Top 2013 Law School Rankings

Top Law Schools consolidates law school rankings, thereby giving you necessary information to help determine which law schools you should apply to. The variability in these rankings should illustrate that the 2013 law school rankings can act only 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 2013 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.

Law School Rankings

2013 USN Rank (March, 2013)	2012 USN Rank	2011 USN Rank	2010 USN Rank	2009 USN Rank	Law School	ATL Rankings (May 2013)	2013 GPA 25th-75th Percentile	2013 LSAT 25th-75th Percentile
1	1	1	1	1	Yale U (CT)	1	3.84-3.98	170-176
2*	3	2	2	2	Harvard U (MA)	3	3.77-3.95	170-175
2*	2	3	3	3	Stanford U (CA)	2	3.76-3.96	168-173
4*	4	4	4	4	Columbia U (NY)	8	3.58-3.82	170-174
4*	5	5	5	6*	U Chicago	4	3.65-3.96	167-173
6	6	6	6	5	New York U	10	3.54-3.84	169-173
7*	7*	7*	7*	8	U Pennsylvania	5	3.55-3.94	164-171
7*	7*	9*	10	10*	U Virginia	7	3.53-3.93	164-171
9*	7*	9*	7*	6*	UC Berkeley (Boalt)	9	3.68-3.91	163-170
9*	10	7*	9	9	U Michigan-Ann Arbor	12	3.57-3.83	166-170
11	11	11	11*	10*	Duke U (NC)	6	3.58-3.85	166-170
12	12	12	11*	10*	Northwestern U (IL)	13	3.38-3.84	164-171
13	14	13	13	13	Cornell U (NY)	11	3.54-3.77	166-169
14	13	14*	14	14	Georgetown U (DC)	16	3.43-3.82	165-170
15*	16*	14*	15*	15*	U Texas-Austin	14	3.52-3.82	163-169
15*	16*	16*	17	17	Vanderbilt U (TN)	15	3.43-3.85	163-170
17	15	16*	15*	15*	UCLA	17	3.58-3.89	164-169
18	18	18*	18	18	U Southern California	20	3.51-3.8	165-168
19*	19	20*	22*	20*	U Minnesota-Twin Cities	32	3.36-3.89	158-168
19*	23	18*	19	19	Washington U (MO)	25	3.34-3.78	160-168
21*	20*	20*	20	28*	George Washington U	31	3.32-3.77	161-168
21*	29*	35*	38*	30*	U Alabama	27	3.31-3.94	158-167
23*	24*	30*	22*	20*	Emory U (GA)	29	3.35-3.82	161-166
23*	22	23*	22*	23*	U Notre Dame (IN)	18	3.43-3.8	161-167
25	26*	23*	27	23*	Indiana U-Bloomington	40	3.39-3.88	156-166
26*	29*	27*	26	26*	U Iowa	37	3.46-3.8	158-164
26*	24*	30*	34*	30*	Washington & Lee U	38	3.4-3.73	159-165
28	20*	30*	34*	30*	U Washington	41	3.5-3.82	162-166
29*	26*	40*	38*	55*	Arizona State U	50	3.3-3.82	161-165
29*	26*	22	22*	20*	Boston U	23	3.52-3.83	162-167
31*	29*	27*	28*	26*	Boston College	21	3.4-3.71	161-166
31*	38	30*	28*	30*	U North Carolina	24	3.33-3.69	160-164
33*	35*	27*	28*	28*	William and Mary (VA)	34	3.45-3.84	161-166
33*	34	35*	28*	35*	U Georgia	19	3.33-3.82	158-165
33*	35*	35*	28*	35*	U Wisconsin-Madison	-	3.33-3.72	157-164
36*	39*	35*	34*	35*	Ohio State U	46	3.43-3.79	158-164
36*	44*	39	38*	40	Wake Forest U (NC)	30	3.4-3.75	159-165
38*	29*	30*	34*	30*	Fordham U (NY)	48	3.34-3.68	162-166
38*	43	42*	42*	43*	U Arizona (Rogers)	-	3.28-3.79	159-162
38*	29*	23*	28*	35*	UC Davis	45	3.38-3.71	160-165
41*	39*	40*	42*	41*	George Mason U (VA)	-	3.27-3.79	158-164
41*	39*	42*	48*	43*	U Maryland	-	3.32-3.77	151-164
41*	47	42*	42*	45*	U Utah	-	3.32-3.8	156-162
44*	39*	42*	42*	41*	Brigham Young U (UT)	28	3.4-3.81	158-165
44*	44*	47*	38*	45*	U Colorado-Boulder	-	3.35-3.79	159-166
46	48	47*	47	51	U Florida	44	3.33-3.73	160-164
47	35*	23*	21	23*	U Illinois (UIUC)	33	3.23-3.74	158-165
48*	51*	50*	54*	51	Florida State U	-	3.29-3.73	157-162
48*	51*	50*	48*	49*	Southern Methodist U	22	3.3-3.81	157-164
48*	51*	47*	48*	45*	Tulane U (LA)	39	3.23-3.63	156-163
48*	44*	42*	42*	39	UC (Hastings)	-	3.29-3.75	158-165
48*	57	56*	60*	59*	U Houston	35	3.23-3.7	159-163
53	58*	67*	86*	77*	U Richmond (VA)	-	3.21-3.6	158-163
54*	51*	56*	64*	65*	Baylor U (TX)	-	3.23-3.72	158-163
54*	58*	61*	60*	65*	Georgia State U	42	3.19-3.6	156-161
56*	49*	50*	48*	45*	American U (DC)	-	3.18-3.58	156-162
56*	58*	61*	72*	65*	Temple U (PA)	-	3.17-3.64	158-163
58*	62*	56*	54*	52*	U Connecticut	-	3.25-3.66	157-162
58*	62*	71*	64*	55*	U Kentucky	-	3.25-3.73	155-161
58*	56	50*	52*	49*	Yeshiva U (Cardozo)	-	3.3-3.67	158-165
