The Princeton Review Releases 2013 Annual Law and B-School Rankings

The Princeton Review — known for its widely-followed college rankings in dozens of categories based on how students rate their schools—today released the 2013 editions of its guides to law and business schools, which also include annual ranking lists uniquely based on student surveys.

“The Best 168 Law Schools” and “The Best 296 Business Schools” (Random House / Princeton Review, 2013 Editions, $22.99 each) each report lists of top 10 ranking schools in 11 categories.

The Princeton Review tallied its lists based on its surveys of 18,000 students attending the 168 law schools and 19,000 students attending the 296 business schools. The 80-question survey asked students to rate multiple attributes of their schools including their professors and fellow classmates. Some rankings factored in school-reported data.

Among the ranking list categories in each book and schools ranked #1 on them:

“Best Professors”
Law school: Duke University
Business school: University of California-Berkeley

“Best Career Prospects”
Law school: Columbia University
Business school: Stanford University

“Best Classroom Experience”
Law school: Stanford University
Business school: Stanford University

“Most Competitive Students”
Law school: Baylor University
Business school: Acton School of Business

“Toughest to Get Into” (the only ranking based solely on school-reported data)
Law school: Yale University
Business school: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Other lists in “The Best 168 Law Schools” and #1 schools on them include:

“Most Conservative Students” – Ave Maria School of Law

“Most Liberal Students” – Northeastern University

Other lists in “The Best 296 Business Schools” and #1 schools on them include:

“Best Green MBA” (a new list in the book) – University of California-Berkeley

“Greatest Opportunity for Women” – Simmons College

The books also have lists reporting the top 10 schools in such categories as “Best Administered,” “Most Family Friendly,” and “Greatest Opportunity for Minority Students.”

The Princeton Review does not rank the law or business schools hierarchically. “Each school in our books offers outstanding academics: no single law or business school is ‘best’ overall,” said Robert Franek, SVP / Publisher, The Princeton Review. “We present rankings in several categories and detailed profiles of the schools to give applicants broader information to decide which law or business school will be best for them.”

The ranking tallies factor in data from Princeton Review’s surveys of law and business school students completed online at http://survey.review.com during academic years 2011-12, 2010-11, and 2009-10. All institutional data reported in the books was collected in 2011-12. 

The survey asked students about their school’s academics, student body and campus life, and their career plans.  On average, 107 students at each law school and 64 students at each business school were surveyed for the lists in the books’ 2013 editions.

The books’ school profiles report on admission, academics, financial aid, campus life, and career / employment information. The profiles also include five school ratings (scores from 60 to 99) that are primarily based on institutional data.  Categories include “Admissions Selectivity” and “Career” (which factors in graduates’ starting salaries and employment data). Introductory chapters provide overviews on degree programs and application and funding advice.

The Princeton Review (http://www.princetonreview.com) is a privately held education services company headquartered in Framingham, MA, with locations across the U.S.A. and abroad. It is known for its classroom and online test-prep courses, tutoring services, and line of 150 books published by Random House, Inc.  Among them is “The Best 168 Medical Schools: 2013 Edition” also published today.

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