Now we’ll discuss two bottom portions of the ranked schools (#104 through a tie at 150 and a newly ranked segment, #153-176) before examining the schools whose ranks weren’t published this year.
In this segment of the rankings, among too many ties to even name, we see some very large gains, coupled with one of the most tremendous losses. We imagine that the annual running of the deans will begin shortly after the official U.S. News rankings are published. Deans of a few of the schools listed below may soon be vying for their jobs.
| American University (Washington) | 104 | -6 |
| Chapman University (Fowler) | 104 | +4 |
| Rutgers University | 104 | -1 |
| Case Western Reserve University | 107 | -18 |
| Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago-Kent) | 107 | +1 |
| Indiana University Indianapolis (McKinney) | 107 | -9 |
| Mercer University (George) | 107 | -4 |
| Samford University (Cumberland) | 107 | -4 |
| Syracuse University | 107 | +13 |
| University of Dayton | 107 | +1 |
| University of New Mexico | 107 | -13 |
| Michigan State University | 115 | -7 |
| University of Arkansas-Fayetteville | 115 | -1 |
| Albany Law School | 117 | – |
| Brooklyn Law School | 117 | -3 |
| University of Wyoming | 117 | +3 |
| West Virginia University | 117 | – |
| Cleveland State University | 121 | -18 |
| New York Law School | 121 | +6 |
| University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) School of Law | 121 | -1 |
| Washburn University | 121 | -1 |
| Hofstra University (Deane) | 125 | +5 |
| University of New Hampshire (Pierce) | 125 | -27 |
| Howard University | 127 | +3 |
| Seattle University | 127 | -13 |
| Suffolk University | 127 | +3 |
| University of Akron | 127 | +9 |
| University of South Dakota (Knudson) | 127 | – |
| University of Tulsa | 127 | -7 |
| DePaul University | 133 | +1 |
| Campbell University (Wiggins) | 134 | – |
| Loyola University New Orleans | 134 | -4 |
| Northern Kentucky University (Chase) | 134 | +16 |
| University of Detroit Mercy | 134 | +2 |
| South Texas College of Law Houston | 138 | +12 |
| University of Arkansas-Little Rock (Bowen) | 139 | +4 |
| University of Baltimore | 139 | +1 |
| Gonzaga University | 141 | -21 |
| Liberty University | 141 | -1 |
| Pace University (Haub) | 141 | -5 |
| Quinnipiac University | 141 | +2 |
| University of Idaho | 141 | +4 |
| University of Louisville (Brandeis) | 146 | -10 |
| University of Memphis (Humphreys) | 146 | -6 |
| Creighton University | 148 | +5 |
| St. Mary’s University | 148 | +9 |
| Northern Illinois University | 150 | +3 |
| University of Toledo | 150 | -2 |
| Willamette University College of Law | 150 | -5 |
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Congratulations to the schools that made double-digit gains here in this year’s edition of the U.S. News law school rankings (especially Syracuse and Northern Kentucky, up 13- and 16-spots, respectively). Plus, we have quite a few schools that have risen out of Rank Not Published land. Way to go! Moving on to things that aren’t so nice, we’ve got seven law schools that sank like stones, with New Hampshire having the worst rank drop of all in the 2025 rankings, down 27 spots. Yikes….
And here, we have a relatively new portion of the rankings. In previous years, many of these schools were among those whose ranks went unpublished, but now they get to show off their brand new numeric rankings. Joining them are some schools that were previously ranked within the Top 150, but this year seem to have lost their way thanks to the new rankings methodology.
| Ave Maria School of Law | 153 | +8 |
| Mitchell Hamline School of Law | 154 | +10 |
| Southwestern Law School | 154 | -10 |
| CUNY School of Law | 156 | -6 |
| Santa Clara University | 156 | +2 |
| Elon University | 158 | -10 |
| Mississippi College | 158 | +10 |
| Oklahoma City University | 158 | -5 |
| University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth | 161 | – |
| University of North Dakota | 161 | +7 |
| University of North Texas-Dallas | 163 | +9 |
| University of the Pacific (McGeorge) | 163 | -4 |
| New England Law Boston | 166 | -7 |
| University of San Francisco | 166 | -1 |
| Western New England University | 166 | +12 (or more) |
| Lincoln Memorial University (Duncan) | 169 | -4 |
| Roger Williams University | 169 | +3 |
| Touro University (Fuchsberg) | 169 | -1 |
| University of Illinois-Chicago | 169 | -8 |
| Widener University-Delaware | 169 | +9 (or more) |
| Capital University | 174 | +4 (or more) |
| Southern Illinois University-Carbondale | 175 | -3 |
| University of Puerto Rico | 175 | +3 (or more) |
| Widener University-Pennsylvania (Commonwealth) | 175 | -10 |
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Congratulations to the schools that have found their ranks this year. That must be a nice change.
All of that excitement brings us to the “Rank Not Published” (RNP) realm.
| Appalachian School of Law | 178-195 | – |
| Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School | 178-195 | -2 (or more) |
| Barry University | 178-195 | – |
| California Western School of Law | 178-195 | – |
| Charleston School of Law | 178-195 | – |
| Cooley Law School | 178-195 | – |
| Faulkner University (Jones) | 178-195 | -2 (or more) |
| Florida A&M University | 178-195 | – |
| Inter-American University | 178-195 | – |
| North Carolina Central University | 178-195 | – |
| Nova Southeastern University (Broad) | 178-195 | – |
| Ohio Northern University (Petit) | 178-195 | -25 (or more) |
| Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico | 178-195 | – |
| Southern University Law Center | 178-195 | – |
| St. Thomas University | 178-195 | -6 (or more) |
| Texas Southern University (Marshall) | 178-195 | – |
| University of the District of Columbia (Clarke) | 178-195 | – |
| Western State College of Law at Westcliff University | 178-195 | – |
| Golden Gate University | unranked | |
| Jacksonville University College of Law | unranked |
What can be said about these schools? Should you bother attending one?
Getting a degree from an RNP law school might not be as prestigious as getting one from a higher-ranked school, but to burst the elitist bubble: not everyone cares about prestige. Some of the people applying to and attending these schools just want to be lawyers, and others just want to stay close to home. Some of these schools do very well in regional job markets, and Biglaw may not be an option for everyone with many content to join small firms or do public service work. But here’s the rub when it comes to the these RNP law schools… law school isn’t always a golden ticket, especially if you’re a graduate of a lower-ranked school. Law school is still a huge economic gamble for these people.
Once again, it’s time to ask a very relevant question: How are prospective law students supposed to differentiate between law schools when there are so many ties present within the rankings? In the 2025 rankings, there are nearly 30 ties in the Top 100 alone. This is not only unhelpful, but it actually does a disservice for pre-law students.
So what do you think of the rankings? Feel free to sound off by email, by text message (646-820-8477), or by tweet (@ATLblog). If you don’t like what you see, you may want to check out the upcoming Above the Law Top 50 Law School Rankings. We care about the most important thing you’ll care about when you graduate — and that’s whether you’ll be able to land a job that pays enough to allow you to service your ever-increasing law school debt. Please stay tuned!
2025 Best Law Schools [U.S. News]
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or connect with her on LinkedIn.