Transfer to Northwestern worth it? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Currently at a t25 around the top 20% probably (school only ranks 1-15% and 16-35%) and was accepted to Northwestern last week. I'm on half scholly but with COA loans I'm taking out ~$60k+ currently per year. Northwestern would be $95k. Thus, it would be roughly $70k more over the next two years before interest. Goal is NYC biglaw, but I'd be okay with just getting biglaw generally.

I'm still waiting on Penn and CCN, but my deposit deadline for NW is next week and I'm trying to get as much input as possible before dropping $750. Any input is appreciated!

[decimalsanddollars]

Given the relatively low marginal cost, I'd say transferring is probably worth it. Even NW greatly improves your chances in NYC and Chicago biglaw with your current stats, and obviously Penn/CCN would be an extra boost overall and especially in NYC. Assuming you want to transfer, the $750 payment is clearly worth it regardless of where else you get in. I'd solicit advice from NW transfers/recent OCI people for how well transfers do at OCI, but in this market, you could use any advantages you can get for a pitch to biglaw.

[AbbreviationsOpening]

You could use your acceptance at Northwestern to negotiate your scholarship at your current school.

[nwtransfer]

PM me if you have questions

[Anonymous User]

Any clue how to go about looking for a scholarship bump? It worked great for during the first admissions process but I'm unsure of who to even talk to and how to approach it.

[CSKLawz]

FWIW, anecdotally, the transfers I knew at NU did well during OCI or 3L OCI. Some of the jobs paid below market, but not by much. Alternatively, I know a few T25 grads who have had a much harder time than these NU transfers. Saving $70k is definitely nice, but it depends what your options will be if you stay. Any amount of debt is bad if you don’t have the job to service it. Caveat: this was before the pandemic.

[KPUSN07]

FWIW, anecdotally, the transfers I knew at NU did well during OCI or 3L OCI. Some of the jobs paid below market, but not by much. Alternatively, I know a few T25 grads who have had a much harder time than these NU transfers. Saving $70k is definitely nice, but it depends what your options will be if you stay. Any amount of debt is bad if you don’t have the job to service it. Caveat: this was before the pandemic.

This is the key information that would sway my choice to transfer or stay in one or the other direction. It's nice to transfer out as long as the school you are transferring to can get that transfer a better tier job or the likelihood that you land that job is near certain than what was going to happen while staying at the original school.