How F'd am I? I transferred from HCCN to T25 Forum

[Thomasthomas]

How F'd am I? (TLDR at the bottom)

I did my 1L at one of HCCNP. I was roughly in the top 20-25% ish percent (estimate)

During the end of 1L though, I had serious family issues come up that were exacerbated by living long distance from my kid/wife. Tough choice but I transferred to a T25 in my home state/city where my wife and child were working/living (and where I lived before going to law school). With 1L grades, I secured big law in my home market, plus a D. Ct. clerkship after grad.

During 2L though, I severely underestimated the difficulty of maintaining/getting good grades at my new T25. I worked just as hard as 1L, if not harder, but somehow I am roughly median. I got no offered this past summer due to firm financials and just struck out at my last hope for 3L OCI. I have D.Ct clerkship still (thankfully) but I'm worried about what comes after. Am I F'd?

TLDR: transfered from T6 school to T25 for family reasons. No offered from summer firm. Grades at new school got worse (went from top 25%ish to median at new school). Have D.Ct. clerkship.

[Lacepiece23]

How F'd am I? (TLDR at the bottom)

I did my 1L at one of HCCNP. I was roughly in the top 20-25% ish percent (estimate)

During the end of 1L though, I had serious family issues come up that were exacerbated by living long distance from my kid/wife. Tough choice but I transferred to a T25 in my home state/city where my wife and child were working/living (and where I lived before going to law school). With 1L grades, I secured big law in my home market, plus a D. Ct. clerkship after grad.

During 2L though, I severely underestimated the difficulty of maintaining/getting good grades at my new T25. I worked just as hard as 1L, if not harder, but somehow I am roughly median. I got no offered this past summer due to firm financials and just struck out at my last hope for 3L OCI. I have D.Ct clerkship still (thankfully) but I'm worried about what comes after. Am I F'd?

TLDR: transfered from T6 school to T25 for family reasons. No offered from summer firm. Grades at new school got worse (went from top 25%ish to median at new school). Have D.Ct. clerkship.

Well, that's not ideal, but I mean you have a D. Ct. clerkship. That is likely going to save you. I think you should be able to pull something out after that. May take some networking, but at least you had a 2L summer position and now have that clerkship. If the marker you're targeting is decently later, I'm sure you will get something. I don't think you're very F'd, things are just more uncertain than you'd like. I'm sorry for your family issues.

[AspiringAspirant]

How F'd am I? (TLDR at the bottom)

I did my 1L at one of HCCNP. I was roughly in the top 20-25% ish percent (estimate)

During the end of 1L though, I had serious family issues come up that were exacerbated by living long distance from my kid/wife. Tough choice but I transferred to a T25 in my home state/city where my wife and child were working/living (and where I lived before going to law school). With 1L grades, I secured big law in my home market, plus a D. Ct. clerkship after grad.

During 2L though, I severely underestimated the difficulty of maintaining/getting good grades at my new T25. I worked just as hard as 1L, if not harder, but somehow I am roughly median. I got no offered this past summer due to firm financials and just struck out at my last hope for 3L OCI. I have D.Ct clerkship still (thankfully) but I'm worried about what comes after. Am I F'd?

TLDR: transfered from T6 school to T25 for family reasons. No offered from summer firm. Grades at new school got worse (went from top 25%ish to median at new school). Have D.Ct. clerkship.

Why did you list Harvard as the lone T3 along with CCN? lol 90% of the folks I see do this are Columbia Alum who desperately want their alma mater to be in the same band as Harvard and are hoping to influence the narrative in some way (fortunately, I've almost never seen Chicago or NYU students do this). You may have a different reason.

Anyway, not sure if you transferred from Columbia or somewhere else in the T6, but regardless you should be fine. You have a clerkship and a good explanation for why you transferred. A really good friend of mine has a similar story and it all worked out in the end. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if there ends up being an uncomfortable period where you're unemployed and haven't found a job yet.

[Npret]

How F'd am I? (TLDR at the bottom)

I did my 1L at one of HCCNP. I was roughly in the top 20-25% ish percent (estimate)

During the end of 1L though, I had serious family issues come up that were exacerbated by living long distance from my kid/wife. Tough choice but I transferred to a T25 in my home state/city where my wife and child were working/living (and where I lived before going to law school). With 1L grades, I secured big law in my home market, plus a D. Ct. clerkship after grad.

