From NY T2 to Emory or GW?

[no name]

I'm top 15% with a secondary journal at a T2 NY school, have a chance to go to either Emory or GW and can't seem to decide what to do.  I want to do big law right now if I can, so I'm looking for a school that will give me the best chance now and hopefully down the road as well.  I'd like to practice in NY, but really anything on the East Coast is fine.  So is it worth it to leave what I have here for a possibility of something better in either of those schools?

Thanks.

[sheriff]

if it is St. John's, and you are going to miss GW'OCI deadline, I would say: stay at your school.
If it is Hofstra (more T3 than T2), I would say go to GW.
Not sure about Emory.

[upgrade]

You do realize you could give up your top 15% class ranking at a T2 for a class ranking at median, or lower.  I would compare what top 10-20% will get you from your current school to prospects from GW at median.

[T. Durden]

normally i'd suggest gw as i'm biased having had recently graduated from there. however, it appears as if our current 1L class has enacted some sort of mass migration from the place and as such the school has admitted the entire western hemisphere to attend as a transfer student. you can rest assured that if i know about this the HR depts at the various firms which will be attending GW (i.e. formally george washington - now george washingTTTon [i know, i'm a bastard ]) oci certainly know about it too. i can't say that that bodes well for you (i.e. all gw law transfer generally). still, i don't know if emory is the better option re NYC biglaw. it's a tough call... 

[ronaldo699]

transfer in a heartbeat - st john's top 10 percent isnt guarenteed big law, never mind outside it w/ a secondary journal. 

if its brooklyn / cardoza, and you want to work in nyc, id say stay. 

[deedeeleigh]

normally i'd suggest gw as i'm biased having had recently graduated from there. however, it appears as if our current 1L class has enacted some sort of mass migration from the place and as such the school has admitted the entire western hemisphere to attend as a transfer student. you can rest assured that if i know about this the HR depts at the various firms which will be attending GW (i.e. formally george washington - now george washingTTTon [i know, i'm a bastard ]) oci certainly know about it too. i can't say that that bodes well for you (i.e. all gw law transfer generally). still, i don't know if emory is the better option re NYC biglaw. it's a tough call... 

Have that many people actually left? I know a few people at the very top of the class are transferring out, but I also know a lot of people within the top 10 percent who are staying.

I wonder what this would mean for the rest of us at OCI.

It does seem like a lot of transfers were accepted, but I'm wondering if this is to make up for lost tuition from the near quarter of the class that is on a full tuition scholarship, rather than to fill the spots left behind by transfers out.

[santropez]

I think if you did well at your previous school that OCI will be fine.  I don't see how the influx of transfers would affect an otherwise qualified candidate from at least getting interviews (at least that's what I'm telling myself)

I'm keeping the faith... and I'm still confident in my decision to go to GW. 

[T. Durden]

last i heard gw law has more money than it knows what to do with as it doesn't have to share the alumni gifts and donations that it receives with the undergrad campus (which is a feature that is somewhat unique to gw law; most law schools have to share what they get with the rest of the university). i doubt that the school would have extended the # of scholarships that it did if so doing would have bankrupted the institution within a year [forcing the school to take a huge # of transfers ... it's not like the school would have room for the inflated transfer class had the 1Ls not left en masse].

i think that maybe the exodus stems from the fact that economy has tightened up a bit and gw law students might be worried that their degree (and others similarily situated like BU, ND, Emory, etc) might be first on the chopping block in terms of law firm hirings and have thus run to programs with more prestigious names. i really have no clue though - just speculating.

with regards to our OCI, i think that it (the high # of transfers) is going to have the unfortunate impact of stunting our OCI job placement #ers. usually the top 35% or so are a "lock" for OCI placement; remove half of that 35% to other schools and all of a sudden our nlj 250 placement is going to be anemic at best [given that you are replacing a sig % of our top 20% with t2 and t3 transfers who are going to probably be placed at our near the median] which is going to have the unforatunate result of harming our overall ranking, etc etc. if the transfer problem is as severe as it seems to be this year, it'd be nice to see the admin enact an equitable result of some sort to protect our OCI - i dunno, maybe remove all of those who transferred out from the bell curve and reestablish it (i.e. bump everyone up to account for what is now a very stuntend curve). all in all, it's not good for the school.

[SASS]

I think all of us (myself certainly included) are just speculating the worst case scenario for no reason. I don't think the influx of transfers will hurt GW OCI as much (or at all) as people think. They took 61 transfers last year. I doubt there will be more than that this year. I think it just seems like more, as there are more people on discussion boards talking about it.....

This is what I am telling myself at least. I am a transfer to GW but I am fairly certain that moving from a T4 to GW is a good call, even with the increase in loans.

[deedeeleigh]

It seems like if it does hurt GW OCI, it would be hurting people at the median especially (transfers and current GW students at the median) but wouldn't really affect Top 1/3 much. But I'd think that would be  the case with the economy as it is anyway.

Hopefully we're all just speculating on worst-case scenarios.  Fed government will probably be increasing their hiring as the baby boomers begin to retire, at any rate.