Washburn Recognized As One Of The Best Law Schools

From: The National Jurist, April/May 1994, p. 14-15 (By Theresa Marvin).

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Quality of Faculty

The best law professors are hiding out in Kansas, according to students at Washburn University of Topeka School of Law.

The 444-student law school ranked first in the faculty category, which helped them place fifth in overall student satisfaction. Students gave their school high marks in faculty-student relations, quality of teaching and faculty diversity.

Students said accessibility and friendliness are the primary reasons they think their professors are the best. A faculty-student ratio of about 16-1 makes a close relationship possible between professors and students.

"They really care about training us for life and not just for our professions, Washburn second year Michael Card said. "They care about our lives and not just academics."

Jae Lee, a third year student from Argentina, said her professors have helped her assimilate to law school and American culture.

"Even though they didn't have the tools to help me [with my English], they helped me emotionally," Lee said.

Second year Clayton Skaggs said Washburn professors use the Socratic method, but they put students at ease rather than intimidating them.

"They kind of make you feel proud to be in law school, to learn something and to challenge yourself," Skaggs said.

Card added that Washburn's faculty includes professors from both genders and a variety of ethnic and political backgrounds.

"I think the law school at Washburn has a high degree of diversity considering that there aren't that many professors to begin with," Card said.

The Best Law Schools
The following are the top 30 law schools according the the National Jurist-Princeton Review study on student satisfaction. The study compiles student survey responses to questions about faculty, facilities and quality of life.
		Faculty Total	Facilities Total	Quality of Life	Overall Total
1	Washington & Lee	27.43	26.38	24.56	78.37
2	Seton Hall	27.07	26.56	22.39	76.02
3	UNotre Dame	26.60	24.96	24.15	75.71
4	UTexas	28.13	27.32	20.01	75.46
5	Washburn U.	28.16	25.74	21.28	75.17
6	USC	26.46	26.13	22.43	75.02
7	Southwestern	27.06	24.57	21.57	73.19
8	UToledo	27.07	23.51	22.44	73.02
9	South Texas	26.90	23.08	22.65	72.62
10	UWashington	25.93	23.99	22.54	72.46
11	Yale	26.60	22.26	23.46	72.32
12	Brigharn Young U.	25.30	25.73	21.22	72.25
13	UArkansas/Little Rock	25.26	25.44	21.30	72.00
14	UWyoming	26.15	22.26	23.34	71.75
15	UCincinnati	25.73	24.94	20.99	71.66
16	UMontana	26.75	2O.5O	24.34	71.58
17	Western New England	25.50	23.17	22.81	71.48
18	UC Davis	26.18	20.48	24.61	71.26
19	Widener U. (Del.)	26.39	23.64	21.11	71.13
20	URichmond	24.97	25.25	20.74	70.95
21	Wake Forest	25.92	25.09	19.90	70.91
22	Willamette U.	24.67	25.49	20.73	70.88
23	UMissouri/Columbia	24.96	22.89	23.0O	70.85
24	Northeastern	25.90	20.42	24.44	70.76
25	UIowa	25.20	26.03	19.46	70.69
26	UUtah	27.09	22.17	21.29	70.55
27	Cornell U.	25.66	25.86	18.96	7O.48
28	Northwestern	23.00	26.01	21.08	70.08
29	Widener U. (Pa.)	27.64	19.45	22.77	69.85
30	Dickinson College	25.36	22.52	21.88	69.76
Methodology The National Jurist ranking is based on raw data collected in a Princeton Review-sponsored survey of 18,000 students at 165 ABA-accredited law schools nationwide conducted during the past year. The ranking for overall student satisfaction is based on student responses to 11 survey questions in three categories - faculty, school facilities and quality of life. The ranking used a scoring system based on a 100-point scale. Princeton Review scored each question on a 4-point scale to achieve a raw score. The National Jurist assigned each question a weight from 1.0 to 3.5, based on preliminary interviews with students and recent graduates. Each question's raw score was multiplied by the assigned weight to achieve an adjusted score. The adjusted scores were then totaled to achieve a total score in each category. The total scores in each category were added to achieve a law school's overall score. The faculty category -- which was worth a possible 36 points, or 36 percent of the overall score -- polled student opinions on quality of teaching (3.5 weight), level of faculty-student relations (2.5 weight, diversity of faculty (1.5 weight, and whether students' work is intellectually challenging (1.5 weight). The facilities category -- which was worth a possible 30 points -- measured student assessments of research resources (3.5 weight), library staff (1.0 weight), and facilities generally (3.0 weight). The quality of life category -- worth a possible 34 points -- measured assessments of the degree of competitiveness among students (2.0 weight) and the existence of a strong sense of community (3.5 weight), as well as whether students and faculty afford equal treatment to female and minority students (1.5 weight each).