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Fordham Transfer to NYU: Worth It?

Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2017 10:17 pm
by lawstudent02017
I've been accepted as a transfer student to NYU from Fordham. Top 33%, secondary journal, good softs. Problem is, I face about $40k extra per year in tuition/costs, which would bring my loan total to over $200k before factoring in interest.

I don't yet know what area of law I want to end up practicing, but I don't want the financial pressure to keep me stuck on a career path I end up hating for a long, long time.

Is it worth the transfer? Any thoughts/suggestions?

Re: Fordham Transfer to NYU: Worth It?

Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 2:25 pm
by lawstudent02017
Anyone? :(

Re: Fordham Transfer to NYU: Worth It?

Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 2:33 pm
by student4714
Rising 2L who is Transferring, here are some thoughts for what they are worth.

I personally think the biggest pro of transferring up despite the additional debt load would be to pursue a career in big law. As you said you don't want debt to keep you from being flexible, and 200k would seem like it would lock you in to either a big law type job or a government job which allows you to discharge loans after a certain period of time.

I think the gain that you would be getting with a to NYU would be marginal, especially since your not sure exactly what you want and are at a relatively highly ranked school. You probably have a better idea of how hiring goes at Ford. v. NYU since your currently there.

Either way it seems like this is a good problem to have. gl!

Re: Fordham Transfer to NYU: Worth It?

Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 2:35 pm
by acr
So it's $80K additional for NYU? In that case, I would take NYU. You mentioned not wanting to be stuck on a career path you hate, but the $80K difference can likely be paid off in a year or two of big law.

You could be fine by staying at Fordham, and I'm no expert on their employment outcomes, but top third seems to me like a coin flip for landing big law/good job. I would take the $80K risk here unless you're confident you can obtain the same/similar outcome from both schools.

Re: Fordham Transfer to NYU: Worth It?

Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 2:37 pm
by student4714
acr wrote:So it's $80K additional for NYU? In that case, I would take NYU. You mentioned not wanting to be stuck on a career path you hate, but the $80K difference can likely be paid off in a year or two of big law.

You could be fine by staying at Fordham, and I'm no expert on their employment outcomes, but top third seems to me like a coin flip for landing big law/good job. I would take the $80K risk here unless you're confident you can obtain the same/similar outcome from both schools.

+1 looking at this rational, I find it easier to agree with this position than the one I offered above

Re: Fordham Transfer to NYU: Worth It?

Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2017 10:22 am
by lawstudent02017
Thank you both - Fordham students do pretty well, but yeah NYU does offer better chances.

I'll let it sit for a while and decide..

Re: Fordham Transfer to NYU: Worth It?

Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2017 8:22 pm
by NoDayButToday
.

Re: Fordham Transfer to NYU: Worth It?

Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2017 8:35 pm
by Jchance
your gpa also would start over when transferred, so graduating summa is a possibility, if you care about that sort of thing for clerkship

Re: Fordham Transfer to NYU: Worth It?

Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2017 11:17 am
by cavalier1138
Jchance wrote:your gpa also would start over when transferred, so graduating summa is a possibility, if you care about that sort of thing for clerkship
I'm not quite sure how Latin honors work for transfers, but I'd imagine that summa is out of the question. NYU doesn't award summa cum laude based on a grade cutoff; it's decided by a committee, and they only give it to a few students. It looks like transfers are not eligible for any non-Latin honors designations (Butler, Order of the Coif, etc.), but I don't see anything that says transfers can't graduate cum laude or magna cum laude.

If any of that is important to the OP.

Re: Fordham Transfer to NYU: Worth It?

Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2017 11:20 am
by PeanutsNJam
I think top 1/3rd to NYU is a steal and you should take it.

Re: Fordham Transfer to NYU: Worth It?

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 12:31 pm
by Jchance
cavalier1138 wrote:
Jchance wrote:your gpa also would start over when transferred, so graduating summa is a possibility, if you care about that sort of thing for clerkship
I'm not quite sure how Latin honors work for transfers, but I'd imagine that summa is out of the question. NYU doesn't award summa cum laude based on a grade cutoff; it's decided by a committee, and they only give it to a few students. It looks like transfers are not eligible for any non-Latin honors designations (Butler, Order of the Coif, etc.), but I don't see anything that says transfers can't graduate cum laude or magna cum laude.

If any of that is important to the OP.
Order of the Coif
. . .
Under the national constitution of the modern Order, membership is limited to those members of
the graduating class whose GPA places them in the top 10% of the senior class. In order to be
eligible for membership in the Order of the Coif, a graduating student must have completed at
least 75% of his or her law studies in graded courses at NYU School of Law.
Both 6-semester J.D.s and 4-semester J.D.s (transfer students or students who spend two
semesters as a visitor at another law school) are eligible for Order of the Coif; for transfer
students coursework completed for a grade in the first year of law school and transferred towards
the NYU School of Law J.D. degree will count as completed graded credits for calculating the
required 75% of coursework, however, the grades earned in the first year will not be considered.
The number of students eligible to be in the top 10% of the class is computed based on the entire
class, including 4-semester J.D.s. Ten percent of the number of 4-semester J.D.s are calculated,
and that number is the maximum number of 4-semester J.D.s eligible for Coif from among the top
10% of the entire class. The balance of the overall 10% number of slots are filled by 6-semester
J.D.s only. Only grades posted by July 1 will be considered when calculating final Coif
designations for 6-semester and 4-semester J.D.s.

Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude and Summa Cum Laude
The following honors are awarded each year to members of the graduating class: Cum laude: to
graduates whose grade point average places them in the top 25% of their class. Magna cum
laude: to graduates whose grade point average places them in the top 10% of their class. Summa
cum laude: to the very few students (if any in a particular year) who, in the judgment of the
Executive Committee, have compiled a truly outstanding academic record.

from http://www.law.nyu.edu/sites/default/fi ... e-2016.pdf

Re: Fordham Transfer to NYU: Worth It?

Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2018 4:02 pm
by wildquest8200
Hi OP
I know there's like a 99.999999999% chance you'll never see this, but is there any way you could share a bit more about what made your app successful? i'll probably be in a very similar boat at the end of this year and am looking to transfer to NYU!! THANKS!