During 2L though, I severely underestimated the difficulty of maintaining/getting good grades at my new T25. I worked just as hard as 1L, if not harder, but somehow I am roughly median. I got no offered this past summer due to firm financials and just struck out at my last hope for 3L OCI. I have D.Ct clerkship still (thankfully) but I'm worried about what comes after. Am I F'd?

TLDR: transfered from T6 school to T25 for family reasons. No offered from summer firm. Grades at new school got worse (went from top 25%ish to median at new school). Have D.Ct. clerkship.

Why did you list Harvard as the lone T3 along with CCN? lol 90% of the folks I see do this are Columbia Alum who desperately want their alma mater to be in the same band as Harvard and are hoping to influence the narrative in some way (fortunately, I've almost never seen Chicago or NYU students do this). You may have a different reason.

Anyway, not sure if you transferred from Columbia or somewhere else in the T6, but regardless you should be fine. You have a clerkship and a good explanation for why you transferred. A really good friend of mine has a similar story and it all worked out in the end. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if there ends up being an uncomfortable period where you're unemployed and haven't found a job yet.

Why is that anon?
You basically posted to criticize OP and offer no substantive advice (“you have a clerkship and should be fine, but probably be unemployed for a while”) but you have to hide behind anon?

OP are you locked into staying in your home market? I’m concerned about the limitation you will face being in that market with a no offer from a firm for financial reasons. If your home market is struggling, you might have to move to find something. Is moving an option now?

[Br3v]

How F'd am I? (TLDR at the bottom)

I did my 1L at one of HCCNP. I was roughly in the top 20-25% ish percent (estimate)

During the end of 1L though, I had serious family issues come up that were exacerbated by living long distance from my kid/wife. Tough choice but I transferred to a T25 in my home state/city where my wife and child were working/living (and where I lived before going to law school). With 1L grades, I secured big law in my home market, plus a D. Ct. clerkship after grad.

During 2L though, I severely underestimated the difficulty of maintaining/getting good grades at my new T25. I worked just as hard as 1L, if not harder, but somehow I am roughly median. I got no offered this past summer due to firm financials and just struck out at my last hope for 3L OCI. I have D.Ct clerkship still (thankfully) but I'm worried about what comes after. Am I F'd?

TLDR: transfered from T6 school to T25 for family reasons. No offered from summer firm. Grades at new school got worse (went from top 25%ish to median at new school). Have D.Ct. clerkship.

Why did you list Harvard as the lone T3 along with CCN? lol 90% of the folks I see do this are Columbia Alum who desperately want their alma mater to be in the same band as Harvard and are hoping to influence the narrative in some way (fortunately, I've almost never seen Chicago or NYU students do this). You may have a different reason.

Anyway, not sure if you transferred from Columbia or somewhere else in the T6, but regardlessyou should be fine. You have a clerkship and a good explanation for why you transferred. A really good friend of mine has a similar story and it all worked out in the end. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if there ends up being an uncomfortable period where you're unemployed and haven't found a job yet.

The clerkship is really going to help. Network and apply to firms all year until you have a gig. Be prepared to give the short, public version of your family issues—enough so that people understand why you’d leave your first school.

[AspiringAspirant]

How F'd am I? (TLDR at the bottom)

I did my 1L at one of HCCNP. I was roughly in the top 20-25% ish percent (estimate)

During the end of 1L though, I had serious family issues come up that were exacerbated by living long distance from my kid/wife. Tough choice but I transferred to a T25 in my home state/city where my wife and child were working/living (and where I lived before going to law school). With 1L grades, I secured big law in my home market, plus a D. Ct. clerkship after grad.

During 2L though, I severely underestimated the difficulty of maintaining/getting good grades at my new T25. I worked just as hard as 1L, if not harder, but somehow I am roughly median. I got no offered this past summer due to firm financials and just struck out at my last hope for 3L OCI. I have D.Ct clerkship still (thankfully) but I'm worried about what comes after. Am I F'd?

TLDR: transfered from T6 school to T25 for family reasons. No offered from summer firm. Grades at new school got worse (went from top 25%ish to median at new school). Have D.Ct. clerkship.

