taking time off after 1L year and transferring Forum

[prayingigetin]

I got no replies to this posting in the Forum for Law Students so I'm trying here.

My current law school isn't specialized in the area I'm interested (i.e. business & health law). I was admitted to a one-year master's program in another state after this year, but would like to consider transferring to a law school in that state after completing the master's. Is this possible? Considering that both the master's program is in the city I want to work (with concurrent enrollment in their law school not possible) and the school to which I want to transfer is a feeder school into that same city, are my chances of getting into that school reasonably good if it's about the same rank? We are talking about one strong state school to a slightly stronger state school (i.e. both in the T20-T30 range). I don't anticipate doing exceptionally well this year, which is why I'm considering the master's degree. Do law schools accept transfer deferrals to allow for "individualized inter-collegiate" JD/MS plans? At my current school, you can complete the law degree within six years. Is this a general ABA rule?

I probably could come back to my state school after the one-year program is done, but my residency status might change. This did not originate as a way to "game the system".

[lawyerhopefull]

You seem to be confused, you cant "transfer"from grad into JD. It dosnt work that way.

Different programs. Part of the JD can count towards a grad degree, but not the other way around(ABA regulations)

[RickyRoe]

You seem to be confused, you cant "transfer"from grad into JD. It dosnt work that way.

Different programs. Part of the JD can count towards a grad degree, but not the other way around(ABA regulations)

I think he is asking if he can take a year off after 1L to get a grad degree then transfer to another school. I'm not sure, I guess it is possible but I'm not sure why you would want to do it this way.

My current law school isn't specialized in the area I'm interested (i.e. business & health law). I was admitted to a one-year master's program in another state after this year, but would like to consider transferring to a law school in that state after completing the master's. Is this possible? Considering that both the master's program is in the city I want to work (with concurrent enrollment in their law school not possible) and the school to which I want to transfer is a feeder school into that same city, are my chances of getting into that school reasonably good if it's about the same rank? We are talking about one strong state school to a slightly stronger state school (i.e. both in the T20-T30 range). I don't anticipate doing exceptionally well this year, which is why I'm considering the master's degree.

What is not exceptionally well in your opinion? If it is around or below the median you aren't going to be able to transfer to a better school than the one you are going to. Transfer students are usually in the top 10-15% of their class, if that is you then a graduate degree is not going to do anything for you.

I probably could come back to my state school after the one-year program is done, but my residency status might change. This did not originate as a way to "game the system".

As I understand it, you can't gain or lose residency while in school.

[prayingigetin]

You seem to be confused, you cant "transfer"from grad into JD. It dosnt work that way.

Different programs. Part of the JD can count towards a grad degree, but not the other way around(ABA regulations)

Actually, not at my law school. I was told to petition for a dual degree so that some of my grad coursework might count towards the law degree. After calling different law schools, they would accept someone who took a year off and returned to law school. You can get new recommendation letters while in the grad program.

What law school do you go to? Our law school tends to let us get "confused" by being supportive in letting us do whatever we want. It's kind of awesome, but also really disorienting.

[prayingigetin]

I'm sorry for posting on here. Clearly, if anyone was able to get into a better law school by this method, it was probably on a very case sensitive basis that they wouldn't advertise on a place like TLS. My hunch is that this could work, but you really just need to know the right people.

Signing off...