University of Iowa law, med schools slip in U.S. News rankings

IOWA CITY — Two weeks after U.S. News & World Report released a portion of its “Best Graduate School” rankings — mired this year in controversy over its methodology — the publication Thursday came out with its delayed list of 2023-2024 top law and medical schools in the nation.

The University of Iowa did not boycott the rankings, as did dozens of elite law and medical schools nationally, and continued providing U.S. News with internal data. Although its law and medical school rankings still placed high, it lost ground this time.

The UI College of Law, overall, tied for No. 35 on the new list of nearly 200 fully-accredited law schools — down from No. 28 last year. On the list of best medical schools for primary care, the UI came in at No. 19 overall out of 130, down from No. 16.

The ranking of top medical schools for research placed the UI at No. 44 overall, down from No. 41.

Starting months ago and snowballing over the winter, a growing number of the country’s top law and medical schools opted to boycott the rankings by withholding data — arguing the U.S. News methodology hurt student diversity, affordability and access.

Given the outcry, the national rankings publication in April said it would indefinitely delay release of its medical and law school rankings due to an “unprecedented number of inquiries,” including from law and medical schools asking to update data.

U.S. News on April 25 still released the rest of its graduate school rankings — excluding medical and law schools — giving it more time to address the concerns.

All three of Iowa’s public universities continued participating and providing data to U.S. News amid the protests — with UI officials telling The Gazette the publication would continue ranking colleges using public data, regardless of its participation.

“Both the University of Iowa’s College of Law and Carver College of Medicine participated in this year’s rankings,” UI officials said in April.

In announcing its new medical and law school rankings, U.S. News said this year’s methodology places greater emphasis on results and outcomes for prospective students. For law schools, according to the publication, nearly 60 percent of the methodology evaluated institutions on successful placement of graduates and bar exam passage. Methodology changes, according to the publication, moved some schools way up in the rankings — like Florida International University’s 38-point leap or Marquette University’s 34-spot climb.

It ranked medical schools on faculty resources, academic achievements of entering students, qualitative assessments and also research productivity.

Although the UI saw its overall law and medical rankings slip, it moved up in some specific measures — like the assessment of most graduates practicing in primary care fields, climbing from No. 93 nationally to No. 76.

On the list of most graduates practicing in medically underserved areas, the UI jumped from No. 132 to No. 96. It ranked No. 37 for most graduates practicing in rural areas, about the same as last year’s No. 36 placement.

And for most diverse medical schools, the UI ranked No. 92, a slight improvement over its No. 94 spot last year.

Looking at law specialties, the UI earned its highest placements for business and corporate law — ranking No. 25, up from 32 — and contracts and commercial law, moving up to No. 23 from No. 27.

The UI law school saw its biggest drop in the “legal writing” ranking — plummeting from No. 39 to No. 110.

Drake University’s law school improved its overall ranking to No. 88, from No. 111.

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com