Why did you list Harvard as the lone T3 along with CCN? lol 90% of the folks I see do this are Columbia Alum who desperately want their alma mater to be in the same band as Harvard and are hoping to influence the narrative in some way (fortunately, I've almost never seen Chicago or NYU students do this). You may have a different reason.

Anyway, not sure if you transferred from Columbia or somewhere else in the T6, but regardless you should be fine. You have a clerkship and a good explanation for why you transferred. A really good friend of mine has a similar story and it all worked out in the end. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if there ends up being an uncomfortable period where you're unemployed and haven't found a job yet.

Why is that anon?
You basically posted to criticize OP and offer no substantive advice (“you have a clerkship and should be fine, but probably be unemployed for a while”) but you have to hide behind anon?

OP are you locked into staying in your home market? I’m concerned about the limitation you will face being in that market with a no offer from a firm for financial reasons. If your home market is struggling, you might have to move to find something. Is moving an option now?

Hide behind anon? Lmao Who am I hiding from? You? I didn’t even realize it was anon until now, but since you’ve made it an issue, let it be known to all that AspiringAspirant is annoyed by Columbia grads who are thirsty to convince others that their school is just like Harvard. Hopefully this doesn’t lose me all of my virtual friends!

And FYI, OP didn’t ask for next steps, he presented his situation and asked if he was screwed. I told him he wasn’t and explained why. I’m sorry my answer hurt your feelings.

Speaking of hurt, are you a Columbia grad? Asking for research purposes

[Thomasthomas]

Thank you all for the responses.

How F'd am I? (TLDR at the bottom)

I did my 1L at one of HCCNP. I was roughly in the top 20-25% ish percent (estimate)

During the end of 1L though, I had serious family issues come up that were exacerbated by living long distance from my kid/wife. Tough choice but I transferred to a T25 in my home state/city where my wife and child were working/living (and where I lived before going to law school). With 1L grades, I secured big law in my home market, plus a D. Ct. clerkship after grad.

During 2L though, I severely underestimated the difficulty of maintaining/getting good grades at my new T25. I worked just as hard as 1L, if not harder, but somehow I am roughly median. I got no offered this past summer due to firm financials and just struck out at my last hope for 3L OCI. I have D.Ct clerkship still (thankfully) but I'm worried about what comes after. Am I F'd?

TLDR: transfered from T6 school to T25 for family reasons. No offered from summer firm. Grades at new school got worse (went from top 25%ish to median at new school). Have D.Ct. clerkship.

Why did you list Harvard as the lone T3 along with CCN? lol 90% of the folks I see do this are Columbia Alum who desperately want their alma mater to be in the same band as Harvard and are hoping to influence the narrative in some way (fortunately, I've almost never seen Chicago or NYU students do this). You may have a different reason.

Anyway, not sure if you transferred from Columbia or somewhere else in the T6, but regardlessyou should be fine. You have a clerkship and a good explanation for why you transferred. A really good friend of mine has a similar story and it all worked out in the end. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if there ends up being an uncomfortable period where you're unemployed and haven't found a job yet.

The clerkship is really going to help. Network and apply to firms all year until you have a gig. Be prepared to give the short, public version of your family issues—enough so that people understand why you’d leave your first school.

That makes sense -- I worry about making it seems as though I'm trying to get pity points but I agree that some sort of explanation is needed. I hope to leave it at "my spouse got really sick." Will definitely try my best to network over the next year and a half but I need to stay in this market, for related personal reasons which limits the options. I'm not tied to big law though so I'll make an effort to look at local/state/fed agencies too. thanks.

[Thomasthomas]

How F'd am I? (TLDR at the bottom)

I did my 1L at one of HCCNP. I was roughly in the top 20-25% ish percent (estimate)

During the end of 1L though, I had serious family issues come up that were exacerbated by living long distance from my kid/wife. Tough choice but I transferred to a T25 in my home state/city where my wife and child were working/living (and where I lived before going to law school). With 1L grades, I secured big law in my home market, plus a D. Ct. clerkship after grad.

During 2L though, I severely underestimated the difficulty of maintaining/getting good grades at my new T25. I worked just as hard as 1L, if not harder, but somehow I am roughly median. I got no offered this past summer due to firm financials and just struck out at my last hope for 3L OCI. I have D.Ct clerkship still (thankfully) but I'm worried about what comes after. Am I F'd?

TLDR: transfered from T6 school to T25 for family reasons. No offered from summer firm. Grades at new school got worse (went from top 25%ish to median at new school). Have D.Ct. clerkship.

