When Elizabeth Samuels began applying to law schools in 2020, her highest priority was to get into a T14 school — one in the top 14 according to US News & World Report, the go-to source for such rankings.
“It was hammered in from the moment I started applying that it’s all about getting into a T14 school, if not a T6 school,” said Samuels, a second-year law student at fourth-ranked Harvard Law School. “I was told by many different people that if you go to those schools, you’re gonna have every opportunity in the world.”
That strategy may change, though, as a growing number of law schools say they will no longer participate in the rankings by providing internal data to the magazine. The exodus marks a significant shift for schools, students and law firms, potentially creating opportunities for small-school graduates to gain a foothold at marquee firms as well as changing the culture of work there.
