Georgia State v. Emory.... is the money worth it?

[clee750]

Spent my first Year at Georgia State. Ranked 77th
Top 30%
$10,000 a year

Accepted to Emory. Ranked 22nd
$40,000 a year

What to work for larger size firm in Atlanta.

Is the transfer worth it.

[jacy85]

If you want larger sized firm, yes.  I don't know any GA State grads going into big law in Atlanta (none of my friends worked with any, and I certainly didn't).  My small world of experience isn't the be all end all here, though.  You should talk to people at GA State and find out how many are actually working this summer in Atlanta biglaw, or how many people who just graduated are heading to biglaw in the fall.  If I had to bet money, though, I'd say the numbers are much smaller than Emory.

That being said, I've known several transfers to Emory who had a rough time at OCI.  They came from schools far outside the region though, so the GA State/local connection may help.

[AtlAggie]

I can't tell you from the Emory side, how things would turn out if you transfer there. Jacy seems indicate that you may have a rough time of it anyway after transferring, if you're set on Atlanta Biglaw.

I can give you some idea about what GSU students can expect w/regards to ATL BigLaw, however, for what it's worth (as Jacy noted, no one student's experience is the be all end all here, so keep that in mind).

I just graduated from GSU, and I'm going to ATL BigLaw. Out of my class of approx. 180, I'd say there's about 20 to 25 students going to "big" firms here (which I'm defining as any firm paying ATL market rate, although some are in reality small boutique firms). That number is probably fairly accurate, as I know most of them--might be off by 2-3 students.

I'm absolutely sure that this is a MUCH smaller number (both absolute and percentage of class) than Emory is sending to BigLaw. What these numbers say to me, anyway, is that yes, it's possible to get into BigLaw from GSU, but it's not easy. You generally have to have excellent credentials (top 20% at the LEAST, although top 15% is more realistic, plus law review) to land OCI interviews, although there are a few exceptions--usually folks who have some highly marketable/desirable skill or background (engineers for IP work, for example). If you're closer to the top 30% of your class than the top 20%, I would predict you'd have a difficult time--difficult, but not necessarily impossible.

All that being said, I would advise caution about taking on the extra debt that Emory would bring--particularly since it's difficult to know what sort of success you'll have at Emory OCI (which I do know is MUCH more extensive the GSU's, so that at least would be a plus). To state the exceedingly obvious, that amount of debt can be a lot to bear, particularly if you struggle to find a high-paying job at the end of it because of your status as a transfer.

If you've already been accepted to Emory, you may want to talk with their CSO about how transfer students fair finding the sort of work you're interested in after joining the population. They probably keep track of that sort of thing. One thing I'd be particularly curious about is how you'd be "ranked" with the current Emory students--would you be unranked for purposes of OCI? Our grading curves our significantly different (ours sucks), so I don't know how that would translate. Could be another hurdle for you to overcome.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

[EagleLurker]

I transferred into Emory Law from a lower ranked school than GSU and I'm at a "Biglaw" job this summer.

Emory is very good to transfers and the makes the transition easy. Furthermore, after your first semester of Emory grades you’re ranked with the student body.

However, you will be evaluated as a GSU student during Fall OCI's; thus, you would not see any benefit from the switch until your third year. Nevertheless, I think it's worth it for you just to get another shot at being in the top of the class-and at a higher ranked school-because quite frankly I don't think top 30% at GSU is going to get you what you want as far as Biglaw in ATL. 

[clee750]

Hey, thanks for the advice. Did you get your big law job during fall OCI. Did you have a high rank from your previous school that employers liked. Or did you do well your first year to get that job. Im just wondering what your situation was and how you went about getting that job. Thanks

[AspenLizzy]

have you seen this?  It compares how schools place in various job markets.
http://www.law.com/img/nlj/charts/composite.pdf

[AspenLizzy]

looks like your chance at GA biglaw would increase by a factor of 4, not too shabby, and possibly worth the extra debt.