T4 to T1 transfer

[Fashnblylatelaur]

Here's my dilemma:

Top 2% at T4 in Boston. Haven't heard back on law review yet (won't til Aug. 9). Two scholarships = 25K total.

v.

BU with no scholarship money, but ability to write on to law review and journals. And, apparently anyone who wants to do moot court can do so.  BU will cost me an extra 50K.  The problem is the big OCI at BU already passed by.

I have to notify BU by August 7 (before I hear back from their law review too!). What to do??

[M_Cool]

I'd go to BU if I were you.  It would be different if you are talking about a respectable school such as Cordozo, Pepperdine, Loyola, American, whatever (low T1-T2 type school), but I'm guessing the OCI at your T4 is basically non-existent so the fact that BU's OCI date has already passed is a wash.  At least you can still conduct the exact same mailing campaign but you can do it with BU's name on your resume so that you can get some added attention.  T4 is just too low and will make it a lot harder on your job prospects for the rest of your life.  This is all assuming, of course, that you actually care about making money and advancing your career.

[Dikaia]

If you go to NE School of Law, go to BU and never look back.

If you go to suffolk, it may be a harder choice.   Ive always likes suffolk, and top 2$ at suffolk would get you some pretty good jobs in the boston area.

[big - fat - box]

BU will give better long term prospects. But in the current market, it is a very real possibility that you won't wind up with a big bucks job if you transfer to BU. Not being able to do OCI is really going to hurt you. You can mass mail, but I wouldn't expect anything out of it. You'd probably be better off trying to squeeze in an interview when they come to campus. Contact the recruiting manager at the firms directly and tell them that you transferred at the last minute and couldn't make the OCI deadline, BUT you are still very interested in an opportunity to interview.

This is assuming you want to work at some kind of lawfirm that hires summer associates.

I definitely would look at other avenues of summer employment just in case the firm thing doesn't work out...it's going to be really rough this year.

[transferguy]

BU no question. 

[Fashnblylatelaur]

Thanks all.

Dikaia - I'd be transferring from Suffolk.

[basic]

some advise from some one who has transfered stay where you are.
a transfer up seems like a golden ticket, but the reality is akin to doing fist year twice.
you loose your gpa and rank and support system of friends you made 1st year.
you will be injected into a 2nd year class that has "bonded" and it will take a bit to make friends
and get the swing of things.  top 2% will be good enough to secure you a job.
i disagree that your longer term prospects will be better if you transfer. when your out after a
few years no one cares about where you went to school the focus shifts to you track record.
either way best of luck and congrats on top 2%...back to studying for the NY bar 

[Maven]

I've been practicing a long time so my perspective is a bit different than others who have posted. IMO there will definitely be a difference in how prospective employers view these two schools. If you plan on practicing outside of New England there is no question that BU will create better opportunities. I've been away from the region for a long time but as I recall Suffolk had a strong presence in the Judiciary and Gov't, which I suspect has not changed. Consequently, if you plan on staying in the Boston area and plan on trying to be a DA or PD, then I don't believe that a transfer to BU would increase your opportunities significantly.
As to being socially accepted in a new law school, I would think that that depends on your personality as much as anything else. Years ago, I did my third year as a visiting student at NYU and found that I really didn't have much difficulty fitting in. In any event, law school is not high school and presumably you will have an independent existence.

I guess what I'm saying is that if you plan on staying in Boston and go into Gov't work the superior reputation of BU wouldn't be a determining factor, but if you plan on considering work outside I think that the BU degree will open up more doors, even if its 10 years down the line.

[vansondon]

I'd go to BU if I were you.  It would be different if you are talking about a respectable school such as Cordozo, Pepperdine, Loyola, American, whatever (low T1-T2 type school), but I'm guessing the OCI at your T4 is basically non-existent so the fact that BU's OCI date has already passed is a wash.  At least you can still conduct the exact same mailing campaign but you can do it with BU's name on your resume so that you can get some added attention.  T4 is just too low and will make it a lot harder on your job prospects for the rest of your life.  This is all assuming, of course, that you actually care about making money and advancing your career.

Just curious... Did you mean to write Loyola Chicago or Loyola Marymount?

[xxspykex]

I can't believe all the posts telling OP to transfer. This is just a bad idea. An extra $50K a year is a LOT and you have virtually no chance at biglaw this year without OCI (even with OCI this would be a huge risk, but w/o it, this is just a bad transfer decision). You will definitely be in a worse position if you do transfer without OCI this fall because here's how it works: fall 2L OCI determines whether you get a biglaw 2L summer associateship. The 2L summer associateship turns into a job offer at graduation for most people. Here's the real catcher -- 90% of biglaw hiring out of law school is done through 2L OCI (i.e. the summer associateship program). If you don't participate in OCI this fall, you will have no 2L summer associateship, and therefore, biglaw is not going to be a possibility for you (yeah 3L OCI will be there but it is very, very limited and firms will not hire you if you did not do a summer associateship anywhere the summer before). This long-term job prospects thing is total bull. No one cares where you went to school a few years out of school. The biggest thing that differentiates a t4 and a t14 is the job prospects that come from OCI (because firms do OCI at schools they want to recruit from).

Another issue is that firms that do actually come to your transfer school's OCI will not even give you a screening interview outside OCI because they will have assumed the reason you didn't bid on them when they came to OCI because you preferred to use your bids with other firms. So this will hurt you even more then if you were to just mass mail from your current school.

FWIW, I was top 2% of my class, and prior to getting onto my transfer school's symplicity site I direct sent to 60 firms in a major market. 30 sent me rejection letters, saying either that they will not be having a summer program or that they simply aren't interviewing outside of OCI since their class will be much smaller this year. Another 10 sent me letter to sign up for a interview slot at my tranfer school's OCI.