I am fairly confident that I will be accepted at the state school I went to undergrad at (in the 30's range), but I was wondering if anyone thinks I have a legit shot at T14 or Vandy/Emory, etc.
I am transferring from a T3 state school with a 3.64 GPA and top 11%. I would really love to go to Virginia, Duke or maybe Georgetown.
What is the best school I can transfer to? T3, 3.64, Top 11% Forum
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Anonymous Posting
Anonymous posting is only available to the creator of each thread. The anonymous posting feature is intended to permit the solicitation of anonymous advice regarding the transfer application process, chances of being accepted, etc. Unacceptable uses include: testing the feature, questions which are clearly fake or hypothetical in nature, harassing other users, etc. Posters should also read and understand the announcements posted at the top of the Transfers forum prior to using the anonymous feature.
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Anonymous Posting
Anonymous posting is only available to the creator of each thread. The anonymous posting feature is intended to permit the solicitation of anonymous advice regarding the transfer application process, chances of being accepted, etc. Unacceptable uses include: testing the feature, questions which are clearly fake or hypothetical in nature, harassing other users, etc. Posters should also read and understand the announcements posted at the top of the Transfers forum prior to using the anonymous feature.
Failure to follow these rules will get you outed, warned, or banned.
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Monticello
- Posts: 5
- Joined: Sun Mar 21, 2010 10:46 pm
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megaTTTron
- Posts: 980
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Re: What is the best school I can transfer to? T3, 3.64, Top 11%
And on the 8th day the Lord created Arrow. And it was good. And from the fingers of Arrow flowed a most helpful article that any student seriously considering transferring would read. Recreated here is the portion relevant to your answer. Ye.
IV. What are my chances?
This is quite the black box. If predicting regular admissions was hard, then this will be fun. We are not admissions officers, so the process continues to be shrouded in mystery. Sometimes, you will have the numbers but still get dinged. Most of my predictions below are based off what I have seen off the yahoo transfer apps (which is often incomplete because students do not update or completely fill out the tables).
Basically, your chances depend on three things:
1) 1L ranking/GPA, and
2) The current school you attend
3) Softs (this barely matters but still does)
Transferring is a numbers game (like your GPA/LSAT for regular admissions), but MUCH more so. Generally, the better your school is, the lower your ranking can be and vice versa. See below for details for general trends that I have noticed. Note that these are just estimates (and really just my guesses) on the rank required to get in. There are ALWAYS going to be exceptions.
To transfer into HYS you need:
-top 5-10% at a Top 20
-top 5% at T1
-top 1% at a mid-upper T2
-Other notes: People in the top 1% in the Top 20 generally have a lock on at least one of the holy trinity. I could not find a record of anyone in the lower T2/T3/T4 transferring into HYS. Yale and Stanford only appear to take people in the T1 and up. Also, people in the T2 who transfer to Harvard are pretty much always ranked #1. People have stated that HYS only takes transfers who had a shot as an undergrad. My guess is that this is partially true for YS but not H. I do believe that you need above average softs for HYS, but the data seems to show that numbers alone can do the job.
-according to XxSpyKEx, there was 1 guy who went to HYS from a T4 because he co-authored an article or something
-according to utilitarianjac, someone with a 4.0 from Pepperdine transferred to Yale
-xeoh85, who wrote the legendary article on doing well in law school, was #1 at UCLA and was accepted as a transfer at all of HYS
To transfer into the T14 you need:
-top 10-15% at T1, top 5-10% for CCN
-top 5-10% at a T2, top 5% for CCN
-top 1-2% at a T3/T4
-Other notes: Depending on how far up you want to transfer, you may even succeed if you are ranked top 20-30%. For example, if you are transferring up like 10-15 spots, top 20-30% maybe enough (like a lateral transfer). Also, people in the T3/T4 generally only have a shot at transfer friendly schools in the T14.
To transfer into the T1 you need:
-top 10-20% at a T2
-top 5-10% at T3
-top 5% at T4
-Other notes: Depending on just exactly where you are and how far up you want to transfer, you can again make the jump by being in the top 20-30%.
To transfer into the T2 you need:
-top 10-20% at a T3/T4
Other notes: Remember that much of the same standards for schools still apply. For example, Penn still prefers to take students that want to be there (even though yield protect is not a factor). Yale and Stanford are still incredibly hard to predict even with great numbers. Northwestern still likes students who have work experience and such. Lastly, if you are way above the percentile ranges listed above (for example, you are top 5% when I said top 10% or you are top 1% when I said top 5%) then you might be considered a “lock” if such a thing exists.
See http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... t=transfer.
IV. What are my chances?
This is quite the black box. If predicting regular admissions was hard, then this will be fun. We are not admissions officers, so the process continues to be shrouded in mystery. Sometimes, you will have the numbers but still get dinged. Most of my predictions below are based off what I have seen off the yahoo transfer apps (which is often incomplete because students do not update or completely fill out the tables).
Basically, your chances depend on three things:
1) 1L ranking/GPA, and
2) The current school you attend
3) Softs (this barely matters but still does)
Transferring is a numbers game (like your GPA/LSAT for regular admissions), but MUCH more so. Generally, the better your school is, the lower your ranking can be and vice versa. See below for details for general trends that I have noticed. Note that these are just estimates (and really just my guesses) on the rank required to get in. There are ALWAYS going to be exceptions.
To transfer into HYS you need:
-top 5-10% at a Top 20
-top 5% at T1
-top 1% at a mid-upper T2
-Other notes: People in the top 1% in the Top 20 generally have a lock on at least one of the holy trinity. I could not find a record of anyone in the lower T2/T3/T4 transferring into HYS. Yale and Stanford only appear to take people in the T1 and up. Also, people in the T2 who transfer to Harvard are pretty much always ranked #1. People have stated that HYS only takes transfers who had a shot as an undergrad. My guess is that this is partially true for YS but not H. I do believe that you need above average softs for HYS, but the data seems to show that numbers alone can do the job.
-according to XxSpyKEx, there was 1 guy who went to HYS from a T4 because he co-authored an article or something
-according to utilitarianjac, someone with a 4.0 from Pepperdine transferred to Yale
-xeoh85, who wrote the legendary article on doing well in law school, was #1 at UCLA and was accepted as a transfer at all of HYS
To transfer into the T14 you need:
-top 10-15% at T1, top 5-10% for CCN
-top 5-10% at a T2, top 5% for CCN
-top 1-2% at a T3/T4
-Other notes: Depending on how far up you want to transfer, you may even succeed if you are ranked top 20-30%. For example, if you are transferring up like 10-15 spots, top 20-30% maybe enough (like a lateral transfer). Also, people in the T3/T4 generally only have a shot at transfer friendly schools in the T14.
To transfer into the T1 you need:
-top 10-20% at a T2
-top 5-10% at T3
-top 5% at T4
-Other notes: Depending on just exactly where you are and how far up you want to transfer, you can again make the jump by being in the top 20-30%.
To transfer into the T2 you need:
-top 10-20% at a T3/T4
Other notes: Remember that much of the same standards for schools still apply. For example, Penn still prefers to take students that want to be there (even though yield protect is not a factor). Yale and Stanford are still incredibly hard to predict even with great numbers. Northwestern still likes students who have work experience and such. Lastly, if you are way above the percentile ranges listed above (for example, you are top 5% when I said top 10% or you are top 1% when I said top 5%) then you might be considered a “lock” if such a thing exists.
See http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... t=transfer.
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Monticello
- Posts: 5
- Joined: Sun Mar 21, 2010 10:46 pm
Re: What is the best school I can transfer to? T3, 3.64, Top 11%
So then, generally speaking, it would be a waste of time and money to send out transfer apps to any T14 schools?
Here is another question: Which would be better........
1. transferring to a state school in the 30's range where I have connections, am from there, could get in state cheap tuition, etc.............or
2. transferring to a private school (if I can get in) that is outside the T14, but still fairly prestigious like Vandy, Emory, GW, etc.
Here is another question: Which would be better........
1. transferring to a state school in the 30's range where I have connections, am from there, could get in state cheap tuition, etc.............or
2. transferring to a private school (if I can get in) that is outside the T14, but still fairly prestigious like Vandy, Emory, GW, etc.
