Yale and Stanford Law Beat Out Harvard on U.S. News & World Report

Crimson gets the bronze! Just when we thought Harvard Law School was number one, U.S. News & World Report ranked Harvard third in their 2013 Best Law Schools rankings released earlier this month. Last year, Stanford ranked third and Harvard, second; the two schools switched rankings this year, with Yale remaining in first place.

The Harvard Law Record proposed that Stanford either increased its "Selectivity" score or received higher marks than Harvard in other categories.

Yale Law School, which doesn't give grades to its students, has been ranked first since 1990.

While the Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings by subject, which ranked HLS first this year, considers academic reputation, employer reputation, and citations per paper, U.S. News & World Report's analysis considers a weighted average of 12 measures of quality that include an assessment score by lawyers and judges, median LSAT scores, acceptance rates, and job placement success.

If you get into Harvard Law and are rejected from Yale Law, though, do not fret. U.S. News & World Report detailed that while 88.9 percent of Yale Law students are employed at graduation, 92.0 percent of Harvard Law students have secured jobs by commencement.