Why did you list Harvard as the lone T3 along with CCN? lol 90% of the folks I see do this are Columbia Alum who desperately want their alma mater to be in the same band as Harvard and are hoping to influence the narrative in some way (fortunately, I've almost never seen Chicago or NYU students do this). You may have a different reason.

Anyway, not sure if you transferred from Columbia or somewhere else in the T6, but regardless you should be fine. You have a clerkship and a good explanation for why you transferred. A really good friend of mine has a similar story and it all worked out in the end. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if there ends up being an uncomfortable period where you're unemployed and haven't found a job yet.

I don't want to comment on what school I go to (went to) becuase I've shared a lot of personal identifying information already but I didn't know "T3" and "CCN" were distinctly separate from each other and from P, Y, and S . Anyways, I just randomly picked a few schools within similar USNews rank. Also, maybe I actually go to Y or S and I just want to throw any stalkers off the scent

How F'd am I? (TLDR at the bottom)

I did my 1L at one of HCCNP. I was roughly in the top 20-25% ish percent (estimate)

During the end of 1L though, I had serious family issues come up that were exacerbated by living long distance from my kid/wife. Tough choice but I transferred to a T25 in my home state/city where my wife and child were working/living (and where I lived before going to law school). With 1L grades, I secured big law in my home market, plus a D. Ct. clerkship after grad.

During 2L though, I severely underestimated the difficulty of maintaining/getting good grades at my new T25. I worked just as hard as 1L, if not harder, but somehow I am roughly median. I got no offered this past summer due to firm financials and just struck out at my last hope for 3L OCI. I have D.Ct clerkship still (thankfully) but I'm worried about what comes after. Am I F'd?

TLDR: transfered from T6 school to T25 for family reasons. No offered from summer firm. Grades at new school got worse (went from top 25%ish to median at new school). Have D.Ct. clerkship.

Why did you list Harvard as the lone T3 along with CCN? lol 90% of the folks I see do this are Columbia Alum who desperately want their alma mater to be in the same band as Harvard and are hoping to influence the narrative in some way (fortunately, I've almost never seen Chicago or NYU students do this). You may have a different reason.

Anyway, not sure if you transferred from Columbia or somewhere else in the T6, but regardless you should be fine. You have a clerkship and a good explanation for why you transferred. A really good friend of mine has a similar story and it all worked out in the end. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if there ends up being an uncomfortable period where you're unemployed and haven't found a job yet.

Why is that anon?
You basically posted to criticize OP and offer no substantive advice (“you have a clerkship and should be fine, but probably be unemployed for a while”) but you have to hide behind anon?

OP are you locked into staying in your home market? I’m concerned about the limitation you will face being in that market with a no offer from a firm for financial reasons. If your home market is struggling, you might have to move to find something. Is moving an option now?

Yea, I am locked in home market . I have no idea about the financials of other firms in my market but you raise a good point that I didn't think of. Unfortunately, it's hard to find info about that kind of stuff. In the mean time, I'm trying my best to raise my grades too but I don't have high hopes given that I've busted my behind this past 2L year with limited success.

[Lacepiece23]

How F'd am I? (TLDR at the bottom)

I did my 1L at one of HCCNP. I was roughly in the top 20-25% ish percent (estimate)

During the end of 1L though, I had serious family issues come up that were exacerbated by living long distance from my kid/wife. Tough choice but I transferred to a T25 in my home state/city where my wife and child were working/living (and where I lived before going to law school). With 1L grades, I secured big law in my home market, plus a D. Ct. clerkship after grad.

During 2L though, I severely underestimated the difficulty of maintaining/getting good grades at my new T25. I worked just as hard as 1L, if not harder, but somehow I am roughly median. I got no offered this past summer due to firm financials and just struck out at my last hope for 3L OCI. I have D.Ct clerkship still (thankfully) but I'm worried about what comes after. Am I F'd?

TLDR: transfered from T6 school to T25 for family reasons. No offered from summer firm. Grades at new school got worse (went from top 25%ish to median at new school). Have D.Ct. clerkship.

Why did you list Harvard as the lone T3 along with CCN? lol 90% of the folks I see do this are Columbia Alum who desperately want their alma mater to be in the same band as Harvard and are hoping to influence the narrative in some way (fortunately, I've almost never seen Chicago or NYU students do this). You may have a different reason.

