Vandy Transfer Taking Questions

[juliemccoy]

I should be outlining (and so should all of you!)...  but if you'd like to know more about Vandy transfers, feel free to ask.

[sweetsherocks11]

I'm considering Vandy if I can keep my GPA where it is. Can I ask what your stats were and when you got your acceptance? Thanks so much!

[juliemccoy]

I was in the Top 15% of my class at a T50. I was accepted in mid-July... I think I sent in my application in late June. Or it could have been July.

[Dongo]

Thanks for taking questions!

Did you apply anywhere else?  Any other acceptances?  I'd think 15% at Tier 1 would give you a decent shot at a T14. 


How about law review or a secondary journal when you got to Vandy - did you attempt it?

[juliemccoy]

My pleasure! The whole transfer process is so hectic-- I'm glad to help out!!

I applied to 5 schools: GULC (EA), Vandy, UCLA, Texas and GWU. (In at all but GULC and UCLA). I scoured the Yahoo TransferApps group to see where other people in my range had ended up.

I did the Transfer Write-on and got onto a secondary journal (I'm on next year's senior board. Whoo Hoo!). I'm also on the Moot Court Board (several transfers are on the Board, and serving as officers. In fact, next year's Chief Justice is a transfer student).

I think I can speak for all of the transfers at Vandy-- It has been such a smooth transition-- we are all really happy here. The transfers are all pretty close, but we've also branched out on our own and made some great "traditional" friends at the school.

A little PS:  I applied to Vandy on a whim. I'd never been to Nashville or read much about it, and I thought it was just a honkey tonk hick town. I came to visit, and fell in love with the place, followed shortly thereafter by the people here. The students are fantastic, the faculty and diverse course selection are great, and Career Services is nothing short of amazing. The school has gone out of its way to be welcoming and helpful to us. Much more so, I feel, than the school I attended as a 1L!!! I have so many more opportunities here, and I'm living in a beautiful city where there is always something to do -- and I could not be happier.

Anyway-- wherever you end up transferring: think about your long-term and short-term goals. I had no problems interviewing and getting summer offers with large firms in the Northeast. Vandy is well known in the South, but we have plenty of people going to NYC, DC, Chicago, LA, etc.

[deexod]

Any T4 Transfer there you know of? If so, what about there rank if you happen to know?

[juliemccoy]

Yes. There was one transfer this year from a T4. I don't know her stats, but I do know she graded onto the law review there, so I'd gather she was at the very top of her class at the T4.

[juliemccoy]

No. Your GPA is wiped clean when you transfer here. All of your 1L credits are simply Pass/Fail credits.

Perhaps you were confused by my post-- the student I was referring to graded on to the law review at her T4 law school. Then she transferred here. The poster above was asking if any T4 students transferred in and if I knew their stats for getting in. Because the T4 transfer graded onto her T4's law rev, I can only presume she was at the top of her class.

Transfers can't grade on to LR here (or anywhere, I would imagine). There is a Transfer Write On here that starts during orientation week and runs through the first week of classes and OCI. You do one write on, and it is submitted to our 3 journals (Law Rev, Ent & Tech Law J, and Transnat'l Law J). You rank your order of preference for each journal. The journals then grade the write-ons.

[Monkeys99]

Having never been to TN before, what sort of reasons did you give for transferring?  Vandy is right up at the top of schools I want to transfer to, but I'm really worried they won't take me because I have no real compelling reason to go there.  I mean, outside of the fact that I think it's a fabulous school, they have a great international law program, supposed to have wonderful professors, atmosphere, etc....    Do they seem to take more students based on actual need to be in TN or students who just want to go to the school?

[juliemccoy]

Seriously, don't worry about BS'ing any "compelling reasons" to come to TN. The reasons I gave for transferring were the better opportunities I would have at Vandy given my goals for being a lawyer than at my present school. I didn't bash my 1L institution-- I just made it clear that I felt strongly I would be a good fit for the school. I also talked up the collegiality factor. I know every school claims it has a collegial environment-- but Vanderbilt is incredible. I really think there is a "No D-bag" policy in place at the admissions office.

I had never been to TN until I came to visit Vandy (Which was after my application was sent in). Trust me, Vanderbilt is not a TN school, even though it is located in Nashville. More of our students take the NY bar than TN. In fact, if you're not from around here, it's notoriously difficult to break into the TN legal market. Actual conversation I had with career services: "Now you're not planning to practice here, are you?" "Um, I hadn't really consider--" "Oh good! Whew!"