Just for clarification:

Is Tier 1 the top 100 schools or top 50?

lauren x

Try more like the top 10 schools.

Really?! So is a school that's in the 80's Tier 8? How does this work?

Lauren x

I am not sure how it works. It isn't exactly a science. I do know that the Tiers get larger as you go down the list (ie: Tier One is smaller than Tier Four). If you can't place what Tier your law school is in then it is probably irrelevant (ie: the difference between 4 and 5 won't make much practical difference).

Thanks Flygirl.

Does anyone know of a guide on the net? Aside from the supplement from usnews which you have to pay for the extra information on? I'm trying to make some decisions and it's difficult not knowing exactly what tier the unis I am interested in fall into.

Lauren x

I reckon if you can't tell then the chances are that the person reading your CV won't be able to tell either.
Can't you just decide based on ranking? From what I can tell, Tier is a vague term that is used loosely to benefit whoever is using it.

ok, so apparently 3rd Tier is 101-136:

http://www.prelawhandbook.com/law_school_ranking__third_tier

Fourth Tier is 137-180:

http://www.prelawhandbook.com/law_school_ranking__fourth_tier

And you can figure the rest from there.

Impressive research skills Flygirl :)

I have struggled to find anywhere on the net that describes it as clearly as the link you provided. Thank you very much! That clears up my query rather well!

Lauren x

No worries. It is nice to have a distraction from work. From what I can tell, things get a bit fuzzier once you get to Tier One and Tier Two. Tier One seems to be made up of at least five different sub-Tiers with Yale having its very own one.