Top Law Schools

legends159 wrote:I'm always wondering, why do people think (and whether or not this is true is debatable) that HYS is somehow in a separate league than the rest of the T14?

I can understand Yale (at least to a greater extent) just because it's so hard to get in. You not only need amazing numbers but also be a unique flower. To a lesser extent Stanford, though with high enough grades you have a very good shot at SLS.

The difference between the average person at Harvard as opposed to CLS is probably 2 LSAT questions or a couple more A's as opposed to A-'s in UG. Is that really such a big deal? And plenty of people who are at CCN have identical or better numbers than some people at HYS.

I suppose at the end of the day it's the branding that matters not the quality of student.

That's humility which everyone has to respect. But as you say yourself, it's branding. I'm sorry but I don't believe that there is some intellectual difference between people at HYS and people at essentially any of the top 14. The fact is that branding matters--a bit too much actually. It's kind of ridiculous that this guy transferring to Harvard over Chicago could actually make a difference in what job he gets.

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Sorry to hijack your thread, but this seemed like the appropriate place to discuss transfer opportunities.

I just finished 1st semester at a top 30 PT program and currently have a GPA of 3.9. I received 8 credits for the 1st semester -- does anyone have any information on the effects that the reduced courseload would have on transfer chances?

Thanks!

edit: specifically, chances at EA transfer plans such as GULC and Chicago

thegrandinquisitor wrote:One more thing. Will a 3.0 ugpa (from a top school, huge upward trend) hurt me? My LSAT is in the 170s.

I got into pretty much the entire T14 sans HYS as a transfer from BC with a similar ugpa (/sigh engineering) and slightly lower LSAT (high 160s). I don't really think ugpa matters that much for transfers, although I heard Harvard is the one exception to this rule. As far as your initial question concerning Chicago ED, I definitely would NOT do it. If you maintain status quo, or even dip a little bit, you are pretty much still a lock for CCN, imo. Columbia and NYU are incredibly transfer-friendly. No reason to bind yourself to Chicago with such strong numbers. If your grades drop so badly 2nd semester that you wouldn't have gotten into Chicago without going the ED route, then it doesn't matter much anyways. Being an ED transfer at Chicago with terrible 2nd semester grades wouldn't put you in much better of position than if you stayed at Vandy, imo.

thegrandinquisitor wrote:One more thing. Will a 3.0 ugpa (from a top school, huge upward trend) hurt me? My LSAT is in the 170s.

No, actually I think it might help your case. You didn't get into a Top6 school because of that gpa most likely but your excellent 1L performance shows that maybe you should have, that your upward trend is really representative of your academic abilities. The upward trend matched with the 1L grades puts together a really compelling narrative for a transfer student: I messed up early in UG but I kept getting better and better and now having proven my self at a top-20 law school I'm ready to compete at the top level. I actually think your case is the most obvious transfer story. It doesn't make as much sense for Harvard to take some kid who got consistent Bs and B+s in college and a 168. However, it does make a lot of sense for them to say "hey, we couldn't accept you last year even though you had a good lsat (showing your intellectual capacities) because your early UG performance wasn't good enough. However, your 1L performance shows us now that we can feel justified in looking past your early mistakes." Its hard to judge what to make of the kid who was mediocre all through college and on the lsat; but its a lot easier to justify taking the kid who messed up early in college but improved a lot and did well on the lsat. This is a kid who clearly for whatever reason didn't perform up to his abilities early on but whose later grades and lsat show high abilities and who needed a 1L year to further prove these abilities. The kid who uses 1L grades to throw off the burden of bad grades as an 18 year old and continue an upward trend is the most natural transfer. Good for you.

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thegrandinquisitor wrote:I'm also interested in a C of A clerkship. Will Columbia and Chicago give me similar opportunities in that respect? Is there a difference in placement onto the 2nd, 7th, and 9th, and DC circuits? Are those spots so hard to get that the particular school you go to of CCN won't be what makes the difference anyway?

Chicago has a very clear advantage on the 7th circuit -- there are opportunities to take classes with the judges, other opportunities to take classes with close personal friends of the judges, etc.

NYU places really well in the 2nd and D.C. Circuits. From the NYU Law website:

Significantly, during the fall 2010 term, 45 NYU alumni will be clerking on the federal courts of appeals, including 7 on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and 10 on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In addition, 3 of the 10 clerks on the Delaware Court of Chancery, the nation’s preeminent forum for resolving business disputes, will be NYU graduates. NYU graduates have also clerked at the United States Supreme Court and at the International Court of Justice in the Hague.

Edit: I'm not sure how well Chicago and Columbia placed this year.

"somewhat of a prestige whore": make sure to include in your transfer app your affinity for the Brad Pitt fight club body with the option of upgrading the Ryan Reynolds Blade: Trinity body.

Laphroaig10yr wrote:"somewhat of a prestige whore": make sure to include in your transfer app your affinity for the Brad Pitt fight club body with the option of upgrading the Ryan Reynolds Blade: Trinity body.

Along the same lines, make sure there is something in there about Sauternes, long-stemmed strawberries, kale stir-fried in sesame oil, and your passion for classic Russian literature.

haaahahahaha

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