Compelling Reasons to Transfer

[worried]

It seems that most schools are looking for 'compelling reasons' to transfer.  Anyone have a clue what this means?

[lalala]

Generally, if a school says it wants to see "compelling reasons," it means that it wants you to have some reason to want to go to that school beyond just its ranking.  (There are a few schools that want compelling reasons, but as the previous poster noted, a lot of them are just looking at grades.)

Let me give you the three examples of compelling reasons that one school actually listed:

Your spouse has a job near the school to which you wish to transfer
A family member has an illness that requires you to live near the school to which you wish to transfer
You want to enroll in a program that the new school has, but the old one doesn't


I'm sure you can think of some other personal reasons ("I was raised in X Town and want to come back to practice law here," etc.) that schools probably would consider valid ones also.

[rev]

so would it be considered a compelling reason to state in my app to gulc that "professor steinbuch told me what a great piece of ass jessica cutler was and i wanted to hit it for myself"

[LostMyMonkeys]

Probably so long as Jessica Cutler wasn't on the adcom board, you might have a shot. Plus, throw in a picture of yourself..that outta help in case she is.

As for my compelling reasons... I had one..my husband was being transferred. But I didn't use that in the personal statement. I think my comment was more along the lines of "another there are numerous personal reasona why I would give a (hypothetical) left nut to attend your school, none are more important than the oppotunities UniversityofKissingyourAss would provide me"

That got me into FSU, but then a last minute call from Maryland regarding my incomplete application and a sob story about my husband's transfer being changed from Tallahassee to D.C., and I got a call saying I was in, circumventing the system a bit. So I tend to believe my compelling reason, though not ultimately the reason for my acceptance, was significant in the WAY my acceptance came about...

[xferlawstudent]

just talk about a different program or different classes the new school has; also you could state that you want to practice in that general area.

Its all BS anyway and the adcomms know its about ranking.  It really doesn't matter--grades are the only thing that will get you admitted or denied.

[LAWSCHOOL1L]

Probably so long as Jessica Cutler wasn't on the adcom board, you might have a shot. Plus, throw in a picture of yourself..that outta help in case she is.

As for my compelling reasons... I had one..my husband was being transferred. But I didn't use that in the personal statement. I think my comment was more along the lines of "another there are numerous personal reasona why I would give a (hypothetical) left nut to attend your school, none are more important than the oppotunities UniversityofKissingyourAss would provide me"

That got me into FSU, but then a last minute call from Maryland regarding my incomplete application and a sob story about my husband's transfer being changed from Tallahassee to D.C., and I got a call saying I was in, circumventing the system a bit. So I tend to believe my compelling reason, though not ultimately the reason for my acceptance, was significant in the WAY my acceptance came about...

Picture must have you holding your junk-in-the-box