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Mistakes made in crucial law school ranking table
The University of St Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis saw an encouraging rise this year in the US News and World Report ranking of law schools -- but celebrations won't have lasted long as the increase is likely to be the result of an error.
Law school: mistakes in submission
St Thomas weighed in at number 116 this year, up 16 places from last year, but according to The National Law Journal, administrators at the school reported that employment at graduation stood at 80.6 per cent when the actual figure was slightly less than 33 per cent.
Law school pressure
The school said: ‘We are deeply sorry to have failed to catch this discrepancy in our reported data. We take data accuracy very seriously.’
The rapid response from the school in admitting the mistake demonstrates the pressure that law schools are facing when it comes to boosting their ranking and luring prospective students.
Law school spokesperson Chato Hazelbaker did confirm that St Thomas correctly submitted an employment rate of 86.5 per cent nine months after graduation – a figure that carries more weight in the US News data report than most others.
Revised ranking
According to the Journal report, in situations where incorrect data has been used before -- such as when well known law schools inflated their admission test scores and undergraduate grade-point averages -- the US News did not revise the ranking.
The Journal quoted US News’s director of data as saying his team was looking at the situation, but he did not comment further.
Law school pressure
The school said: ‘We are deeply sorry to have failed to catch this discrepancy in our reported data. We take data accuracy very seriously.’
The rapid response from the school in admitting the mistake demonstrates the pressure that law schools are facing when it comes to boosting their ranking and luring prospective students.
Law school spokesperson Chato Hazelbaker did confirm that St Thomas correctly submitted an employment rate of 86.5 per cent nine months after graduation – a figure that carries more weight in the US News data report than most others.
Revised ranking
According to the Journal report, in situations where incorrect data has been used before -- such as when well known law schools inflated their admission test scores and undergraduate grade-point averages -- the US News did not revise the ranking.
The Journal quoted US News’s director of data as saying his team was looking at the situation, but he did not comment further.