Anyway, not sure if you transferred from Columbia or somewhere else in the T6, but regardless you should be fine. You have a clerkship and a good explanation for why you transferred. A really good friend of mine has a similar story and it all worked out in the end. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if there ends up being an uncomfortable period where you're unemployed and haven't found a job yet.

I don't want to comment on what school I go to (went to) becuase I've shared a lot of personal identifying information already but I didn't know "T3" and "CCN" were distinctly separate from each other and from P, Y, and S . Anyways, I just randomly picked a few schools within similar USNews rank. Also, maybe I actually go to Y or S and I just want to throw any stalkers off the scent

How F'd am I? (TLDR at the bottom)

I did my 1L at one of HCCNP. I was roughly in the top 20-25% ish percent (estimate)

During the end of 1L though, I had serious family issues come up that were exacerbated by living long distance from my kid/wife. Tough choice but I transferred to a T25 in my home state/city where my wife and child were working/living (and where I lived before going to law school). With 1L grades, I secured big law in my home market, plus a D. Ct. clerkship after grad.

During 2L though, I severely underestimated the difficulty of maintaining/getting good grades at my new T25. I worked just as hard as 1L, if not harder, but somehow I am roughly median. I got no offered this past summer due to firm financials and just struck out at my last hope for 3L OCI. I have D.Ct clerkship still (thankfully) but I'm worried about what comes after. Am I F'd?

TLDR: transfered from T6 school to T25 for family reasons. No offered from summer firm. Grades at new school got worse (went from top 25%ish to median at new school). Have D.Ct. clerkship.

Why did you list Harvard as the lone T3 along with CCN? lol 90% of the folks I see do this are Columbia Alum who desperately want their alma mater to be in the same band as Harvard and are hoping to influence the narrative in some way (fortunately, I've almost never seen Chicago or NYU students do this). You may have a different reason.

Anyway, not sure if you transferred from Columbia or somewhere else in the T6, but regardless you should be fine. You have a clerkship and a good explanation for why you transferred. A really good friend of mine has a similar story and it all worked out in the end. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if there ends up being an uncomfortable period where you're unemployed and haven't found a job yet.

Why is that anon?
You basically posted to criticize OP and offer no substantive advice (“you have a clerkship and should be fine, but probably be unemployed for a while”) but you have to hide behind anon?

OP are you locked into staying in your home market? I’m concerned about the limitation you will face being in that market with a no offer from a firm for financial reasons. If your home market is struggling, you might have to move to find something. Is moving an option now?

Yea, I am locked in home market . I have no idea about the financials of other firms in my market but you raise a good point that I didn't think of. Unfortunately, it's hard to find info about that kind of stuff. In the mean time, I'm trying my best to raise my grades too but I don't have high hopes given that I've busted my behind this past 2L year with limited success.

The good news is that if it is a smaller market, the clerkship goes a lot further, IMO. There were constantly jobs being posted for clerks in my secondary market during my clerkship. And the judges really went out of their way to make sure that everyone had something in that market if they wanted it. I think it goes a long way to securing employment when your Judge can connect you with jobs.

[Npret]

OP- if you are locked into your home market you do have some advantages besides the clerkship.

-by transferring you’ve shown that you are committed to being at home. That’s a big advantage in that you aren’t going to try to “trade up” for later

--your family situation could be in part an explanation for your grades, though of course you won’t sell it that way, but firms might conclude that on their own

-- you need to be careful how you explain your choice though. Because you don’t want it to sound like you have continuing family issues. It’s reasonable to say you missed your family and they weren’t able to be with you at whatever school you were attending

- you will be able to network much more easily because you are now living in that market. You should make contacts at every firm. Making connections now will be your best shot of a job after a clerkship.

-because you are in the same market, firms are likely to know that you were no offered because of financials at your summer firm. You need a way to address being no offered -but you can be assured people will know the true story.

-your clerkship can be a stepping stone much more than grades. People over estimate the boost that clerkships give to hiring, I’veheard and read here, but you can still use that to at least compensate. You have a unique story which should help you with regard to your grades and presumably you have your 1L grades to show.

- You need to figure out what happened with your grades and how to work the system at the new school to your advantage- take whatever classes will give you personally the most boost in your GPA.