I am a 1L who is transferring. I have gotten into UCLA and GULC so far and anticipate probably getting into UCB as well (not entirely sure but figure I may as well sort this out beforehand because I'm sure I'll have to decide quickly if I want to get in for OCI)
UCLA has always been my dream. I love LA and am fairly certain I want to do Big Law there. I have never been to DC; I am from SF and have lived there all of my life.
My intuition I think is saying UCLA because I can't imagine that Georgetown's +2 ranking on UCLA will outweigh being in the geo region I want to work in. However, I want to make sure I consider all of my options as fully as possible. I'm a little nervous because maybe I would love GULC and I just don't know because I've never been to DC. I think GULC has better Big Law placement in general... however, I finished my 1L year in the top 15% of a well-regarded T1 in CA so I think that makes my employment prospects analysis a little different than a normal incoming 1L. I'm assuming that since I already have great grades I don't have to worry as much about job placement for Big Law? I thought Big Law placement %s spoke to how deep Big Law firms go into the 2L class rankings... and since I already have a good GPA I should be somewhere with the top of the class at either school as far as those interviews are concerned. is that right or no? I actually have no idea how this works for transfers and the career offices haven't really helped lol. UCLA told me that their transfers generally do as well if not better than the rest of the class because they have competitive stats.
Also going to throw in UCB into the analysis now just to get through with it. IF I get into UCB, would it make sense to go there > UCLA even though my goal is big law in SoCal? I do NOT want to end up back in NorCal.
Any help would be appreciated, thank you!
