| Topic Name: |
Should I transfer |
| Message Name: |
Transfers |
| Date Posted: |
02/20/2000 |
| In Reply To: |
I attended a second-tier law school my first year, was ranked in the top 2%, and transfered to a top 5 school. (I also graduated from a forth-tier university undergrad, although I had very good grades). This summer I'll be working for a top 5 firm in NYC. None of the other transfer students I know here had any problems getting great jobs and most will be working for top 10-15 firms (those who won't will be doing so because of their own choice).
My point is this: don't worry about interviewing if you transfer. Your #1 ranking at your current school (assuming you are able to maintain it, or at least stay close to it, by the end of the year) will look almost as good when you interview at Harvard as it will if you interview at Missouri. The advantage that you enjoy by transfering, however, is the access to interviews that you get with great firms that visit only top campuses. True, you could probably get a job with a top firm in St. Louis or KC even if you stay. But is that what you really want? My sense is that you want to work for a top firm
in Manhattan or California.
As far as you chances of tranfering to a top school I would think that they are very good. I am not sure about the ranking of your law school, but if it's somewhere in the second tier, and if you manage to maintain your #1 ranking, you'll have a decent shot of getting into any school, including Harvard and Yale. If you slip a little but manage to stay in the top 5, you'll probably still get into Chicago, NYU, and other schools ranked between 5 and 10.
Hope this helps. Good luck. |
| Message: |
I am not sure about the ranking of your law school, but if it's somewhere in the second tier, and if you manage to maintain your #1 ranking, you'll have a decent shot of getting into any school, including Harvard and Yale.
I think the chances of transfering to Harvard of Yale are very small, indeed. First, a 3.3 and a 155 are *way* below their averages. Second, they are insanely selective with its transfers. I'm not sure #1 at a Tier 2 school is going to be good enough.
Here's what Harvard says about transfers:
"In past years, very few transfer places have been available, and the competition for those places has been high. Performance at the top of a law school class is an important factor, but will not in itself cause us to admit someone whose pre-law-school academic credentials are weaker than those of the students admitted to last year's entering class. Successful transfer candidates typically would have been admitted or wait-listed as first-year students on the basis of their pre-law-school credentials, and have placed very near the top of their first-year law class. Given the small number of transfer spaces available and a comparatively large and accomplished transfer applicant pool, some applicants who meet these characterizations cannot be offered admission."
A 3.3 and a 155 would not have been wait-list material. Therefore, I think the chances are very small.
I also doubt that a top 10 is within reach. I'll go so far as to say a top 15 is a far reach. Most schools require that ones pre-law qualifications be outstanding as well as their law school record.
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