Yale and Harvard Law Unrank Themselves
Wall Street Journal | Editorial Board
The Editorial Board argues that the latest move by Harvard Law School and Yale Law School is “what appears to be a flight from merit and transparency” in anticipation of the SCOTUS ruling on affirmative action.
The Board argues that “[Yale Law School’s] Dean Gerken gave away the game when she wrote: ‘Today, 20% of a law school’s overall ranking is median LSAT/GRE scores and GPAs. While academic scores are an important tool, they don’t always capture the full measure of an applicant. This heavily weighted metric imposes tremendous pressure on schools to overlook promising students, especially those who cannot afford expensive test preparation courses.’”
To the Board, “sounds like cover for a desire by Yale to be free to admit students with lower test scores in service to diversity, but without taking a hit to its exclusive reputation…”
Looking ahead to the affirmative action case decisions by SCOTUS this spring, the Board argues, “This is a reminder to the [SCOTUS] Justices that college administrators will find a way to skirt any three-pronged diversity test they might devise, or some other putative judicial compromise.”
Related:
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona Criticizes U.S. News Rankings at Harvard Law School Conference.(Crimson, 3/3/23)
Why Elite Law and Medical Schools Can’t Stand U.S. News (WSJ, 2/28/23)
Stanford, Michigan, Duke, Northwestern law schools join wave swearing off U.S. News rankings (Higher Ed Dive, 11/21/22)
U-Va. law school halts cooperation with U.S. News rankings (Washington Post, 12/9/22)
Cornell, University of Chicago law schools stick with U.S. News rankings (Higher Ed Dive, 11/29/22)
Has college rank exodus begun? (The Hill, 11/21/22)
Stanford, Michigan, Duke, Northwestern law schools join wave swearing off U.S. News rankings (Higher Ed Dive, 11/21/22)
Harvard and Yale Law Schools Withdraw from U.S. News Rankings (NYT, WSJ, Crimson, 11/17/22)
