All about TRANSFERRING! (after 1L year)

[Jets]

To me, transferring to a better ranked school is not about getting a better first job, but the prestige and opportunities a degree from a top school may provide further down the road.  If you are fortunate enough to be considered for partnership, positions in government, judicial positions, etc. a JD from Harvard, I think, is going to help much more than being top 10% at a lesser known school. 

But what I am trying to decide is HOW different in real terms (not the abstract thinkings of this board) my career will be out of Harvard vs Penn (and I have no interest in academia).  Would it really be such a huge difference, or is Penn a well enough known school to keep most of the same doors open as a JD from HLS?

A few people from the top of the 1L class at Penn transfer to HYS every year.

That said, if your grades are good enough to be accepted as a transfer, chances are HYS wouldn't open doors that your success at Penn wouldn't, particularly since you're not interested in academia.

I love Penn and am SOOOOOOO excited to be going there, but there is still this little question in my mind about career, you know?  It's stupid, and I KNOW I will have an amazing time at Penn.  I'm just being dumb (it's like my recent wondering if my fiancee is the best woman since I'm getting married soon.)

PLUS, with Penn placing a clerk with some feeder judges this year, I think it is going to be an amazing place to go to school.

Hopefully she doesn't read this message board.

[MahlerGrooves]

Hopefully she doesn't read this message board.

I WAS gonna d-dub this 

Nah, it's just innocent pre-marriage doubt.  Common, I suppose.

[MahlerGrooves]

But I doubt you'd be sacrificing much by not transferring.[/b]

That is the important thing to me.  I think the only way I would be tempted is if I would see tons more doors open.  But it doesn;t seem like I would.

[Bob Loblaw, Esq.]

Do transfer applications ask for LSAT and UGPA? 

You bet they do. They want the full LSAC report and transcripts.

full lsac reports are required, but unless you are applying to one of few schools that actually consider ugpa/lsta, i.e., harvard, pretty much the ONLY thing that matters is your class rank from 1L.

[bruinbro]

From GW to BC?  (BC allowed 17 transfers in last year)
From GW to BU?  (BU allowed 6 transfers in last year)
From GW to Georgetown? (GT allowed 100 transfers last year(!))
From GW to Harvard? (Harvard allowed 34 transfers in last year)

I'm exploring some options, and I'm just trying to get a sense of how easy/difficult it is to transfer schools.

Probably it's easiest if you are doing amazing at your original school (like top 1/3rd) right? - but what if you're not?

What do adcoms look for in transfers?  Are they unusual?  Does it vary?

There were a lot of people who entered GW last year with the intention to transfer. This is especially true with respect to transferring to Georgetown. Because we have a lot of prospective transfers to Georgetown, you need to be top 20% to have a good chance. To be honest, I don't personally know of anyone who has transferred from GW to a lower ranked school. If you wanted to transfer down to BC or BU, I think you could do it with top 1/3.

[bruinbro]

Thanks Bruin.  I'm just thinking about being in Boston or getting a job in Boston.

Good luck to you 

[upgrade]

So carry on with your Hastings to Stanford dreams and images of YHS in your minds, but know that you are making a really, really arrogant statement in even admitting that this is something you think will be possible. End of quasi-rant.

Amusing when someone who chooses to criticize other's comments without actually reading them.  I think the premise of the thread, especially when taken in context with other recent threads with the same participants, is that transferring is very difficult and is not something that should be relied upon.

[t L]

Amusing when someone who chooses to criticize other's comments without actually reading them.  I think the premise of the thread, especially when taken in context with other recent threads with the same participants, is that transferring is very difficult and is not something that should be relied upon.

TITCR.  I think most people even considering it in this thread made it clear that it was going to difficult to get grades like that.

[lovethelaw2010]

I am currently a 1L and am probably going to transfer.  I don't understand why people say you shouldn't be thinking about before you start law school.  There is nothing wrong with hoping that you do well in law school and can potentially get into your dream school.  I mean it wasn't until after I got my grades back for the LSAT that I started to talk about which law schools interested me.  So my take is dream all you want it adds motivation to you law school studies. 

On that same token though once fall semester rolls around I would completely stop thinking about transferring.  Law school itself will kind of do this to you.  Two weeks in you probably will feel so overwhelmed that you believe you don't have any chance of transferring and are just going to do your best.  This is what happened to me and I just studied studied studied knowing that this is a competitive process and all you can do is work your hardest and do the best you can do.  Law school grades are quite arbitrary but the biggest key is to just work as hard as possible.  Law school rewards hard work more so than just being smart. 

I ended up #1 in my class after first semester and that is when you should start thinking about transferring again, just long enough to fill out your GULC application.  Then get back to doing whatever worked for you first semester (or if you didn't do well change it up.)  Come summer fill out those other top 14 applications if you so desire.

I also don't necessary think the costs of transferring are to great.  Now granted I am coming from a school ranked around 50 so my situation is quite different.  Even being at the top of the class transferring will greatly enhance my career prospects.  But being top of the class at a top 25 that shouldn't be the motivation for transferring because in most cases your actual short term career prospects would be the same.  You don't really lose your grades, they still go on your resume, they just don't get calculated into your new school for GPA and honors purposes. 

However, in the long term, when you are trying to make partner or general counsel or other higher up positions the name of your school matters.  It doesn't matter if you made law review or what not but it does make a difference if you attended Georgetown, UVA, Harvard, Columbia, etc.  The reason for this though is not just legal profession likes prestige (although it is some of it) it has to do with clients.  Huge clients like to see prestige.  The law schools in the top 14 show them that.  So if you have two completely equal attorneys in all regards for a position but one from Georgetown and one from Boston College, in most areas of the country, the one from Georgetown will be picked.

Anyways best of luck to you and think on about transferring.  I go to a school that I would be very happy to graduate from but would be lying if it didn't cross my mind that I would like to transfer to a top 14 before I even started law school.  And this is also the time to think about it, not come fall semester.  Also, please think that you are going to be at the top of your class.  Have confidence in yourself, even though law school is very competitive.  Most people will come up far short of that but go into it with the attitude that you are going to do your absolute best and for most people that means they want to be at the top.  At least in the end you will know that you did your best and with the arbitrary grading methods in law school that is all you can ask for. 

[MahlerGrooves]

 
Also, please think that you are going to be at the top of your class.  Have confidence in yourself, even though law school is very competitive.  Most people will come up far short of that but go into it with the attitude that you are going to do your absolute best and for most people that means they want to be at the top.  At least in the end you will know that you did your best and with the arbitrary grading methods in law school that is all you can ask for. 

This sentiment is DEFINITELY credited.  MORE credence, in face, need be placed on it.  Cogito ergo sum.  Positive thinking, people.  Positive thinking.