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Lurker, 1st post.


Not sure if this is the best place to put this, but hopefully someone can direct me elsewhere if it is not. I was unable to find an analogous situation to mine from searching the forum, but if this has already been discussed, you may feel free to direct me there.

I transferred from Penn after my first year of college (due to a variety of reasons: personal (long distance relationship), incompatibility with hyper-competitive student attitude, dislike of the Northeast). My grades were good (LSAC GPA: 4.06), hard science/math courses

I transferred to U.Va. largely because of the environment, the presence of my sig other here, and collegiality of the atmosphere. I have prepared a brief transfer addendum, but I'm not sure if I should use it or not. I have omitted the personal aspects of my transfer, not sure if that is the proper decision or not. I have excelled here as well( LSAC GPA: 4.19, BS in Chemistry) and I really have enjoyed the people and the environment here.

I am wondering if law schools will want to see an explanation of why I transferred out of the Ivy League (my instinct would be to say yes). Additionally, I am not sure if I should include the personal (relationship) aspect of my transfer or not. I feel that that may come off as unprofessional even though it was an important factor (but not the only factor) in my transfer decision.

Thanks for any help/advice you can offer.

Why call attention to an insignificant matter ?

That's the heart of my question, I suppose. Is this transfer insignificant?

Absolutely no reason at all to write an addendum. They wont care in the slightest why you transferred. Your grades are good and that's all they care about.

That's encouraging. Is that general consensus? I went to the Penn/Chicago/Mich admission presentation, one of their mock "candidates" had transferred, and I recall them saying something like, "It would have been nice if he had explained the transfer." They didn't say that it was absolutely critical though.

In your case, the transfer is not that important for purposes of law school admissions. If you transferred from Princeton to a community college, then an addendum might help.

Most adcomms understand that both Penn & Virginia are outstanding undergraduate schools with different environments.

Thanks for the advice. I was probably over thinking things given my proximity to the situation and appreciate input from your less biased perspectives.