Tail wags dog

Regarding a sociological study that may end up featured on We Already Know That, the National Law Journal reports:

“The U.S. News & World Report's annual ranking of law schools profoundly influences the way those schools are managed, spend resources and are perceived internally and by the outside world.”

Since the formula for achieving a higher ranking is inextricably linked to LSAT scores, high post-graduate employment rates and subjective overall "prestige," administrators are resorting to some desperate measures to game the rankings. These include:

1. Allocating more money for merit-based scholarships in order to attract higher LSAT scorers
2. “Categorizing students as part-time or probationary so their LSAT scores would not count”
3. Aggressively pursuing students with high LSAT scores as transfer students
4. Spending those tuition-hike dollars on the most eye-catching, prestigious-looking marketing materials out there
5. Hiring recent grads so it looks like they actually landed a real job post-graduation

Dubiously impressive? Sort of.
Surprising? No.

-posted kristina tsamis