Do transfers receive merit based scholarships? Forum

[A'nold]

Nah, I think you guys are both off a little here. Think about this: if you are attending a t2-t4 and are at the top, you are basically their star student(s). Many of these schools struggle with bar passage rates/getting their student's OCI bids. If those students leave, sure, some of the top 20% become the new top 10%, but the caliber of the class just took a severe hit.

This too, but he was speaking in pure economic/US News terms. Obviously a more holistic view favors trying to keep the best students, but it can also make sense in a strict economic sense as well. I am not in a position to know why some schools offer scholarships to top students after 1L (or to dissuade them from transferring), but there are certainly many rational reasons to do so. In any case, it does happen.

I actually meant that my scenario is pretty much 100% economic, actually. Think about it: A school gets hurt BIGTIME when it has a low bar pass rate. If 10% of its class (mixed throughout the top, say, 1/3) leave, not only do they miss out on those passers but it just magnifies the lower end of the class' inability to pass the bar. Employers wait to see if students pass the bar before hiring or just don't look at the school (this happens VERY frequently at my school, FYI). If the top 20% moves up a bit, they get to bid on the "top" jobs, yet, the real "stars" at the school have left, thus making the student body just that much less attractive. Bar pass rates and employment rates matter for USNWR rankings. Students choose a better school b/c of the ranking AND b/c of employment prospects. The school gets less qualified applicants, which brings down its ranking even more and attracts less qualified students the next time; students that have a harder time passing the bar, and so on.

[sixburgher]

Does it happen that your current school would offer you more merit scholarship after 1L because of top grades? I don't see why a school would do this. As an enrolled student you aren't helping their stats or rep, unless you would graduate and get a prestigious clerkship or BigLaw job, and I can't see schools throwing money at you on the chance that you land something big.

Plus, you leave a place at the school for a transfer to come in and pay full tuition. In a way, it seems like it's in the best interest of the school that some of its top students transfer.

I'd like to believe schools care about more than simply US News when they make a decision.

I would as well, and I do in fact, but basically I believe schools look at students as a commodity. Your UGPA/LSAT/WE tell a story, and a school has an incentive to keep you only as much as they are not getting a healthy number of transfer applications for your seat, and T2/T50 top of class transfer applicants to T1/T14 schools are strong candidates. Having top 1L grades is much more impressive than UGPA/LSAT. Therefore:

T1-lots of incoming transfer applications, therefore no/very few scholarships based on 1L designed to keep you
T3/4-no incoming transfer applications, therefore schools may offer 1L scholarships, just to keep their bar passage numbers up, etc

[eLegal]

I agree that since law schools don't report the LSAT/GPA scores of transfer students to USNEWS -- and presumably don't want to since if the transfer candidtate had scores worth reporting, they would have gotten in as a 1L -- there's no real value for the school to offer merit scholarships to transfers who probably are willing to pay sticker as a 2L/3L to improve their lot.

Scholarships based on financial need are a different story. I've heard of at least one school (HLS) that awards need-based aid to transfers. JR discusses it in his interview here - --LinkRemoved-- .

[bwv812]

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