Texas A&M Law Advances at Unprecedented Pace
Law school grows to become a national contender, a leader in Texas
FORT WORTH/BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Texas A&M University School of Law is rising faster than any law school in the country.
Over the past six years, Texas A&M Law has climbed up 65 places in the national rankings – from fifth in Texas to second. Meanwhile, enrollment has more than doubled since 2019 with a growing number of high-achieving students.
Texas A&M Law now ranks 46 nationally among law schools, according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2023 edition of Best Graduate Schools, released today. Two of the school’s programs landed in the top 10 nationally, with Dispute Resolution at No. 4 (first in Texas) and Intellectual Property Law at No. 6 (tied for first in Texas).
“When we acquired the law school, we were hopeful about what the future would hold,” John Sharp, chancellor of The Texas A&M University System, said. “In the years since, we have succeeded beyond even my wildest expectations. But we’re still just getting started!”
In recent years, Texas A&M Law has invested heavily in growing its faculty, recruiting high-caliber students, building flagship centers of excellence, and establishing a dozen new clinical programs. This has resulted in an unprecedented rise across the key measures contributing to its overall ranking.
Dean Robert B. Ahdieh said the momentum in rankings reflects the commitment of the law school faculty, the efforts of its staff, as well as the quality and accomplishments of its students and graduates.
“I could not be more proud of the work that our faculty and staff are doing — and of the caliber of our students at Texas A&M Law. The advances we have seen in student quality, educational innovation, bar passage, and post-graduate employment that contribute to our overall ranking can be credited entirely to them,” Ahdieh said.
Ahdieh credits the vision of Chancellor Sharp and other leaders of the System and Texas A&M University – as well as the support that followed from it – for the law school’s striking accomplishments to date.
The underlying indicators of student quality and success to which Ahdieh refers include the entering qualifications of students, their success finding employment after graduation, and their average debt after graduation.
The incoming student profile — as measured by undergraduate GPA and LSAT median scores — has been steadily climbing since Texas A&M University acquired the law school in 2013. Texas A&M Law now ranks 17th nationally in the median undergraduate GPA of its incoming students – and 45th for their median LSAT.
According to the most recently available statistics, Texas A&M Law graduates passed the bar at the second highest rate in Texas and found employment at a rate that placed them tenth in the nation – just behind graduates from Yale, Harvard, NYU, and Stanford. Employment statistics for the most recent graduating class – which will be available later this spring – look to again be strong,
Average student debt has also plummeted in recent years — enabling graduates to pursue their professional goals with fewer hurdles. The most recent Texas A&M Law graduates have the second lowest average debt in Texas, among law school graduates who took out an educational loan.
The law school’s trajectory shows no signs of slowing. The Texas A&M University System announced last year that Texas A&M Law would anchor a new research and innovation campus it plans to build in downtown Fort Worth. While plans for “Aggieland North” are still in development, they include new law school facilities and innovative academic programming involving the law school as well as other A&M System schools and agencies. Those include the law school’s fast-growing degree, certificate, and executive education programs for non-lawyers.
About Texas A&M School of Law
Texas A&M University School of Law is an American Bar Association-accredited institution located in downtown Fort Worth. Since integrating with Texas A&M University in 2013, the law school has sustained a remarkable upward trajectory — dramatically increasing entering class credentials; improving U.S. News and World Report rankings; hiring more than 30 new faculty members; and adding more than ten clinics and six global field study destinations. In the past several years the law school has greatly expanded its academic programs, serving the needs of non-lawyer professionals in a variety of complex and highly regulated industries, including cybersecurity, energy and natural resources, finance, and healthcare. For more information, visit law.tamu.edu.
About The Texas A&M University System
The Texas A&M University System is one of the largest systems of higher education in the nation, with a budget of $9.6 billion. Through a statewide network of 11 universities, a comprehensive health science center, eight state agencies, and the RELLIS Campus, the Texas A&M System educates more than 152,000 students and makes more than 24 million additional educational contacts through service and outreach programs each year. System-wide, research and development expenditures exceed $1 billion and help drive the state’s economy.
Contact: Laylan Copelin
Vice Chancellor of Marketing and Communications
(979) 458-6425
(512) 289-2782 cell
lcopelin@tamus.edu