what to do to put self in best position to transfer? Forum

[rocketman]

Obviously, the standard response should be that a person shouldn't take out loans and enroll at a law school of which they wouldn't be satisfied with being at for 3 years - not smart betting on transferring.

I totally get that. I would be completely happy staying at the school at which I am enrolling. Still, I would like to do anything in my power to transfer up to a better school.

Other than studying my ass off to get the best grades possible, what else should I be doing from Day 1 to give myself the best chance?

[A'nold]

Other than following Arrow's Guide to owning 1L year, I guess you could try to build a relationship with a few prof's for LOR's. One thing that sucks for me is that I still have nothing lined up for 1L summer. I put in more effort on this front than most at my school, but likely less than the average TLS'er and it has me worried. I shouldn't be worrying about this (or posting on TLS for that matter) when I have finals in two weeks. So, I guess you could try securing 1L summer employment a little earlier. However, DO NOT allow that to affect your studying at all b/c for transfering, as well all know, grades are it.

[vanwinkle]

Other than studying my ass off to get the best grades possible, what else should I be doing from Day 1 to give myself the best chance?

Bolded is all you can do. 1L grades are 95% of your transfer app. Well, to be fair, a combination of your school ranking and your 1L grades is 95% of your transfer app; schools toward the top get more leeway than T2 and TTT schools.

Since you say you'd be happy staying where you're going, I won't admonish you about trying to plan on transferring. Instead I'll just tell you that what usually separates people out in law school is knowing how to take law school exams. Study that, and to study that, study what it means to "think like a lawyer". Read books on legal reasoning. I recommend Fred Schauer's "Thinking Like A Lawyer: A New Introduction to Legal Reasoning". There are other books out there that will help also.

Understand that you're going to have to do extremely well to transfer, that the odds of success are low, but that the same thing that'll help you in transferring will also help you be successful where you are. That, of course, is getting solid grades. So focus on that, and pretty much that alone. Study how to take exams while you're studying the material your 1L fall. That's the best way to prepare.

[rocketman]

Other than following Arrow's Guide to owning 1L year

Is this a book?

[rocketman]

Other than studying my ass off to get the best grades possible, what else should I be doing from Day 1 to give myself the best chance?

Bolded is all you can do. 1L grades are 95% of your transfer app. Well, to be fair, a combination of your school ranking and your 1L grades is 95% of your transfer app; schools toward the top get more leeway than T2 and TTT schools.

Since you say you'd be happy staying where you're going, I won't admonish you about trying to plan on transferring. Instead I'll just tell you that what usually separates people out in law school is knowing how to take law school exams. Study that, and to study that, study what it means to "think like a lawyer". Read books on legal reasoning. I recommend Fred Schauer's "Thinking Like A Lawyer: A New Introduction to Legal Reasoning". There are other books out there that will help also.

Understand that you're going to have to do extremely well to transfer, that the odds of success are low, but that the same thing that'll help you in transferring will also help you be successful where you are. That, of course, is getting solid grades. So focus on that, and pretty much that alone. Study how to take exams while you're studying the material your 1L fall. That's the best way to prepare.

Thanks. So in these 3 months before classes tip-off, I should be reading books on how to take exams? Other than the ones you provided, any other suggestions?

[vanwinkle]

Thanks. So in these 3 months before classes tip-off, I should be reading books on how to take exams? Other than the ones you provided, any other suggestions?

Well, that one worked for me, but other books on legal reasoning will help too. It'll probably be better to read a book on "legal reasoning" as a 0L (since it's written for you to understand) than it would be to read books on "taking exams" (since they assume you're already studying for exams). Save the exam-taking books (LEEWS, Getting to Maybe) for a few weeks into the semester, after you've already been studying some. If you really want you can try reading them before law school starts, but read them again after you do start, because they'll make more sense then.

Look around on here for book recommendations. Or just for exam-taking advice. There's plenty of good threads on the subject. As was mentioned, search for Arrow's thread, he gave some incredible advice on how to succeed in law school. I believe it can be found in the TLS Content Competitions forum.

[AtticusFinch]

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[futurelawyer413]

just like ive posted before (and I love doing this btw, lol) - im gona refer you to Arrows awesome Transfer thread - which I believe should answer most/all of your questions. give it a look when you get the chance!

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 22&t=82937

[JOThompson]

Was Getting to Maybe useful for any of you?

[thedogship]

Other than following Arrow's Guide to owning 1L year, I guess you could try to build a relationship with a few prof's for LOR's. One thing that sucks for me is that I still have nothing lined up for 1L summer. I put in more effort on this front than most at my school, but likely less than the average TLS'er and it has me worried. I shouldn't be worrying about this (or posting on TLS for that matter) when I have finals in two weeks. So, I guess you could try securing 1L summer employment a little earlier. However, DO NOT allow that to affect your studying at all b/c for transfering, as well all know, grades are it.

I'd be worried too if I were you. First or second "question" in every interview in the fall is "tell me about your legal experience this past summer."

[rocketman]

thanks a lot. I am reading through the Arrow thread right now.

[vanwinkle]

Was Getting to Maybe useful for any of you?

I found it marginally useful. More useful was the stuff posted to TLS, and talking to professors over the course of the semester. I've developed what I think is a very strong exam-taking strategy now and I'm going to use myself as the guinea pig on spring exams. We shall see.

[OmbreGracieuse]

I am bumping this so I can reference it later, just in case.