Various School Transfer Info Forum

[kings84_wr]

So one worry I hadnt thought so much about is the issue of deposits and withdrawing. I know several schools require for their deposit that you commit and withdraw all other apps. So my worry is getting in to one of those schools in early july and having to either withdraw or risk not getting accepted at other schools.

[krogers]

some of those numbers in the OP are completely incorrect. but i wont bother to correct which ones because dont want to out self.

[kings84_wr]

Im assuming by numbers you mean matriculation numbers. I just posted the most up to date info from LSAC, so it very well could be from a few years ago.

[A'nold]

So one worry I hadnt thought so much about is the issue of deposits and withdrawing. I know several schools require for their deposit that you commit and withdraw all other apps. So my worry is getting in to one of those schools in early july and having to either withdraw or risk not getting accepted at other schools.

I can really see this being an issue for you, with HYS in arm's reach. For me, Vandy and up would be a feat so I would likely be o.k. sending in a deposit to any t14ish school that accepts me.

[kings84_wr]

So one worry I hadnt thought so much about is the issue of deposits and withdrawing. I know several schools require for their deposit that you commit and withdraw all other apps. So my worry is getting in to one of those schools in early july and having to either withdraw or risk not getting accepted at other schools.

I can really see this being an issue for you, with HYS in arm's reach. For me, Vandy and up would be a feat so I would likely be o.k. sending in a deposit to any t14ish school that accepts me.

How many are you going to apply to?

[A'nold]

So one worry I hadnt thought so much about is the issue of deposits and withdrawing. I know several schools require for their deposit that you commit and withdraw all other apps. So my worry is getting in to one of those schools in early july and having to either withdraw or risk not getting accepted at other schools.

I can really see this being an issue for you, with HYS in arm's reach. For me, Vandy and up would be a feat so I would likely be o.k. sending in a deposit to any t14ish school that accepts me.

How many are you going to apply to?

If I stay in the 1-5% range I will likely apply to:

Berkeley
Penn
Mich
NU
Duke
Cornell
GULC- already applied as you guys know
UCLA
Vandy
UW-Seattle


If I slip, I don't really know, but I'll probably look at Minn/Emory/ND/BU

You? Chicago-HYS?

[kings84_wr]

Berkeley, Chicago, HYS, Maybe UCLA (since I probably want to practice in Socal)

[A'nold]

Berkeley, Chicago, HYS, Maybe UCLA (since I probably want to practice in Socal)

What do you think about the whole "is UCLA worth it now" situation for transfers? I know Berkeley is a given, but UCLA seems to be in a grey area. We do have family in the area and CA would be our 2nd choice state to build a future.....

[kings84_wr]

Berkeley, Chicago, HYS, Maybe UCLA (since I probably want to practice in Socal)

What do you think about the whole "is UCLA worth it now" situation for transfers? I know Berkeley is a given, but UCLA seems to be in a grey area. We do have family in the area and CA would be our 2nd choice state to build a future.....

I think it depends on where you want to practice. I may be totally off on this, but I would think UCLA places better in SoCal then the lower end of the T14. Im not sure about the west coast in general. For me, Im also counting still getting in state, but Im not sure if I would or not.

[A'nold]

Berkeley, Chicago, HYS, Maybe UCLA (since I probably want to practice in Socal)

What do you think about the whole "is UCLA worth it now" situation for transfers? I know Berkeley is a given, but UCLA seems to be in a grey area. We do have family in the area and CA would be our 2nd choice state to build a future.....

I think it depends on where you want to practice. I may be totally off on this, but I would think UCLA places better in SoCal then the lower end of the T14. Im not sure about the west coast in general. For me, Im also counting still getting in state, but Im not sure if I would or not.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it would open doors not available to me at the top of the class from "you know where. (haha)" Only like 4 students out of the entire school got jobs relying entirely on grades with big firms this last OCI season. It's not all about the big firms for me, but just the idea that the school is so un-sought after and that OCI is non-existent makes it almost a no-brainer.

[krogers]

Regarding UCLA vs. T14 for SoCal, that stuff just isn't true about superior placement. There's a thread on xo somewhere where students discussed how some LA offices raised their GPA cutoffs for UCLA (to something like a 3.6--insane). These cutoffs simply didn't exist at the T10 (or, if they did exist, they were a lot lower).

[heyguys]

For YLS, the law review prospects are scant--I've spoken with a transfer student about it, and he says that it's a fair process, but that they don't save very many spots for transfers.

[kings84_wr]

Regarding UCLA vs. T14 for SoCal, that stuff just isn't true about superior placement. There's a thread on xo somewhere where students discussed how some LA offices raised their GPA cutoffs for UCLA (to something like a 3.6--insane). These cutoffs simply didn't exist at the T10 (or, if they did exist, they were a lot lower).

