any T4 to low T1 transfer stories

[xferlawstudent]

I went to a poorly reputed school in the Northeast.  Its not as bad as Cooley (a league of its own) but its not much better.

[bobbykurva]

Isn't it the case that some T4s have particularly bad reputation, such as Cooley or New England. 

All T4's are purely regional schools. Cooley is in a league all its own if you ask me, especially if you follow their "rankings". Students coming from New England probably have a difficult time as well, considering they're up against BC, BU and Suffolk in the Boston market.

You forget a big one, Harvard. 

With Harvard in the picture - all of them; BC, BU, Suffolk and New England have a difficult time in that market.

[Runner-up]

A distinction needs to be made here. There's a difference between a law school with a BAD reputation and a law school with no reputation. Obviously, it's better to be going to one in the latter category if you're going to go T4.

It seems to me that a law school with a bad reputation tends to have a high attrition rate. Thomas Cooley is indeed that kind of T4. So are John Marshall and California Western. Attrition rate the first year at William Mitchell is about 6%, and then goes down even further. We have one of the better retention rates among first year students.

A law school with no reputation, it seems to me, is a law school that has practically no reach beyond it's local area. Here, I think William Mitchell fits the bill. It is not impossible to go places from here, but it seems that all the jobs graduates get outside of Minnesota are non-legal jobs.

[Runner-up]

Cooley has taken a lot of abuse on this board. And, that is unfortunate because I firmly believe the school has a noble purpose in giving people the chance to be lawyers, even though their numbers are inferior.

[bobbykurva]

Cooley has taken a lot of abuse on this board. And, that is unfortunate because I firmly believe the school has a noble purpose in giving people the chance to be lawyers, even though their numbers are inferior.

I agree with you up to a point - but think about all those applicants that aren't aware of the ranking game with law schools and even worse, what about those misinformed students who rely on Cooley's artificial ranking they publish each year, ranking the school among the heavy hitters in the country. I'm not an advocate of this type of false information, especially when it's so blatantly false to those "in the know".

[LostMyMonkeys]

I went from a T4 (craptastic, bad-no reputation, at least in my opinion) to a high T2 and a low T1. I am attending the T1 (USNWR #42).
I had a 3.68 GPA, rank was top 1%, 2 book awards, moot court, TA, Dean's Scholar.

[Runner-up]

Cooley has taken a lot of abuse on this board. And, that is unfortunate because I firmly believe the school has a noble purpose in giving people the chance to be lawyers, even though their numbers are inferior.

I agree with you up to a point - but think about all those applicants that aren't aware of the ranking game with law schools and even worse, what about those misinformed students who rely on Cooley's artificial ranking they publish each year, ranking the school among the heavy hitters in the country. I'm not an advocate of this type of false information, especially when it's so blatantly false to those "in the know".

That's a valid point. I was not intending to defend Cooley's rankings- as amusing as they may be. I think any school that releases it's own rankings of law schools is not doing itself any favors.

So in the end, even I am willing to take Cooley to task for it's goofball system.

[RobWreck]

Well, you know what they call someone that graduated Cooley at the bottom of their class and then managed to pass the Bar on their 3rd try?



Attorney.


As mocked as the school may be by so many on this board (especially almost all the Tier 1 students and applicants), the truth of the matter is that if they're an accredited school (even barely), then their standards have to be sufficient to meet the ABA's requirements. If their students pass the bar exam, then despite having attended Cooley, they've managed to learn enough to call themselves attorneys.
Show Cooley some love...

Rob
(Not attending Cooley or applying their anytime soon...)

[PSUDSL08]

Isn't it the case that some T4s have particularly bad reputation, such as Cooley or New England. 

I'd say there's a split between some T4's. I went to Capital in which people in the top half of the class managed to land summer firm jobs locally. I'm not sure whether the numbers were played with or what not, but apparently their bar passage rate during the last bar exam was 87%. Who knows

Michigan State has the name recognition. Franklin Pierce has a great IP/Patent law reputation. West Virginia has some name recognition, and is the only law school in the state. I'm inclined to guess that WVU grads do well within the state. Same for Wyoming. 

[xferlawstudent]

I bet WVU does well in Pittsburgh too, which is a good secondary legal market.  The campus is only an hour drive