why are T2 and T3 schools so good at training judicial clerks?

[cynthia]

Earlier this week, US News released a list of top clerkship feeder schools. I came across it this morning, and I have to be honest with you. A couple of things made me go "Hmmm."

Here's the top 15 (and here):

		Percent employed in all judicial clerkships	Percent employed in a judicial clerkship by an Article III federal judge
Yale University  New Haven, CT		41.4%	37.0%
University of North Dakota Grand Forks, ND		28.0%	25.0%
Stanford University  Stanford, CA		24.0%	23.0%
Harvard University  Cambridge, MA		20.6%	18.2%
University of Wyoming Laramie, WY		19.0%	16.7%
University of St. Thomas Minneapolis, MN		17.0%	16.0%
University of Michigan--Ann Arbor  Ann Arbor, MI		14.2%	14.0%
Brigham Young University (Clark)  Provo, UT		14.0%	14.0%
University of Maine  Portland, ME		13.0%	13.0%
University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA		13.6%	12.5%
New England School of Law Boston, MA		12.5%	12.5%
Duke University  Durham, NC		13.5%	11.7%
University of Texas--Austin Austin, TX		15.0%	11.0%
Cornell University  Ithaca, NY		15.0%	11.0%
Western New England College Springfield, MA		11.0%	11.0%

Does anything seem weird about this list?

I know that there has been news of incorrectly reported/tabulated data (with the schools blaming US News and US News apparently not altering its list), but the news from University of North Dakota and Western New England College that their data is not accurately represented does not really seem to account for the overwhelming presence of Tier 2 and Tier 3 schools. Neither does anything else I can think of, like "small class sizes at T3 schools" or "loyalty of fly-over state court judges to their local regional schools." Maybe a perfect storm of all of those things? Or maybe something else?

After consulting both other people who should know and Underneath Their Robes, I still have no answers. 

Share your theories, or insight, with me in the comments section.