Top Law Schools

Hey everyone,

Just got grades back and got 3 A+s and an A. My current school is T40-60. My gpa is a 4.0 because A+s just count as As for gpa purposes. Each professor gives between 1 and 3 A+s and 3 people is about 5% of a section. The professor in the class in which I got the A only gives out 1 A+. I always joked that I would transfer to Yale if I did well my 1L year but now I think it might actually be a possibility. Also interested in Harvard, Columbia, and UVA. What are my chances?

Thanks

Yale generally only takes a handful of transfers, pretty exclusively from t13 schools. So don't set your sights on Yale because you aren't getting in. Otherwise, you should apply to transfer a little more broadly in the t13 given how idiosyncratic transferring can be.

It might be worthwhile to pursue an ED program like Chicago ED where you only need one semester of grades.

Edit: Looking at Yale's 509, last year they had 8 transfers. 6 were from the formerly t14 schools: Cornell, Georgetown, Harvard, Upenn, and Berkeley. They also took 1 person from Uconn and 1 from UT. So pretty exclusively a t13 list with the single Uconn person being an outlier.

sparkytrainer wrote:Yale generally only takes a handful of transfers, pretty exclusively from t13 schools. So don't set your sights on Yale because you aren't getting in. Otherwise, you should apply to transfer a little more broadly in the t13 given how idiosyncratic transferring can be.

It might be worthwhile to pursue an ED program like Chicago ED where you only need one semester of grades.

I’m perfectly content at the school I’m at now and on a near full ride. I would only consider transferring to the schools listed because I believe transferees don’t get scholarships, right?

YALEhopeful wrote:

sparkytrainer wrote:Yale generally only takes a handful of transfers, pretty exclusively from t13 schools. So don't set your sights on Yale because you aren't getting in. Otherwise, you should apply to transfer a little more broadly in the t13 given how idiosyncratic transferring can be.

It might be worthwhile to pursue an ED program like Chicago ED where you only need one semester of grades.

I’m perfectly content at the school I’m at now and on a near full ride. I would only consider transferring to the schools listed because I believe transferees don’t get scholarships, right?

This... Makes no sense. Why would you transfer somewhere because they give no transfer aid?

Nebby wrote:

YALEhopeful wrote:

sparkytrainer wrote:Yale generally only takes a handful of transfers, pretty exclusively from t13 schools. So don't set your sights on Yale because you aren't getting in. Otherwise, you should apply to transfer a little more broadly in the t13 given how idiosyncratic transferring can be.

It might be worthwhile to pursue an ED program like Chicago ED where you only need one semester of grades.

I’m perfectly content at the school I’m at now and on a near full ride. I would only consider transferring to the schools listed because I believe transferees don’t get scholarships, right?

This... Makes no sense. Why would you transfer somewhere because they give no transfer aid?

I presume they mean those are the only schools they consider worth sticker.

Those are the only schools I would pay sticker at, yea.

Yale took a transfer from non-T14 two years ago as well. They also give you need based aid to transfers, which can be very significant depending on your personal and parental situation.

Saying "don't even bother applying lol" is stupid. No one is really sure how they make their selections, and it's true most of their transfers come from top schools, but it's worth the shot.

I believe Harvard gives out need based aid to transfers as well, but I'm not entirely sure.

You have pretty good chances everywhere but Yale if you're #1, and great chances everywhere but Yale and Harvard if you're slightly below that.

YALEhopeful wrote:Those are the only schools I would pay sticker at, yea.

So you would pay sticker at UVA, but not Duke? Or Penn? Or NYU?

I'm not 100% convinced that transferring is the right call (depending on your career goals), but you've drawn a weird, arbitrary line in the sand here.

cavalier1138 wrote:

YALEhopeful wrote:Those are the only schools I would pay sticker at, yea.

So you would pay sticker at UVA, but not Duke? Or Penn? Or NYU?

I'm not 100% convinced that transferring is the right call (depending on your career goals), but you've drawn a weird, arbitrary line in the sand here.

I have personal reasons for preferring uva. I’m not gung ho about transferring so I’m picky about the schools I would transfer to.

Just wanted to know my odds at the schools I listed.