Comments on: Berkeley, Chicago, Harvard, Stanford, and Yale

By: Jason

Jason — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 15:29:11 +0000

Can anyone direct me to a list of law schools that do not rank their students? Or just create a list themselves to give me? My e-mail is Jimstark51@hotmail.com

By: Erik Schmidt

Erik Schmidt — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 05:07:00 +0000

Perhaps I should have made my sarcasm about these schools’ IP law programs a bit more obvious. They’re obviously all top-notch.

By: M.R.

M.R. — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 20:40:33 +0000

Note: Berkeley’s IP law program is No. 1 in the country 10 years running.

By: Erik Schmidt

Erik Schmidt — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 15:10:33 +0000

I agree that the ranking is certainly not the only factor. Age may be part of it, but at Santa Clara we have a higher than average median student age, and we still use exam software. The cost issue would seem to militate in favor of schools with huge endowments, making it easier for schools like Yale and Stanford to use exam software and harder for schools like mine that have less money.

By: k

Fri, 15 Jun 2007 01:12:18 +0000

Northwestern has an honor code, no exam software requirements, and a traditional grading system. Northwestern doesn’t rank, but a lot of the top 20 schools, schools which do use exam software, do rank. I’m not sure the ranking thing is 100% the reason, therefore, though I’m sure it factors in. At Northwestern, I’m sure a factor is the somewhat higher average age–most students have been out of college for at least two years. I also am sure another factor is cost–it’s expensive to administer and maintain the software infrastructure to support exam software.