The Over-Under 2007

The question sometimes comes up, "Which law schools are most under or overrated by the US News ranking system?" We might make a good start on an answer by looking at the difference between the ranks of schools by their US News reputation scores alone vs. their overall rank. Due to the vagaries of the ranking formula, differences of less than five spots probably mean little. But some schools seem over or under ranked by far more (as many as 44 spots, in the case of Toledo). Below appear 24 candidates for "most underrated" and 34 for "most overrated" schools in the US News Tiers 1 and 2.

AR Academic Reputation
PR Practitioner Reputation
REP Combined Reputation (AR + PR)
RANK Rank by REP score
USNWR US News Overall Rank
O-U Over / Under Rating (USNWR - RANK)

Negative numbers (indicating "overrating") appear in parentheses. Equal REP scores receive equal RANK.


UNDERRATED

AR / PR / REP / RANK / USNWR / O-U
2.80 3.10 5.90 51 82 31 University of Oregon
2.40 3.00 5.40 70 97 27 Catholic University of America (Columbus) (DC)
3.50 4.00 7.50 18 36 18 University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
2.30 3.10 5.40 70 85 15 St. Louis University
2.80 2.60 5.40 70 85 15 University of San Diego
2.80 3.00 5.80 56 70 14 University of Miami (FL)
2.50 3.10 5.60 63 77 14 Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey Newark
2.30 2.90 5.20 84 97 13 Marquette University (WI)
2.80 3.30 6.10 45 57 12 University of Pittsburgh
2.30 3.00 5.30 79 91 12 Louisiana State University Baton Rouge
2.20 3.10 5.30 79 91 12 Pennsylvania State University (Dickinson)
3.10 3.50 6.60 37 47 10 University of Florida (Levin)
2.60 3.30 5.90 51 60 9 Villanova University (PA)
3.50 3.70 7.20 23 31 8 University of Wisconsin Madison
3.20 3.80 7.00 29 36 7 University of California (Hastings)
3.00 3.40 6.40 40 47 7 Tulane University (LA)
2.60 3.10 5.70 59 66 7 University of Kansas
2.60 3.10 5.70 59 66 7 University of Missouri Columbia
2.50 3.10 5.60 63 70 7 Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey Camden
2.40 3.00 5.40 70 77 7 University of Nebraska Lincoln
2.40 2.80 5.20 84 91 7 Santa Clara University (CA)
2.90 3.30 6.20 41 47 6 American University (Washington) (DC)
2.50 2.80 5.30 79 85 6 Indiana University Indianapolis
3.40 3.60 7.00 29 34 5 University of California Davis


OVERRATED

AR / PR / REP / RANK / USNWR / O-U
2.00 2.40 4.40 129 85 (44) University of Toledo (OH)
2.00 2.20 4.20 140 100 (40) University of the Pacific (McGeorge) (CA)
2.30 2.80 5.10 94 70 (24) St. John's University (NY)
2.60 2.70 5.30 79 60 (19) Brooklyn Law School (NY)
2.30 2.90 5.20 84 66 (18) Pepperdine University (CA)
2.30 2.60 4.90 102 85 (17) Northeastern University (MA)
2.00 2.60 4.60 117 100 (17) Mercer University (GA)
2.20 2.40 4.60 117 100 (17) University of Nevada Las Vegas (Boyd)
2.20 2.80 5.00 100 85 (15) Seattle University
2.50 2.70 5.20 84 70 (14) University of New Mexico
2.90 3.10 6.00 49 36 (13) University of Maryland
2.40 2.70 5.10 94 82 (12) Lewis and Clark College (Northwestern) (OR)
2.70 3.40 6.10 45 34 (11) George Mason University (VA)
2.70 2.90 5.60 63 52 (11) Yeshiva University (Cardozo) (NY)
2.40 2.50 4.90 102 91 (11) University of Hawaii (Richardson)
2.20 2.60 4.80 108 97 (11) University of Louisville (Brandeis) (KY)
2.10 2.60 4.70 111 100 (11) Stetson University (FL)
3.20 3.60 6.80 35 25 (10) Fordham University (NY)
2.50 3.00 5.50 67 57 (10) University of Cincinnati
2.60 2.80 5.40 70 60 (10) Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago-Kent)
2.60 2.80 5.40 70 60 (10) University of Houston
3.40 3.60 7.00 29 20 (9) Boston University
3.10 3.50 6.60 37 28 (9) University of Washington
2.80 3.30 6.10 45 36 (9) University of Alabama
2.50 3.00 5.50 67 60 (7) University of Kentucky
2.40 2.80 5.20 84 77 (7) University at Buffalo SUNY
2.40 2.80 5.20 84 77 (7) University of Denver (Sturm)
2.30 2.90 5.20 84 77 (7) University of Richmond (VA)
2.40 3.30 5.70 59 53 (6) Baylor University (TX)
2.60 3.10 5.70 59 53 (6) University of Tennessee Knoxville
2.70 2.90 5.60 63 57 (6) University of Utah (Quinney)
3.00 3.20 6.20 41 36 (5) University of Colorado Boulder
3.00 3.20 6.20 41 36 (5) University of Georgia
2.60 3.30 5.90 51 46 (5) Southern Methodist University (TX)