Beginner's questions

[forbes19]

1) I thought about this and I feel I need to ask someone whether it's a good idea or not.

I'm a 0L. At the moment I'm accepted to GWU, Wake Forest and Ohio State. However, I really want to go to Vandy (currently on waitlist and not looking good).

I was wondering if its a smart decision to go to Ohio State for my first year and then transfer afterwards. My logic is that it would ideally be a bit easier to go to Ohio than GWU my first year, which would give me a better 1st year GPA (only because of the grading curve). It would also be a bit cheaper.

so the benefits are, expenses are lower, GPA is higher and I still would get to graduate from Vandy (if accepted). Would this be too much of a gamble to take? Should I go to GWU?

2) also, besides your 1st year grades, what are other things adcomms look for in transfer applicants.

Thank you for your answers 

[redjay]

1. Going to a school with a higher grading curve isn't going to help you at all, when you transfer, schools look at your class rank, and from my understanding, very little else. a 3.3 at one school and a 3.0 at another can both mean that you are at the middle of the class. As for it being cheaper, I guess thats a consideration for you.

Further, don't count on transferring - going to another good law school is only going to help you get in to vandy if you perform very well in your first year. Nothing is a sure thing, the kids with the best lsat scores at my school aren't currently ranked at the top of the class, and vice versa...its kind of a crapshoot

2. As far as I know most schools only look at first year CLASS RANK, journals and extracurriculars play a role to some extent as well. Some schools look at whether or not you would have been competitive in admissions to begin with.

[drbuff123]

I would take a year off , re-take the LSAT and reapply to Vandy if that is where you want to be.  It is difficult to transfer there, I was #1 in my class (at a very low ranked school) and was rejected. You wouldn't need to be number 1 at Ohio State to be considered, but I'd imagine you'd need to be near the top.

[dsnutter]

NEVER rely on transfering! Only go to GWU or Ohio St if you would be happy being there for 3 years and graduating. More likely than not, you will not transfer out (won't do well enough, won't want to leave, will be too lazy, etc...). There is a very small change that all the stars would align and you would have the opportunity to transfer to Vandy.

[Nimmy]

Don't go somewhere planning to transfer.

I will tell you that you will probably not need as good of a class rank coming from GW as you will from OSU.  GW is a peer school to Vandy and lateral transfers are held to lower standards.

[aman49]

Don't go somewhere planning to transfer.

I will tell you that you will probably not need as good of a class rank coming from GW as you will from OSU.  GW is a peer school to Vandy and lateral transfers are held to lower standards.

Bingo. If you want to transfer, then it's SMARTER to go GWU. A lot smarter. But don't count on transferring, cuz *&^% happens.