| Topic Name: |
UC-Hastings vs. University of San Diego and Transfer Prospects |
| Message Name: |
Dancehallcrasher Always Knows the Score |
| Date Posted: |
05/28/2002 |
| In Reply To: |
Both Hastings1L and cicero88 made several valid points. However, rather than taking the time to think about what they said, you chose to be really defensive when there was little need to be. Essentially, Hastings1L told you not to count your chickens before they hatch -- a wise adage to follow during the law school admissions process.
I agree that you should not choose a school based on a summer abroad program or even the campus. In order to secure employment, you will need to do something legal during even your 1L summer, or else you will not be competitive come "real" OCI time. Summers abroad are for college, not law school. Moreover, a school's campus is almost as irrelevant. As awful as it sounds, you need to concentrate on employment percentages and bar passage rates, not how attractive your school's surroundings are.
As for your "dilemma" of choosing between USD and Hastings as your "springboard" to greener pastures, I honestly don't know whether there would be any significant difference in trying to transfer to a better school from USD or from Hastings. However, I do know that there is a very important point you seem to be missing here.
Namely, it's somewhat foolish to assume you will be able to transfer at all. I understand that you "plan to work [your] butt off," but this is something that pretty much everybody "plans" to do. Whether or not working your butt off will actually yield the top grades you "plan" to get is somewhat beyond your control. That being said, don't rule out that you might not be able to transfer at all. Forgive me for being the pessimist here, but few people are lucky enough to transfer. With this in mind, you should consider going to Hastings over USD simply because it is a better school and may be the place that will ultimately give you your diploma.
If you truly have your heart set on transferring, all you can do is your best and hope that's good enough for the school to which you want to transfer. It's folly to rely on the rank of your original school to "bump" you up in the eyes of your dream school's admissions office, if there even exists such bumping.
Best of luck.
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| Message: |
He's polite and erudite.
You don't have to listen to me, but this guy is part of BIGLAW. He's making sense here. Heed his advice and thrive.
Dancehallcrasher, you're the man. Way to put it all in perspective.
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