I got into Duke and Cornell (class of 2015), but want to transfer to schools in or near NYC the second year for personal reasons.
How much percentile I need to get at Duke/Cornell to be able to transfer to Penn/NYU/Columbia, respectively?
I am choosing between Duke and Cornell, and the feasibility of transferring to schools in/near NYC weighs a lot in my decision.
Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks a lot!!

What a terrible idea. It's impossible to know for sure. Probably top 15% or so.

Don't go to law school with the intention of transferring, and don't ask about transferring as a 0L.

Either suck it up and stay with Duke/Cornell which will both probably get you to NYC after graduation anyway (and if you happen to do well then you can consider a transfer), or just wait a year, retake, and try to get into CLS/NYU from the beginning

At least from what I've seen, if you don't constantly try to do as well as you can in law school, then you're not going to do well. Even at that, everyone else in your class is intelligent and will also be working very hard, so you need to be ready to accept that you might not be at the top of your class, even if you put more effort into law school than anything you've ever done before.

The question is also extremely odd - there's no magic cutoff where acceptance is guaranteed. Again, if you're working only to hit a specific quota, then you most likely won't hit it. Just do as well as you can, and stop by next year when you have some numbers to work with.

Don't go to law school with the intention of transferring.

Also, if you really want NYC after graduation, Cornell will serve you better than Duke.

Why do you need to be in NYC? Just go to Cornell and then do a year or semester at Columbia or sonething

Go to Duke man. You'll love the experience plus upstate NY sucks. If you do well and know how to network NYC is not gonna too tough to make out of Duke esp. considering alumni look out for each other.

Retake

This is silly advice

These questions always crack me up. 9.5%???? How would you prepare for that? Just do your best. Hopefully you will do well enough that you can transfer. However the odds are NOT in your favor.

if you are high enough at cornell to transfer to Columbia, you will be getting a biglaw job from cornell. just go to school and do well and put transferring out of your head.

OP: Interesting LSAT scores: 169, 168 & 170 with a 3.8 GPA. Did you prepare using the same method for each of your three LSAT sittings ? Are you still on any waitlists ?

Congratulations on your Duke & Cornell acceptances.

My best guess is that top 25% with a solid reason for transferring is the minimum, but top third with a seriously ill relative needing your care might suffice (although I hope that this is not the case). Obviously, the higher your class rank, the more likely you are to be accepted as a transfer to Penn/NYU/Columbia.

Kwais makes an interesting point: If your class rank is high enough at Duke or Cornell to transfer to a T-6 law school, then you're probably leaving a lot of opportunities behind.

Ask Duke & Cornell about opportunities to study in NYC for a semester or an academic year. Check out whether or not Penn, NYU &/or Columbia permit visiting student status for third year law students from Cornell or Duke.