Top 2008 Law School Rankings

Pulled from U.S. News and World Report, the Gourman Report, and Educational Quality Rankings

Parents typically believe that law school is a ticket to security—good money, prestige, and all that. The only trouble is, that\'s not always true. Government attorneys with experience only earn from $34,000 to $55,000 with a senior-level range of $43,000 to $80,000. On the other hand, some law firm partners and those in private practice earn between $100,000 and $400,000 or more annually. So, if you are interested in attending law school, the table below lists the top law schools in the United States. If a school you are interested in didn\'t make the list this year that is alright. You can still get an excellent education at another school. However, for the most part, the schools in this list produce the highest number of legal graduates that pass the bar exam and become lawyers. In fact, the top ten schools have the greatest chance of producing some of the top Federal judges in the future.

A* indicates that this school is tied with another law school for that position.

2008 USN Rank (March 29, 2008)	Law School	Gourman Report	Educational Quality Rankings	2006 GPA 25th-75th Percentile	2006 LSAT 25th-75th Percentile	Student/ Faculty Ratio
1	Yale U (CT)	3	1	3.77-3.97	170-177	7.4
2*	Harvard U (MA)	1	2*	3.75-3.95	170-175	10.3
2*	Stanford U (CA)	6	4	3.74-3.95	167-172	8.3
4	Columbia U (NY)	7	5	3.56-3.81	169-174	9.5
5	New York U	11	6	3.54-3.86	169-173	10.4
6	UC Berkeley (Boalt)	5	7	3.64-3.90	163-170	12.3
7*	U Chicago	4	2*	3.49-3.76	169-173	10.3
7*	U Pennsylvania	9	11	3.52-3.86	166-171	12.1
9*	Northwestern U (IL)	14	14*	3.40-3.80	166-172	10.4
9*	U Michigan-Ann Arbor	2	8	3.49-3.79	167-170	12.7
9*	U Virginia	16	10	3.51-3.87	167-171	13.3
12	Cornell U (NY)	10	14*	3.54-3.78	166-168	11.2
12*	Duke U (NC)	8	17	3.61-3.82	167-170	13.9
14	Georgetown U (DC)	17	12	3.44-3.82	167-171	13.2
15	Vanderbilt U (TN)	15	18	3.54-3.83	164-168	12.9
16*	UCLA	13	14*	3.54-3.85	163-169	12.9
16*	U Texas-Austin	12	10*	3.38-3.80	163-168	14.2
18	U Southern California	27	12	3.46-3.72	165-167	12.7
19	Washington U (MO)		29*	3.30-3.70	163-167	11.6
20	George Washington U	32	22*	3.40-3.86	163-168	14.9
21	Boston U		19*	3.51-3.81	164-166	12.3
22*	Emory U (GA)		29*	3.28-3.62	162-166	10.8
22*	U Minnesota-Twin Cities	19	21	3.28-3.78	163-167	12.1
22*	U Notre Dame (IN)	18	46*	3.40-3.76	164-167	14.7
25	Washington & Lee U		32*	3.25-3.81	161-167	10.6
26	Boston College		32*	3.44-3.78	162-165	12.6
27*	Fordham U (NY)		26*	3.41-3.74	163-167	14.6
27*	U Illinois (UIUC)		22*	3.18-3.80	160-167	12.4
27*	U Iowa		19*	3.41-3.86	159-163	13.0
30*	William and Mary (VA)		37*	3.44-3.82	159-166	14.8
30*	U Washington			3.47-3.82	159-165	10.2
32*	Ohio State U	8	32*	3.34-3.81	158-164	12.6
32*	U Alabama			3.31-3.84	160-165	9.8
32*	U Colorado-Boulder		40*	3.33-3.83	160-165	12.2
32*	U Georgia		31	3.42-3.86	159-165	14.8
36*	Indiana U-Bloomington		40*	3.03-3.67	158-165	11.4
36*	U Wisconsin-Madison		22*	3.32-3.74	157-163	13.4
38*	George Mason U (VA)		26*	3.11-3.86	159-166	16.7
