I have done a lot of research on the pros and cons of transferring law schools. Currently I am a finishing 1L at Thomas Jefferson. I have not recieved all of my grades for this last semester but first semester I finished top 13% and this semester out of the four grades I have i have drastically imporved my gpa and hopefully will break into the top 10%. I have intererst in transferring to a LA law school, first of which on my list is UCLA.

Does anyone have any constructive information on what kind of chances I have, different from other posts, on transferring to UCLA from a T4 when im in the top 10%??

Additionally, I think I have a decent shot at Loyola Law school, and any transfer information, such as OCI oppurutunites to transfers would be great.

Any information helps and thanks.

You will definitely get into LMM, several kids my year made that jump from TJ, each was in the top 10-15%, I think.

UCLA is going to be much harder unless you crack the top 5%.

Can go from a tier 2 like USD or LMU to UCLA in top 15%. It is worth applying.

But TJ does not have much pull in the world. I would look at USD, Pepperdine or LMU the tier 2s.You can look at Hastings or Davis


But get out of there you will do so much better at a tier 2!!

So your saying definetely go to Loyola if I get in? Do the poor ranking of TJ and its bad passage rate have a substantial effect on getting into a decent law firm?

Do you think I have a chance to mjake UCLA if I am in top 10% at TJ considering it is another CA law school?

Thanks guys

You are not going to get into a any midsized or big law firm from TJ it is out of reach completely. You need to transfer out and up. Apply broadly.

The broad statement that it is "out of reach completely" is not correct, but it will be extremely difficult. If you are in a position at TJ to compete for one of these jobs, ex: top 5%, transferring to a school like Loyola is not a gold ticket, outside of the top 5% at Loyola those students probably aren't landing big firm jobs either.

My strategy when I was leaving TJ was: 1) t14 + USC/UCLA go for sure, 2) homestate t30 where I still had in-state tuition go for sure, then 3) stay at TJ, take increased scholly, minimize debt, and hustle.

What kind of OCI does TJ have. I know USD's is rather pathetic cant imagine it being much better. I think at Loyola top 10% makes you competitive at OCI. But I think that if you can transfer out you would have a much better opportunity in getting jobs.

According to NALP only 1 firm visits TJ and there is only 1 partner at Porcopio from TJ. I think you should apply and see what your options are.

How were you viewed at CAL during OCI with TJ as your 1L school? Did you have to explain why you transfered?

Apply to UCLA & to USC.

For all intents and purposes, TJ does not have OCI. Any firm jobs coming from there will be completely due to hustle on the part of the student. Outside of the top 30 (being generous) schools, OCI should not be relied on by anyone to get a job, so certainly nobody at USD/TJ/Cal Western should expect anything there. When I was doing my firm research I was able to find a few TJ folk throughout some big firms in SD, no idea if any are still there or not (its been 2 years).

I would strongly urge OP to apply broadly, I was not suggesting otherwise. It is just isn't a clear cut answer to for sure leave without knowing the scholarship/potential debt situation. I laid out my perspective in my last post based on what my situation was, OP hasn't said anything about his yet.

OCI was rough for me but I don't think it was 100% due to TJ being my 1L school. Certainly some firms scoffed right away but when you are doing ~50 interviews, everybody is going to get auto-dinged from places for varying reasons. I also did not have any post-college work experience and was from out of state. It was obvious to most why I transferred, I had the opportunity to attend Cal. A good rule of thumb is that firms will view you as you being a candidate from your old school with a slight, very slight, bonus for taking the initiative and transferring.

First off I fully appreciate all the feed back guys, trying to weigh my options because I would like to tranfer out of TJ but in case I dont make it to UCLA, I want to make sure that Loyola or Davis or even possibly Hasings/Pepperdine would be worth the move to LA/Malibu/San Fran.

As to my 1L experiance at TJSL, after doing very well my first semester, I mass applied to all areas of law and got a response from one firm. I got the internship but the firm attornyes were from TJ so that was why and they ONLY screened at TJ.

@LawSchool, i appreciate your checklist of where to apply...Obviously I have no shot at anything above USC/UCLA, and my LOR are taking longer than expected so USC, because of their early June 22nd deadline may be out of the question. Further, If you dont mind me asking, where to you transfer to out of TJ? Also like you said if landing a medium size/large size firm job is not really possible outside the top 5% at Loyola or even Pepperdine, I cant see passing up a 1/2-3/4 tuition scholarship at TJ, obv less debt is always better.

I am going to apply to all, mostly because a few of those schools have free application periods right now. Further, I just want to make sure having to pay the full 40,000+ tuition at another law school ranked between 45-52 is worth it if the job prospects are really not much better.

And @jarofsoup, where did you attend Law School and what is your position on OCI's from your school? DId you transfer?
Again thanks for the postings guys, this is truely helping me out...

I transferred from TJ to Cal, graduating class of 2012.

I can't speak for the specifics of job prospects from Loyola/Pepperdine/Davis and I was just generalizing, I would suggest checking out some of the old OCI threads for better info. I do think it is safe to assume the OCI at these schools are looking to cherry pick the best of the 1L class at that school, so transfers would likely struggle there. However, that is not the only way to get a job.

When you say "cal" do you mean california western?

Cal usually refers to Berkeley. The original UC.

Wow thats awesome. What was your rank at TJ, if thats not to personal??

Most likely in the top 3% or better. I'm also from tjsl looking to transfer. Top 5% first semester and pulled the same gpa second semester. Hopefully we get the official transcript and ranking out soon.