Lateral resume question for someone who transferred schools Forum

[Anonymous User]

I know that you should keep your transfer school on your resume until you graduate. But what do you do after you graduate? I don't want to misrepresent myself by making it seem like I went to one school all along.

I want to list my GPA and activities at my new school. I also want to list my 1L rank as well as the fact that I got CALIs in legal writing both semesters my 1L year. How would I put this on a resume without adding unnecessary lines? It's harder than you think...

Example:

Awesome Law 2012-2014
-GPA
-Activity
-Activity
-Completed 1L at Podunk Law. Rank: Top 10%. 2011-2012
-CALI award in XYZ.

The last two bullets look really cluttered.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Abbie Doobie]

why would you be misrepresenting yourself? your resume ins't a formal job application/background check where you are supposed to list everything you've ever done, it's a way of advertising your qualifications for the job you're applying. unless the job posting explicitly says no transfers, there is no point of keeping it on because no one is really going to care about cali awards after you graduate.

oh yeah and unless your school tells you that you have to keep your previous school on until you graduate, you don't have to do that either. my school actually told us to keep our previous school on for only the first semester after we transferred and then take it off.

[mjb447]

I agree that you can take it off your resume after you graduate. If it's a position where an employer cares at all what you did in law school (rare), I assume they'll ask for transcripts, and you can provide transcripts from both schools and they'll figure it out.

[Anonymous User]

Op here. How about my 1L rank? Isn't that important?

[mjb447]

Op here. How about my 1L rank? Isn't that important?

When you've subsequently graduated from a different law school, with the overall GPA from that school stated elsewhere? I don't think so.

[Anonymous User]

I was a transfer student. My school required it stay on my resume until after I graduated. However, I've kept it there even after I graduated. I've reduced it to simply be the two lines: the name of the school, and my GPA/Rank.

Why do I do this? Two reasons:
1) I heard a story from a friend (senior associate) that a partner he worked for was interviewing a candidate who was a previous transfer student. The partner noticed that the transcript reflected he transferred but the resume didn't. The partner felt that by the candidate taking it off, he was trying to hide something, and therefore was not trustworthy. He was otherwise an exceptionally qualified applicant, but because of this he was not hired.

2) I crushed it my 1L year at my previous school. I did way better there than I ended up doing over the next two years, and seeing as my 1L GPA is not factored into my graduating GPA, I'd rather them see it.

The way I look at it, if they see my transcript, they will see it - so I might as well just put it out there for them to see at the onset. If a firm is going to not consider me due to my transferring, than they probably wouldn't consider me with my median GPA that I graduated with. I'd rather try and get in by spinning how I constantly strive to do better and work harder.

Anyway, that's just my two cents. I have a friend that transferred and he took it off as soon as he transferred. His school actually recommended doing so. (However, the school he transferred to doesn't use grades). It's all up to you.