UF law graduates are continuing to raise the bar.
More than 86 percent of Levin College of Law graduates passed July's Florida Bar Examination, according to numbers released by the Florida Board of Bar Examiners Monday.
UF ranked second in the state, coming in behind No.1 Florida State University's 91.4 percent passing rate.
July's numbers showed an improvement from February's results, when UF ranked seventh with 64.9 percent of graduates passing.
Levin College of Law Dean Robert Jerry noted that only 37 graduates took the exam in February, versus the 328 graduates who took it in July.
"The February exam is an outlier," he said.
According to Jerry, UF started graduating fewer students in December than in May last year, which would explain the differences in numbers.
"I'm not happy about those results, but the reality is we had fewer graduates take that exam," he said.
He hesitated to say that the passage rate alone is an effective way to rank law schools in the state.
However, he did note that when comparing this figure on a class-by-class, year-by-year basis, UF has ranked No. 1 in 11 out of the last 12 years.
UF English senior Brenton Wildes is considering attending UF's law school, and he said the passage rates didn't make much of a difference in his decision.
John David Zarate, a UF psychology and English junior who also plans to attend the school, said the statistic does play a role in making law school look appealing.
"At the end of the day, you want go out and practice when you get out of school," he said.
"You can't do that if you're failing the bar," Zarate said.
Jerry said the college is constantly thinking about how it can help students do better on the exam.
As for the fact that FSU took first place this time around, Jerry was cordial on the matter.
"I congratulate them on it," he said.