38*	U Arizona (Rogers)		40*	3.23-3.73	157-164	11.7
38*	UC (Hastings)	11	29*	3.36-3.74	160-165	16.2
38*	U North Carolina		32*	3.45-3.80	157-164	15.7
42*	U Maryland			3.47-3.84	160-166	11.4
42*	Wake Forest U (NC)			3.17-3.68	159-166	10.3
44*	Tulane U (LA)		40*	3.37-3.75	158-163	15.4
44*	UC Davis		32*	3.38-3.75	159-165	12.4
46*	American U (DC)		46*	3.14-3.59	161-163	13.8
46*	Brigham Young U (UT)			3.51-3.85	162-167	18.9
46*	Southern Methodist U			3.28-3.84	157-165	14.7
46*	U Connecticut			3.24-3.64	160-164	11.0
46*	U Florida		46*	3.44-3.83	156-162	15.7
51	U Utah			3.31-3.77	156-162	9.9
52*	Arizona State U		40*	3.30-3.81	156-162	9.4
52*	U Cincinnati			3.39-3.87	157-162	9.6
52*	U Tennessee-Knoxville			3.35-3.82	157-162	13.1
55*	Baylor U (TX)			3.38-3.78	157-162	16.6
55*	Florida State U			3.30-3.77	158-162	13.7
55*	U Houston			3.30-3.79	158-163	13.9
55*	Yeshiva U (Cardozo)		28	3.30-3.70	162-166	16.2
59*	Pepperdine U (CA)			3.42-3.73	158-162	16.9
59*	Temple U (PA)			3.27-3.65	160-164	12.8
59*	U Kentucky			3.36-3.79	156-162	15.0
59*	U Missouri-Columbia			3.26-3.80	156-161	17.2
63*	Brooklyn Law School		46*	3.17-3.63	162-165	19.9
63*	Case Western Reserve			3.17-3.60	156-160	13.7
63*	Loyola (Los Angeles)			3.22-3.65	159-163	15.8
66*	IIT (Chicago-Kent)		37*	3.20-3.77	157-164	11.5
66*	Seton Hall U (NJ)			3.22-3.65	157-162	15.4
68*	Indiana U-Indianapolis			3.36-3.78	151-158	17.0
68*	U New Mexico			3.09-3.72	152-159	10.0
68*	U Oklahoma			3.35-3.78	154-160	11.9
68*	U Richmond (VA)			3.23-3.66	158-162	15.6
68*	Villanova U (PA)			3.14-3.63	160-163	16.0
73*	Lewis and Clark (OR)			3.15-3.73	157-163	10.6
73*	U Kansas			3.09-3.77	155-160	12.1
73*	U Nebraska-Lincoln			3.50-3.82	153-159	12.5
73*	U Pittsburgh			3.11-3.65	158-161	14.1
77*	Georgia State U			3.11-3.62	158-162	12.8
77*	Pennsylvania State U			3.02-3.69	156-159	11.5
77*	Rutgers-Camden (NJ)			3.09-3.65	160-162	14.1
77*	Rutgers-Newark (NJ)			3.08-3.55	155-161	14.8
77*	Santa Clara U (CA)			3.16-3.59	156-161	15.9
82*	Loyola U Chicago			3.35-3.75	159-163	14.5
82*	Seattle U			3.17-3.62	155-161	14.4
82*	U Hawaii			3.09-3.62	155-160	8.5
82*	U Miami (FL)			3.21-3.63	155-160	19.1
82*	U Oregon			3.27-3.68	156-160	17.6
82*	U San Diego		22*	3.10-3.53	160-164	14.0
88*	Catholic U (DC)			3.08-3.57	156-160	13.6
88*	DePaul U (IL)			3.10-3.66	159-162	13.6
88*	Louisiana State U			3.16-3.70	155-159	16.2
88*	Northeastern U (MA)			3.14-3.61	156-162	16.9
88*	St. John\'s U (NY)			3.19-3.74	157-162	16.4
88*	U Denver (Sturm)			3.15-3.66	155-160	18.7
88*	U Nevada-Las Vegas			3.20-3.66	156-161	14.0
95*	Marquette U (WI)			3.20-3.65	155-159	17.5
95*	St. Louis U			3.24-3.74	154-159	17.6
95*	U South Carolina			3.04-3.69	156-161	14.3
95*	University of the Pacific			3.13-3.60	155-159	13.5
99	Hofstra			3.11-3.69	154-159	15.5
100*	Mercer U (GA)			3.20-3.69	155-158	13.3
100*	Stetson U (FL)			3.48-3.71	153-157	17.9
100*	Syracuse University			3.09-3.59	152-156	12.7
100*	U at Buffalo-SUNY			3.19-3.65	154-159	15.6
100*	U Louisville (KY)			3.17-3.73	155-159	14.4

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