Discrepancies in application narratives?
Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2015 12:29 pm
My background and reasons for transferring
I'm top 5-10% at a T1 school and I intend to apply for transfer admission to a T6 that rejected me last year.
My reasons for seeking transfer admission are several-fold. First, I'm interested in academia (long-run, particularly interested in teaching criminal law and researching applied punishment theory) and federal appellate clerkships (short-run), and I believe going to this T6 would better position me for those objectives (and to anticipate a question, I will be participating in the write-on competition for the law review at both schools). Second, my current school is very strong in the region, but not as strong in the markets I'm considering, and the T6 will have more recruitment options in that respect. Finally, I also have personal/family ties to this T6 and it is my dream school.
I should also note that the regional school I attend is in the same metropolitan area as the T6, so I would not have to relocate to attend. My spouse attends graduate school in the same city as the T6, so if anything, it would be more convenient for us because we could carpool together.
My concern
I understand that class-rank/grades is almost the sole consideration in transfer admissions. However, my concern is whether there is still a need to form a cohesive narrative among my "soft" factors within my transfer personal statement, and whether there is a need to reconcile the narrative between my transfer application for this year and 1L application from last year.
More concretely, what I mean:
My 1L application emphasized a commitment to public service in a particular area of criminal law (interest in restorative and rehabilitative justice), and my resume contained several years of exclusively federal government and political positions-the Hill, executive agencies, political campaigns, etc.
My transfer application will add that I took criminal procedure as my 1L elective; however, it will also show that I am spending my first summer working in big law (focusing on white collar crime, but also doing other litigation and corporate). I pursued firm employment for primarily financial reasons and because I don't believe in working for free; I'm also curious about firm careers. I don't really see myself at a firm, long-term, but I also have this "you never know till you try it," mindset, and I know 1L summer is the best (and maybe the only) opportunity to experiment.
Any thoughts on how to reconcile my strongly expressed interest in my 1L application with the summer position I accepted? (on the assumption that the school will have both applications to consider) I don't want to come off as fickle or insincere. My long-term commitment hasn't changed; there's just this problem that the summer positions I would be passionate about on the face of things don't pay and I can't sustain that.
I'm top 5-10% at a T1 school and I intend to apply for transfer admission to a T6 that rejected me last year.
My reasons for seeking transfer admission are several-fold. First, I'm interested in academia (long-run, particularly interested in teaching criminal law and researching applied punishment theory) and federal appellate clerkships (short-run), and I believe going to this T6 would better position me for those objectives (and to anticipate a question, I will be participating in the write-on competition for the law review at both schools). Second, my current school is very strong in the region, but not as strong in the markets I'm considering, and the T6 will have more recruitment options in that respect. Finally, I also have personal/family ties to this T6 and it is my dream school.
I should also note that the regional school I attend is in the same metropolitan area as the T6, so I would not have to relocate to attend. My spouse attends graduate school in the same city as the T6, so if anything, it would be more convenient for us because we could carpool together.
My concern
I understand that class-rank/grades is almost the sole consideration in transfer admissions. However, my concern is whether there is still a need to form a cohesive narrative among my "soft" factors within my transfer personal statement, and whether there is a need to reconcile the narrative between my transfer application for this year and 1L application from last year.
More concretely, what I mean:
My 1L application emphasized a commitment to public service in a particular area of criminal law (interest in restorative and rehabilitative justice), and my resume contained several years of exclusively federal government and political positions-the Hill, executive agencies, political campaigns, etc.
My transfer application will add that I took criminal procedure as my 1L elective; however, it will also show that I am spending my first summer working in big law (focusing on white collar crime, but also doing other litigation and corporate). I pursued firm employment for primarily financial reasons and because I don't believe in working for free; I'm also curious about firm careers. I don't really see myself at a firm, long-term, but I also have this "you never know till you try it," mindset, and I know 1L summer is the best (and maybe the only) opportunity to experiment.
Any thoughts on how to reconcile my strongly expressed interest in my 1L application with the summer position I accepted? (on the assumption that the school will have both applications to consider) I don't want to come off as fickle or insincere. My long-term commitment hasn't changed; there's just this problem that the summer positions I would be passionate about on the face of things don't pay and I can't sustain that.