Thoughts on transferring after 1st year

[Contract2008]

Transferring is notoriously difficult. That said, FSU takes a ton of xfers each year. They still have the taint of being xfers, but at least they made it to the promised land.

Promised land?  ha ha ha.  Lika a promised land in the shadow (or shades) of UF? 

[misbuble]

Contract I'm on your heels. Promised land meaning after 10, girls drink free.

[whartonn]

Transferring is notoriously difficult. That said, FSU takes a ton of xfers each year. They still have the taint of being xfers, but at least they made it to the promised land.

FSU grads still have the taint of being FSU grads, but at least they can sit for the bar.

[misbuble]

I would be offended at the above comment if it wasn't so awesomely appropriate. I'll assume undergrad doesn't count?

[Ninja1]

Transferring is notoriously difficult. That said, FSU takes a ton of xfers each year. They still have the taint of being xfers, but at least they made it to the promised land.

Promised land?  ha ha ha.  Lika a promised land in the shadow (or shades) of UF? 

Swamps don't cast many shadows outside of themselves. And so is the case of UF.

[Ninja1]

Transferring is notoriously difficult. That said, FSU takes a ton of xfers each year. They still have the taint of being xfers, but at least they made it to the promised land.

FSU grads still have the taint of being FSU grads, but at least they can sit for the bar.

This from the "nerdy nine" guy...

[warmwinds17]

Hey,

Just a quick answer to the original thread question... I guess cuz I'm bored and up late!  You do have to be at the top of your class to transfer up to the top schools, but other transfers aren't as difficult.  I constantly read threads all over this board regarding, "must be top 20% to transfer up," that simply isn't true.  T4 transfers to a T2/T3 are a pure numbers game, you just need to find a school that has open seats and is interested in you.  Schools ranked 40-100 lose significant students to transfer, they'll often jump at the chance to get full tuition paying students as transfers...

How do I know?  I was exactly in the middle of my T4 class after first year and was accepted by one T1 and two T2s as a transfer.  My resume is boring and the only "soft factor" I have might be that I'm over 30, but that's it.  I took a full ride T4 scholarship with the intent of transferring, in order to get a free year of school.  I intended to transfer from day 1.  I sought out transfer schools that might have an interest in me when my LSAT would no longer be a factor, there were several.  I kept in contact with them during 1L and actually had 2 acceptances before I even had my second set of grades.

My story may be unique/unwise... but the ease of the transfer without being in the top of your class is not as hard as some on this board make it appear.


I like your story.  I would like to know by what means you "kept in contact" with these schools and how you knew they had an interest in you minus the lsat.  thanks.

[Canuck996]

Transferring is weird, I would imagine. Vanderbilt took on several transfer students but I don't know any of them. I wish I did.

You don't know any of the Vandy transfer?? You are missing out, I know at least one of them is awesome. 

[willametterules]

Hey,

Just a quick answer to the original thread question... I guess cuz I'm bored and up late!  You do have to be at the top of your class to transfer up to the top schools, but other transfers aren't as difficult.  I constantly read threads all over this board regarding, "must be top 20% to transfer up," that simply isn't true.  T4 transfers to a T2/T3 are a pure numbers game, you just need to find a school that has open seats and is interested in you.  Schools ranked 40-100 lose significant students to transfer, they'll often jump at the chance to get full tuition paying students as transfers...

How do I know?  I was exactly in the middle of my T4 class after first year and was accepted by one T1 and two T2s as a transfer.  My resume is boring and the only "soft factor" I have might be that I'm over 30, but that's it.  I took a full ride T4 scholarship with the intent of transferring, in order to get a free year of school.  I intended to transfer from day 1.  I sought out transfer schools that might have an interest in me when my LSAT would no longer be a factor, there were several.  I kept in contact with them during 1L and actually had 2 acceptances before I even had my second set of grades.

My story may be unique/unwise... but the ease of the transfer without being in the top of your class is not as hard as some on this board make it appear.


I like your story.  I would like to know by what means you "kept in contact" with these schools and how you knew they had an interest in you minus the lsat.  thanks.

Hey, I don't hang out on these boards the way I used to, sorry for the slow feedback.  My LSAT was sub 155, I had a solid GPA from a top public school, I also had solid WE.  If I could do it all over again, I'd have probably tried to really nail the LSAT instead of the path I've taken.

Because the T-14 was out for me I targeted regions I'd like to live in.  I really wanted to live in the west,  as I had attended college there and most of my family lived there.  I soon found that several schools elsewhere in the country really wanted me and would discount tuition if I attended.  A quick talk with these schools and it was clear it was about having a "national" pool of 1Ls and using the name of my undergrad in their recruiting literature should I choose to attend.  They were essentially buying me...

I figured what the hell, I'd go somewhere I'd never been for free and see where it led.  The school was in a dinky town with a low COLA.  I rented an insane 2500 sq ft apartment, made a huge effort to know all of my classmates, studied hard, played intramurals, and had a great time.  However, it was clear from pretty much day 1 that this school had a professional reach of about 3 nearby counties...none of which I'd ever live in long term.

So, I developed a list of contacts at other regional schools and developed a repoire with them.  I flat out told them my situation and fished around to see whether or not they'd be interested in me as a transfer.  Some politely passed, others exchanged e-mails with me frequently.  A great example, would be Denver University.  You couldn't find a more helpful/attentive admissions staff at any law school.  Had I not been accepted to a school closer to the coast, I would have attended in a heartbeat.  They actually accepted me on just one set of grades, before I even took my second semester finals.  Another school put me in touch with the dean who handled transfers to their program.  They were kind enough to give me the direct office line.  After roughly an hour on the phone, he said they'd love to have me, but that he honestly thought their program might not be my best option based on our conversation.

There are just a lot of schools that accept top 60% of the class transfers, I wasn't special, just did my homework.