than upon any statistical formula.”

Read the article here.