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Thank You for your information about transferring to another law school.

Does the Letter of Good Standing address your academic grade ?

Can a school use your transfer request against you ?

j.orlandoco wrote:Thank You for your information about transferring to another law school.

Does the Letter of Good Standing address your academic grade ?

Can a school use your transfer request against you ?

Your transcripts address your academic grades.
Generally schools do not use transfer requests against you.

Note that a lot of Deans would bitch and moan about having to write more than a handful of recommendations. Apparently, it is very difficult to copy and paste. Be persistent and they would yield.

j.orlandoco wrote:Thank You for your information about transferring to another law school.

Does the Letter of Good Standing address your academic grade ?

Can a school use your transfer request against you ?

The dean at my 1L school was very supportive of my decision to transfer. She knew I wanted to practice in Texas and all my family lived there, and knew what an honor it was to attend UT Law. I even dropped by her office to say hello when I went back to visit last fall. In no way did my transfer request count against me!

As for the letter itself, it's a pretty standard form letter that does not consider your academic progress unless you're in distress (which you won't be if you're trying to transfer).

Not that I'm a TLS veteran or anything but here's a few pointers I can give people considering a transfer.

1) Softs do matter. If you have excellent softs, it can boost you to your dream school even if your stats are slightly below what they're looking for. I can assure you I wouldn't have broken from TT into CCN without a solid 1L summer firm job and top notch LORs (yes, be attentive and participate).

2) Be careful about entering 1L with the intention of transferring, regardless of how high up you want to transfer. I know of two people in my section at my IL TT who did just that (ie they didn't get in to their regional TT and pursued a lateral transfer) and both got dinged. For one, yes 1L is always a curve and who knows where you will end up but I think there's also a psychological dimension to it. Question how well you think you''re gonna do if you're unhappy where you are and wishing each day to move. Yes, for some this adds the extra motivation to perform better but that isn't always the case.

Hope this helps!

KijiStewart wrote:Not that I'm a TLS veteran or anything but here's a few pointers I can give people considering a transfer.

1) Softs do matter. If you have excellent softs, it can boost you to your dream school even if your stats are slightly below what they're looking for. I can assure you I wouldn't have broken from TT into CCN without a solid 1L summer firm job and top notch LORs (yes, be attentive and participate).

2) Be careful about entering 1L with the intention of transferring, regardless of how high up you want to transfer. I know of two people in my section at my IL TT who did just that (ie they didn't get in to their regional TT and pursued a lateral transfer) and both got dinged. For one, yes 1L is always a curve and who knows where you will end up but I think there's also a psychological dimension to it. Question how well you think you''re gonna do if you're unhappy where you are and wishing each day to move. Yes, for some this adds the extra motivation to perform better but that isn't always the case.

Hope this helps!

While I do believe LOR, summer employment, and personal statement have a greater affect in transferring (primarily because only top students are applying), your GPA was right at the 50th percentile, so it's not like you had a 3.55 and were somehow saved by your softs.

Arrow wrote:Now, the 2 trouble schools that I know of are GULC and Harvard. Both schools say that if you want to participate in law review, you have to do it in May. This basically means that you really “can’t” try out for law review. You would have to be insane to do their law review when you have not been accepted into their law school. Plus you may have to do your own law review competition at the same time. Finals may not even over for some schools when the law review competition begins at GULC/Harvard. Thus, their claims that you can do law review, are kind of unrealistic (correct me here if my observation is wrong).

Just a note that a transfer student did write on to HLR within the last few years. It's definitely unrealistic for many applicants, but if you're actually competitive for Harvard and you're not spraying transfer apps everywhere (e.g., you're already at a T14 or something), it might be worth the attempt.

Further: if you make HLR, that information gets forwarded to the admissions office. I have no idea how much it affects your admission chances, but it can't hurt.

Hello all,

I wanted to get some advice or recommendations. I will be starting southwestern law school this fall (in Los Angeles) and have in mind working my buns off and transferring to NYU. It's always been my dream. But would like to know even with a great GPA is it not possible because I am not going to school in the NY area? Thank You

thepaperchase wrote:Hello all,

I wanted to get some advice or recommendations. I will be starting southwestern law school this fall (in Los Angeles) and have in mind working my buns off and transferring to NYU. It's always been my dream. But would like to know even with a great GPA is it not possible because I am not going to school in the NY area? Thank You

I would retake lsat. This sounds like the worst idea ever.

thepaperchase wrote:Hello all,

I wanted to get some advice or recommendations. I will be starting southwestern law school this fall (in Los Angeles) and have in mind working my buns off and transferring to NYU. It's always been my dream. But would like to know even with a great GPA is it not possible because I am not going to school in the NY area? Thank You

Sorry to say, but this a terrible idea. You have almost no chance of transferring to NYU from Southwestern (you would need to be probably top 5-10 in your entire class). I know that everyone thinks they can do it "if I work my buns off," but in reality, it doesn't work that way. It's a huge risk. Why not "work your buns off" and retake the LSAT and go to NYU outright or at least a school that gives you more than a needle-in-haystack chance at NYU?

If you look at NYU's transfer data, there were absolutely ZERO transferring students from Southwestern's ranking/range.

Does anyone have a sample "Transfer Personal Statement" ?