The College of William & Mary’s Marshall-Wythe School of Law has climbed nine places to 24th place in U.S. News and World Report’s annual rankings of graduate programs and professional schools.
The new rank, tying the law school with University of Washington, is the highest rank ever given to the law school by the magazine, which began issuing the rankings in 1990. The previous best ranking was 27th place, which it reached in 2005, 2006 and 2011.
The school has improved in several categories compared to its peer schools, including the percentage of students with jobs nine months after graduation, the bar passage rate, the quality of the first-year class as measured by LSAT scores and the reputation of the school among law deans and legal academics, according to a news release from the college.
Law School Dean Davison Douglas said the ranking shows “William & Mary Law School continues to make impressive strides forward with its terrific new faculty hires, highly accomplished students and alumni, and an increasingly rich array of educational opportunities such as legal clinics and externships.”
Douglas also pointed to the record-breaking $3.58 million raised during the school’s fundraising campaign during fiscal year 2013 and the establishment of new clinics devoted to appellate litigation, elder law and Virginia coastal policy.
The School of Education kept its top-40 ranking, coming in at 39th. That mark tied it with Florida State and Rutgers—New Brunswick. The school placed well in the administrators and experts assessment category, where it scored a 4.3 out of 5.
“It is particularly noteworthy that the SOE continues to be among the top schools of education in the United States, while also being one of the smallest,” said Spencer G. Niles, the dean of the School of Education. “This provides a learning context in which students and faculty are highly engaged collaboratively and in which everyone’s effort matters. We look forward to new initiatives that will continue to place the SOE among the very best in the nation.”
That mark represents a fall of seven places from the 32nd place rank it had in 2013. The School of Business’ part-time MBA program ranking rose 12 spots to 57th.
The magazine issues its rankings annually, offering ranks for graduate and professional school programs in education, law, medicine, engineering and business. A variety of scoring categories are used, including peer assessments, student/faculty ratios and funding for faculty research.
A complete list of rankings is available here.