61*	49*	54*	52*	55*	Pepperdine U (CA)	-	3.34-3.74	156-164
61*	89*	84*	93*	>100	U Nebraska-Lincoln		3.31-3.83	155-161
61*	69*	56*	60*	59*	U Tennessee-Knoxville		3.3-3.75	156-161
64*	76*	60	72*	65*	Pennsylvania State U		3.23-3.73	156-160
64*	69*	61*	72*	77*	Seton Hall U (NJ)	36	3.23-3.72	154-161
64*	69*	77*	80*	77*	U Denver (Sturm)		3.18-3.64	155-161
64*	69*	79*	67*	77*	U New Mexico	26	3.09-3.7	152-158
68*	67*	61*	56*	55*	Case Western Reserve		3.1-3.6	156-161
68*	62*	61*	80*	77*	IIT (Chicago-Kent)		3.09-3.62	154-161
68*	51*	54*	56*	71*	Loyola (Los Angeles)		3.29-3.65	157-162
68*	89*	84*	86*	94*	U of Arkansas-Fayetteville		3.25-3.74	153-158
68*	89*	100*	>100	98*	U Louisville (KY)		3.17-3.68	155-159
68*	76*	71*	78*	75*	U Nevada-Las Vegas		3.23-3.7	156-161
68*	82*	71*	72*	71*	U Oklahoma		3.1-3.58	155-161
68*	65*	67*	56*	61*	U San Diego		3.28-3.63	157-162
76*	79*	84*	80*	75*	Louisiana State U		3.09-3.6	153-160
76*	67*	71*	78*	87*	Loyola U Chicago		3.12-3.57	156-160
76*	69*	77*	60*	71*	U Miami (FL)	49	3.14-3.57	155-159
76*	79*	>100	93*	65*	U Missouri-Columbia		3.1-3.74	152-159
80*	65*	67*	67*	61*	Brooklyn Law School		3.08-3.5	158-164
80*	82*	79*	98*	94*	Catholic U (DC)		3.06-3.52	153-159
80*	58*	67*	64*	61*	Lewis and Clark (OR)		3.24-3.65	156-162
80*	82*	95*	>100	>100	Michigan State		3.24-3.72	152-160
80*	69*	61*	56*	52*	U Cincinnati		3.2-3.73	156-161
80*	>100	95*	72*	>100	U Hawaii		3.04-3.59	154-160
86*	76*	71*	86*	94*	Northeastern U (MA)		3.27-3.67	154-163
86*	82*	84*	80*	87*	Rutgers-Newark (NJ)		2.99-3.47	155-160
86*	82*	84*	>100	85*	U at Buffalo-SUNY		3.19-3.67	152-158
86*	89*	79*	67*	65*	U Kansas		3.22-3.71	154-159
86*	99*	>100	>100	>100	University of Tulsa (OK)		3.05-3.61	153-158
91*	99*	84*	80*	77*	Rutgers-Camden (NJ)	43	3.02-3.58	153-160
91*	69*	71*	67*	71*	U Pittsburgh		3.09-3.6	155-160
91*	>100	95*	93*	>100	West Virginia University		3.14-3.65	152-158
94*	96*	95*	>100	87*	Marquette U (WI)		3.15-3.56	153-158
94*	82*	79*	80*	77*	U Oregon		3.09-3.63	155-160
96*	96*	84*	93*	85*	Santa Clara U (CA)		3-3.45	156-160
96*	96*	100*	86*	>100	Syracuse University		3.12-3.46	152-156
98*	89*	79*	86*	87*	Indiana U-Indianapolis		3.19-3.68	152-159
98*	79*	95*	72*	87*	St. John's U (NY)		3.12-3.66	153-161
98*	>100	>100	>100	87*	U South Carolina		3.01-3.58	154-159
98*	>100	84*	67*	61*	Villanova U (PA)		3.29-3.69	155-161
>100	82*	84*	86*	77*	Seattle U		3.07-3.54	154-159
>100	>100	>100	>100	94*	St. Louis U	47	3.23-3.7	151-159
>100	89*	84*	98*	87*	DePaul U (IL)		3.07-3.56	153-160
>100	>100	>100	>100	100*	Gonzaga University		3-3.58	152-157
>100	89*	84*	86*	100*	Hofstra University		2.95-3.59	153-159
>100	>100	100*	98*	>100	University of the Pacific		3.13-3.67	152-160
>100	>100	>100	93*	>100	Chapman University (CA)		3.2-3.6	154-160
>100	>100	>100	>100	100*	University of Maine		3.1-3.53	152-157
>100	>100	>100	98*	>100	William Mitchell College of Law (MN)		3.11-3.57	150-158
>100	>100	100*	98*	98*	U of San Francisco		2.98-3.51	153-159

You may also be interested in third tier and fourth tier law schools.

Note: UC Irvine School of Law was opened in 2009 and is currently not ranked by US News.

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. Rankings of previous years are also included to help you see trends. Details of their approach to rankings can be found on their page about Best Law Schools Rankings Methodology.

Above The Law Rankings - the ATL Rankings do not look at inputs like GPA and LSAT scores and instead look at outputs like the quality and prestige of employment outcomes. Details of their methodology can be found on the ATL Top 50 Law School rankings.

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 2013 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.

http://www.top-law-schools.com/rankings.html