Special Web Extra
Hour-Long Chat with Bob Morse
Posted Apr 11, 2008 9:59 AM CST
Bob Morse, director of data research at U.S. News & World Report, fielded a flurry of questions Friday about his publication's law school rankings. The live portion has ended, but you can replay the chat and add comments below.
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Comments
3L at TTU
Apr 11, 2008 3:23 PM CST
Since only a few answers presubmitted actually got answered I decided to re-post mine here.
1) Given the extreme importance and influence of your rankings…have you made an effort to visit each ABA approved law school somewhat frequently?
2) I’ll give you a little context for my next two questions: I am a 3L at Texas Tech School of Law. I feel like I have received an outstanding education, I was able to get my dream job lined up last summer, the atmosphere at the law school is very exciting (I’d even say electric), and I feel like the school has an excellent regional reputation. Texas Tech was recently rated a top 10 best value school in a national pre-law magazine and we have to have one of the best deans in the country. Why is it that relatively young law schools like Tech have a hard time cracking the top 100 in your rankings? In my mind there is no doubt that Texas Tech Law provides a more valuable education than many of the top 100 schools but has many quality students miss out on an education here soley because of our ranking. So: (1) Can the reputation component of your rankings be improved? (2) What should schools that feel under-ranked be doing to improve their rankings/overcome the damage caused by the rankings?
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Bob
Apr 11, 2008 3:28 PM CST
I would like to know how much truth there is to the rumors that in certain states survey takers are very bad about manipulating the results to serve the interests of their respective schools.
Very interesting to find out that certain parts of the rankings may be based outside of actual data as illuded to by the University of Houston dean calling up and asking for special treatment and receiving it.
Schools are notorious for using their part-time programs to manipulate rankings (accepting students part-time and then full-time later)...how could this even be close to fair for schools that chose not to have part-time programs? Does the fact that schools have part-time programs somehow indicate that they provide a better education?
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Anonymous
Apr 11, 2008 4:02 PM CST
Disappointing! That chat was more controlled than a Chinese government news conference. Candid, honest answers were not provided regarding tier 2 post-graduate employment statistical fraud.
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Benson Varghese
Apr 13, 2008 11:36 AM CST
Morse’s comments are summarized here:
http://resipsablog.com/2008/04/12/the-law-school-rankings-czar-speaks-out/
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