By Menachem Wecker

(JNS) Jewish law and medical schools largely underperformed compared to last year in the 2023-24 Best Law Schools and Best Medical Schools rankings, which U.S. News & World Report released on May 11.

Cardozo School of Law, which is part of Yeshiva University, tied for No. 69 overall this year—a drop of 17 spots since its tie for 52 last year. In the 2023-24 rankings, which draw on self-reported data from the previous year, Yeshiva recorded a 96% bar passage rate for 2019 alumni, a median 2022 LSAT score of 1It also had a 6.2 student-faculty ratio in 2021-22 and a 108.5 student-library staff ratio in 2021. In the previous year, Yeshiva’s acceptance rate was slightly lower, 31%, and its student-faculty ratio was nearly identical.

In specialty legal areas, Yeshiva saw some improvement and some slippage. In the most recent rankings, it rose in the rankings in 2023-24 in three areas: criminal law (tied for No. 25; previously tied for No. 28), environmental law (tied for No. 131; previously tied for No. 144) and tax law (tied for No. 46; previously tied for No. 55).

It dropped in 2023-24 compared to the prior year in nine categories: business/corporate law (tied for No. 60; previously tied for No. 56), clinical training (tied for No. 83; previously tied for No. 35), constitutional (tied for No. 48; previously tied for No. 40), contract/commercial law (tied for No. 54; previously tied for No. 53), dispute resolution (tied for No. 5; previously tied for No. 4), healthcare law (tied for No. 118; previously tied for No. 108), intellectual property law (tied for No. 14; previously tied for No. 8), international law (tied for No. 84; previously tied for No. 47) and trial advocacy (tied for No. 108; previously tied for No. 79). It was tied for No. 115 in legal writing last year, but didn’t rank in that category this year.

Touro University’s Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center tied for No. 167 in the most recent rankings. Last year, it tied at the bottom of the rankings, in Nos. 147 to 192.

In the specialty legal categories, Touro Law Center improved in five areas: constitutional (tied for No. 151; previously tied for No. 159), contract/commercial law (tied for No. 144; previously tied for No. 153), healthcare law (tied for No. 148; previously tied for No. 163), tax law (tied for No. 177; previously tied for No. 179) and trial advocacy (tied for No. 158; previously tied for No. 174).

Touro saw slippage in seven categories: business/corporate law (tied for No. 186; previously tied for No. 149), clinical training (tied for No. 153; previously tied for No. 104), criminal law (tied for No. 164; previously tied 134), environmental law (tied for No. 157; previously tied for No. 144), intellectual property (tied for No. 187; previously tied No. 154), legal writing (tied for No. 77; previously tied for No. 62 ) and international law (tied for No. 163; previously tied for No. 128).

In the newly released U.S. News part-time law rankings, Yeshiva University Cardozo tied for No. 5, and Touro Fuchsberg ranked in the Nos. 64 to 70 range.

Medical-school rankings

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, which has Jewish origins, tied for No. 18 overall among medical schools for research. The school also tied for No. 19 in internal medicine, tied for No. 14 in obstetrics and gynecology and tied for No. 16 in psychiatry. It also tied for No. 98 in primary care (compared to tied for No. 71 last year).

Mount Sinai improved in health-professional shortage areas (HPSA) this year to No. 86, compared to No. 120 last year but slipped in rural measure (graduates practicing in rural areas), ranking No. 150 (last year it tied for No. 125); in diversity to tied for No. 63 (last year it ranked No. 58); and in primary-care measure (graduates practicing primary care) to tied for No. 146, compared to No. 144 last year.

The Albert Einstein College of Medicine, previously of Yeshiva University, tied for No. 42 overall in research this year. In primary care, it tied for No. 61—with Weill Cornell Medicine and Pritzker School of Medicine (University of Chicago)—having tied for No. 56 last year. In the most recent rankings, Einstein reported that 39% of 2020-22 graduates entered primary care residencies, and 20.2% of 2014-16 graduates practiced primary-care specialties.

Einstein saw slippage—from tied for No. 73 last year to No. 80 this year—in diversity, with nearly 16% of its 2022 enrollment consisting of “under-represented minorities.” It also dropped in the number of alumni practicing in rural areas, from No. 134 last year to No. 148 this year. But Einstein saw improvement in two other categories, rising from No. 106 last year to No. 81 this year in 2014-16 graduates practicing in medically underserved areas, and from tied for No. 136 last year to No. 126 this year in 2014-16 graduates practicing in primary care.

New York Medical College, which is part of the Touro College and University System, tied for No. 101 in research and ranked between Nos. 112-123 in primary care (compared to No. 106 last year). The school tied with eight others (including Harvard) for No. 66 in diversity—an improvement over No. 85 last year—and ranked No. 104 in health shortage areas (compared to No. 96 last year). In alumni with primary-care practices, it tied for No. 140 (a drop from tied for No. 138 last year) and also dropped from No. 131 last year to tie for No. 140 this year in alumni practicing in rural areas.

Touro University California and Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine were also part of the medical-school rankings.

Touro University California ranked in the Nos. 118 to 130 range in research, and it tied for No. 92 (with Columbia and Johns Hopkins Universities) in primary care. The latter improved on the school’s rank last year—in the Nos. 94-124 range. In diversity, the school ranked in the Nos. 119 to 130 range, in medically underserved areas tied for No. 76 (compared to No. 81 last year), in alumni practicing primary care No. 12 (compared to tied for No. 12 last year) and in alumni with rural practices No. 84 (compared to No. 55 last year).

Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine improved in alumni with rural practices from No. 123 last year to tie for No. 107 this year. And it slipped in alumni practicing in health-shortage areas (from No. 69 last year to No. 106 this year) and in alumni with primary-care practices (from tied for No. 29 last year to No. 48 this year).

PHOTO: Icahn School of Medicine

CAP: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. Credit: Courtesy of Mount Sinai.