N.C. Central University's law school has some heady company atop a new list of the nation's most popular law schools.

NCCU's law school ranks ninth on this new list, from U.S. News & World Report, that evaluates schools on the percentage of students admitted who choose to enroll. Basically, if lots of students you admit decide to show up, you're popular.

Topping the list? Yale, followed by Brigham Young and Harvard.

NCCU's the only North Carolina law school in the top 10. Its acceptance rate - the percentage of applicants it offers to enroll - is 20 percent, far better than the national average of about 39 percent, said Raymond Pierce, the school's dean.

This is the latest ranking to raise the profile of the law school at this small, historically black institution. It has previously been tabbed the nation's best value by National Jurist Magazine.

The honor illustrates that legal education is headed away from high-price, high-debt schools and towards affordable options whose grads pass the bar at a high rate. Pierce said.

"Affordability is a big piece of this," he sasid. That's where legal education is going."