heyguys wrote:I definitely suggest you do a substantial amount of research to know exactly what you're getting yourself into. I think that if you do adequate reading regarding this issue, you will find that schools like that are in no way, shape, or form worth the investment. Even for those who say 'I've always wanted to be a lawyer,' these schools are not worth the investment. I don't mean to condescend, but they are really scams....honestly, it bugs me just to think about it.
My advice to you would be to retake the LSAT and try to get into a state school in a region that you wouldn't mind working in. It is possible to transfer from a T4 to a T14, but I think it would have to go beyond grades and really get into excellent teacher evals from law professors and whatnot as well. And 0Ls tend not to be honest with themselves: no one enters law school thinking 'I'm going to be one of the ones at median,' when the fact of the matter is that by definition not everyone is going to be at the top of the class.
I had a friend who was planning on going to a T4 and transferring, and I basically talked him out of going to law school until he got into a cheap state school. Now, he's at a state school, not taking on a ton of debt, and is doing just fine.
I know in some ways this is tangential to the specific question you asked, but please just understand the risk you're taking. Again, I'm not trying to snark, but these schools like Cooley etc. are simply very poor investments.
Actually, MSU and Wayne are like the state schools you're talking about. I'm assuming OP is from Michigan based on the schools listed, and tuition is $22k/yr for Wayne, $26/yr for Cooley ($17k/yr with the scholarship for your LSAT) and $31k/yr for MSU. UDM is a bad investment at $30k/yr, but the others aren't that bad. I'd probably recommend Wayne out of the bunch, though Cooley's pretty cheap, too. Those schools are nearly as bad as T3/T4's that charge $40k+. You can't bank on being able to transfer, but you won't be crippled if you end up graduating from one of the above...