“Recruiting and retaining top graduate students and creating an environment in which they can thrive is at the heart of our mission of excellence as a research university,” said Susan R. Wente, Provost and Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs. “Our strong ranking of graduate schools in all schools is a sign of our unwavering commitment to excellence, innovation and investment in higher education, as outlined in the Academic Strategic Plan.” Because this school has to sift through so many applications, the application process can be rigorous. Faculty resources (weighted at 15%) include data such as a school`s spending per student and the student`s ratio to that school`s faculty. Many have criticized these criteria for driving up the cost of legal education. The Dean of Law School is Chris Guthrie, who took office on 1. In July 2019, he was appointed his third five-year dean. [5] Ranked among the top twenty law schools in the country, Vanderbilt Law School has easily established itself as one of the best educational institutions in the country. While law school at all levels has a reputation for being notoriously stressful, Vanderbilt is careful to balance rigor with support. Vanderbilt Law School is one of the most selective law schools in the United States and has an acceptance rate of 14.25%. Vanderbilt Law has approximately 640 students, with each Juris Doctor course consisting of approximately 175 students. The Vanderbilt School of Nursing also maintains a top 10 ranking for its Doctor of Nursing Practice program (No. 6), while seven nursing programs are the top five in the country.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the law school remained small and never had more than 70 students. The law school offered a two-year departmental program, moving between downtown Nashville and the Vanderbilt campus. By 1941, it had expanded into the former Kirkland Hall chapel on the Vanderbilt campus, but faced very limited enrollment during World War II. Classes were discontinued in 1944. “Like many legal educators, I struggle with some aspects of U.S. News & World Report`s ranking methodology, but it`s always gratifying to have confirmation of what we already know — that Vanderbilt Law School is one of the best in the country and the world,” said Dean Edward L. Rubin. Excellence in law and education, rather than our position in rankings, will continue to be our primary focus. Nevertheless, it is a good opportunity to congratulate our staff, students and faculty for their extraordinary efforts and achievements.

A recent list published by Lawyers of Color — a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting diversity in law — named Vanderbilt one of the best law schools for black students, ranking seventh on a list of sixty-five best. Vanderbilt University Law School (also known as Vanderbilt Law School or VLS) is a graduate school of Vanderbilt University. Founded in 1874, it is one of the oldest law schools in the southern United States. Vanderbilt Law School is consistently ranked among the top 20 law schools in the country. [3] It ranks 5th in Above the Law`s 2022 ranking of top law schools[4] and 16th in the 2022 edition of U.S. News & World Report. Most of the weight (40%) in these rankings comes from “peer review scores,” that is, evaluations of professors, judges, hiring partners and other prominent members of the legal field. These peer evaluation scores are a relatively good measure of a school`s prestige and perception of the quality of its graduates. Despite the criticism, the USNWR rankings measure fairly well the broader perception in the legal world about the relative prestige of law schools. Given the importance of prestige in this profession, this is a big problem. When all other things are equal, schools that rank higher on this list offer better opportunities overall. Vanderbilt Law School was founded a year after the original university and quickly became one of the best law schools in the young nation.

In 2005, Edward L. Rubin was appointed to replace Syverud as dean of the law school. During Dean Rubin`s tenure, Vanderbilt Law School expanded its Litigation, Litigation and Resolution Program (resulting from a $2.9 million endowment gift), established or formalized a number of academic programs, and enhanced its reputation in the field of law and economics by establishing a doctoral program in law and economics based within the Faculty of Law and Economics. led by the famous economist W. Kip. viscusi; Students earn both a JD and a Ph.D. through the program. Vanderbilt`s Peabody College of Education and Human Development is now the second largest teaching school in the country, and Vanderbilt University Medical Center`s research program has moved up two spots to No. 16 with the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago.