How many of you were able to transfer and get law review or a decent journal? Success at OCI?

Staff Editor on a secondary journal, V20 SA from OCI

Quite a bit of success for transfers on journals here. Everyone who wanted biglaw got it. (40% of the transfer class received at least one V5 offer, to boot.)

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Just curious tww909, how many transfers did you have at HYS and were they all from T1?

BTW: Excellent album on your avatar. I was thiiiiiis close to being a jazz musician. Love that stuff.

isn't HYS three schools?

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no you don't!

...right?

I am Articles Editor on the flagship Law Review. No OCI. As a general rule, OCI is not available to transfers at most schools (though there are some notable exceptions). But even if OCI is available, it occurs to soon for transfers to benefit in any meaningful way. If you transfer and make a journal, try to publish your written work (Note and any seminar papers etc)

Incidentally, my grades slipped 2L and then rebounded in a big way 3L (my 2L GPA was 3.33 and my 3L GPA is 4.14 thus far)

This poast is full of misinformation re transfer OCI. Transfer OCI at higher-ranked schools can be quite lucrative, and amongst the top schools, transfers do extremely well.

Edit: I'm not aware of any school (read: one worth going to if you're going to rely on OCI for a jerb) that does not allow transfers to participate at OCI.

What is this misinformation regarding transfer OCI?

1) OCI not being available to transfers is the exception, not the general rule. I believe Cornell and Fordham are the only schools in the T50 that don't allow transfers to do OCI.
2) There is plenty of evidence that there is a bump just from transferring to chances at OCI.

+1. I know many in my transfer class that had more than a few offers at a T20 OCI.

Before I transferred, I was in the top 18% of my class. Now, I am sitting at 98%. No joke.

Plenty of schools say they allow transfers to do "OCI". The problem arises when Phase I of OCI (the only phase that matters) is not available to transfers.

"Phase I" being bidding? I think you need to recheck your facts, man. Allowing transfers to put in bid lists is definitely the norm.

First round of interviews, which generally takes place in August before classes start, and often before transfers know they are attending that particular school.

First rounds are usually like mid-late August for many schools, IIRC. Transfers should be prepared for OCI before getting admitted, however, especially if decisions don't come out until near the deadline for bidding. Moreover, since most schools do rolling admissions, it's really on the applicant to get applications done early/ready to go when grades come out (again, the exception being schools that don't release grades until really late, etc.) and thereby maximize the possibility of hearing back sooner. Thus, the transfer applicant should be doing preemptive work both before applying and being admitted.

To be sure, some schools continue to admit students after their bidding deadlines. Some schools, however, give transfers a "special" extended bidding deadline. For schools that do not, students should take that into consideration before transferring. It's on the applicant to weigh the pros and cons of such a situation (IMO, probably not worth it).

Re transfer OCI and timing: if you're transferring to take advantage of OCI, you should already have all your shit ready to roll before transferring (e.g. cover letter templates, resume, references, etc.). Moreover, transfers should be prepared to put in LOTS of work in firm research, writing targeted cover letters, etc., in getting ready for OCI...even if that means spending days/nights in front of the computer.

The deadlines, for many schools including mine, have been trending toward the beginning of August. It's kind of like the presidential primaries. Everyone wants first dibs.

What school range did you transfer to?

This is definitely not accurate. Out of the top 20 schools, I think Cornell is the only one where transfers can't participate in the main part of OCI. Most schools in this range admit their transfer classes in early to mid July. See the 2010 transfer OCI thread which is stickied, as well as this thread for 2011:

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=163499

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It doesn't really matter what school I attend. The reality is that firms are demanding to see students sooner and sooner in the process, to the detriment of transfers. If it hasn't happened yet at the top schools, it will.

Other poasters ITT corrected the misinformation without insult. Kind of a weak jab there, Helm.

Okay, so 19 of the top 20 schools technically allow their transfers to participate in the main part of OCI. That says nothing about whether they actually get jobs. I hear that at Georgetown, for example, the OCI outcomes for transfers are especially poor.