Transferring to a better school with lower medians

[destijl]

There are two schools (UCLA and Vanderbilt) that are ranked lower than Cornell, but have higher medians.  Both UCLA and Vanderbilt have median LSATs of 168 and median GPAs around 3.75.  Cornell's medians I believe are 167, 3.6.   

If I wanted to transfer from UCLA or Vanderbilt to Cornell, what class rank do you think I would need?  I know if you want to laterally transfer in the T14 you generally need to be at median or higher.  Do you think the same rule applies from UCLA/Vanderbilt to Cornell?  Technically it's harder to be top half at those two schools than it is at Cornell. 

Just curious to see what people think. 

[bryan9584]

You have to keep in mind that LSAT and undergrad GPA aren't considered as highly as 1st year grades...because the schools are not ranked by transfers. As for difficulty, it probably depends on the number of spots the school has to transfer and the amount of applicants that are applying.

Not sure if you are in law school, or just applying...

[destijl]

I am a 1L at one of those two schools currently.

[Naked Promise]

I would guess top half would give you a good shot. The only reason to transfer to Cornell, though, is if you want to work in NYC or Boston. Otherwise, UCLA and Vandy will get you where you want to go. UCLA and Vandy both do well in NYC as well, although I'd imagine Cornell's proximity would help because you could go down for interviews any time.

[destijl]

I have other reasons for wanting to transfer to Cornell, but I do want to work in New York. 

Anyone else have any opinions?  I looked at the yahoo transfer groups, but there were almost no data similar to my situation.  The closest thing I found was someone from a T25 school around the top 1/3 of her class getting into Georgetown.