KU law school earns top-15 Best Value ranking
LAWRENCE – The University of Kansas School of Law is the No. 13 Best Value Law School in the country, according to National Jurist magazine.
The ranking highlights affordable law schools whose graduates perform well on the bar exam and have success finding law jobs. National Jurist ranked the top 25 schools and assigned a letter grade to 34 other honorees.
“We are committed to providing a quality legal education at a great value for our students,” said Stephen Mazza, dean of the KU School of Law. “That includes free bar exam preparation for graduates, academic support programs, and stipends for students to travel to job interviews or take summer public interest jobs. These rankings highlight our efforts to ensure our students succeed. They also celebrate our graduates’ achievements on the bar exam and in the job market.”
National Jurist gives graduate employment the most weight in the Best Value rankings. Nearly 95% of KU Law graduates in the Class of 2021 found full-time, long-term legal employment. KU Law ranks eighth among ABA-accredited law schools nationwide in the category sometimes referred to as “best jobs” – defined as full-time, long-term positions that require passing a bar exam or where a law degree offers an advantage.
Overall employment for the 2021 class was 96.9%. This is the eighth consecutive year that KU Law employment has exceeded 90%, including graduates who enrolled in full-time graduate school after completing their juris doctor.
The magazine’s Best Value methodology also considers law schools’ bar exam passage rates. KU Law graduates who took the bar exam for the first time in 2021 had one of the highest success rates in the country, at nearly 96%. KU Law posted the 11th-highest first-time bar exam pass rate nationally, according to an analysis by Reuters. KU Law’s Free Bar Prep Program offers all students a post-graduation Themis Bar Review course. This year’s Best Value rankings considered bar exam pass rates from 2019 and 2020.
National Jurist considers average indebtedness of graduates in its Best Value rankings. The rankings also look at other financial variables, including tuition and cost of living. U.S. News ranked KU Law 23rd in the nation for lowest average indebtedness of graduates in 2021.
Read a complete list of Best Value honorees and review the ranking methodology.