Being a great teacher always impresses those you’re teaching; sharing your home phone number for their after-hours questions helps, too. Student raves about such things prompted the Princeton Review to declare BU’s law professors the best in the nation in its 2014 edition of The Best 169 Law Schools.

It’s not the first time the rating-and-test-prep company has given the blue ribbon to BU School of Law faculty. They received the same honor in the 2011 and the 2012 editions. In this year’s rankings, BU’s faculty outpaced colleagues at 168 other schools, including those deemed similar by the Review: Harvard, Georgetown, Northwestern, the University of Virginia, and Boston College.

The rankings are based on data from the law schools and particularly on comments from some 18,500 surveyed students at the evaluated schools. The 80-question survey asked students about their school’s academics, campus life, student body, and career plans. The report mentions some of the accolades LAW students used to describe their faculty: they’re at the top of their field, they love their areas of law, and they love teaching. “They go out of their way to be accessible—even offering their home phone numbers.”

“Few law schools elicit as much praise from students for both the ‘top-notch’ professors and the ‘absolutely wonderful’ administration,” the report says. It also quotes students lauding LAW’s mentoring and social programs to foster student interaction with their teachers. “These, obviously, aid job placement for students in Boston and elsewhere,” the raters write.

The Review graded law schools in 11 categories and listed the top 10 law schools in each. BU ranked fifth among the schools surveyed for “best classroom experience.”

LAW Dean Maureen O’Rourke says the rankings reflect that the school is “focused on the student learning experience. Our faculty are superb teachers who are dedicated to ensuring that our students receive the best possible legal education.”