U.S. News and World Report magazine announced Friday that it has moved the University of St. Thomas School of Law to an “unranked” category in light of the school’s self-reported error in the rate of employment at graduation for the class of 2010.
In the magazine’s ranking of U.S. law schools published March 14, St. Thomas ranked No. 119 this year, up from No. 135 a year ago. The magazine decided Friday not to recalculate a new ranking for the school because of the error.
The magazine’s announcement can be read here.
The School of Law reported two different numbers on two separate lines of a form regarding the number of 2010 graduates known to be employed at the time of graduation. The correct number of 51 graduates (32.9 percent of 155 graduates) was accurately listed on one line of the form. But a different line incorrectly listed 125 graduates (80.6 percent).
In its law school rankings, U.S. News published only the incorrect number. St. Thomas immediately contacted U.S. News, after reviewing an advance copy of the rankings, to alert the magazine to the error.
The nine-month graduation rate of the 86.5 percent is correct in the published rankings.
“We remain deeply sorry that we failed to catch this discrepancy in our reported data. We take data accuracy very seriously,” the School of Law said in an update published on its website Friday.
“In addition to working to fulfill our reporting obligations in a timely and accurate manner, we also provide comprehensive employment data on our website. You can review that data here. If you have any questions about our employment data, please feel free to contact Kendra Brodin, our director of Career and Professional Development, at (651) 962-4865.”