But we are talking about transfer placement, the gpa cut offs really wouldn't apply since they wouldn't have a gpa from UCLA. And I also said lower end of the T14, not T10.

[krogers]

But we are talking about transfer placement, the gpa cut offs really wouldn't apply since they wouldn't have a gpa from UCLA. And I also said lower end of the T14, not T10.

I'd assume it's even worse for transfers at that point...

[Zeph]

Great thread, thanks a lot!

agreed, thanks for the info!

[samiseaborn]

does anyone know the min/max credit requirements for transferring? Is it an ABA thing, or per school preference?

[kings84_wr]

Im pretty sure the max credit is per school, it can get messy especially when it comes to schools that are on the quarter system.


Here's something i found looking through old threads

http://blogs.law.yale.edu/blogs/admissi ... sfers.aspx

Changing the Scene

Dear Asha,

I am interested in transferring from my current law school to Yale. Do you have any comments for those of us who are willing to make the jump and apply to transfer to YLS? In particular, what are you looking for in a transfer applicant that you would not look for in a regular applicant (I know law school GPA/class rank is a big part of the process)? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

A.F.

Dear A.F.,

You ask a great question, since our transfer application process is somewhat different than our process for first-year students.

First, as background, we accept transfer applications from May 1 to July 1 of each calendar year, for matriculation in August of the same year as a second-year student. In order to be eligible for transfer you must have completed the equivalent of one year of law school at an ABA-accredited law school.

Unlike our regular admissions process, our transfer admissions process has one centralized Admissions Committee that reviews all of the applications together. We release all of our decisions around the third week of July; there are no rolling admissions. In order to complete a transfer application, you must submit a $75 application fee, the transfer application, a transcript with your grades for your full first year of law school, and two letters of recommendation (and yes, the application still includes the 250-word essay). Note that since often spring grades do not make it on to your transcript by our application deadline, we will accept an unofficial version of your grades (e.g., computer printout/email) for purposes of review; these will be verified through an official transcript in the event you are offered admission.

You are correct that in reviewing transfer applications, we put a lot of weight on your first term grades and GPA. Your LSAT and undergraduate GPA are not particularly relevant: this is because these are predictors of your performance in your first year of law school, and in the case of transfers we actually have your first year grades in front of us. We also place a great deal of weight on your recommendations from your law school professors; more than wanting to know the grade you received in the class (which we can obviously see from your transcript), we are interested in knowing how you performed in class discussions, the quality of your writing, and how you compared with other students in the class and in the professor's experience teaching. To this end, it is important to try to get to know at least a couple of professors personally during your first year, in order to submit the strongest transfer application possible.

We do not have a fixed number of transfers that we take in any given year. Rather, we admit the strongest applications we receive each year, space permitting, which has in recent years ranged from 5 to 15 students from institutions such as Georgetown, Harvard, Pepperdine, Stanford, Tulane, and Washington University. Generally speaking, these students were in the top 5-10% of their first year class.

As with students taken off of our wait list, students who have been accepted for transfer will have a limited window of time in which to make a decision (usually about a week to ten days). We encourage transfer applicants to visit Yale early if seeing the campus will be critical to the decision whether to accept the offer. Unfortunately, we do not have classes over the summer and most students and professors are gone, but the building and library are open to visitors. Self-guided tours are available through the Admissions Office.

Lastly, transfer students who are interested in being on the Yale Law Journal can "try out" (i.e., take a Bluebook exam and complete a writing exercise) in the first few weeks of class. Only the Yale Law Journal has a competitive process; all of our other journals are open to any interested student, including transfers.

I hope this is helpful, and I look forward to reading your application this summer!

[sanpiero]

Does anyone have an opinion on what schools outside the T10 are a good fit for someone who wants to work at a SF bay area firm? Intuition tells me this would go to Davis and Hastings but maybe grads from UCLA and USC are just as successful in this respect? What about schools like Cornell, GULC, and ND? I posted here b/c I'm considering transferring to one of these schools and figured a reader of this thread might have already researched this question or might be familiar with firm hiring in SF. TYIA

[traydeuce]

Wait, did Yale say in that letter they put more weight on first semester grades? Why?

[dbt]

Where do Yale and Stanford say they require 2 LORs from law professors. I got that they want 2 LORs, one from law prof, one from another.

[kings84_wr]

Where do Yale and Stanford say they require 2 LORs from law professors. I got that they want 2 LORs, one from law prof, one from another.

I dont think i have Yale as two from law profs, I just got the sense that they wanted Law profs to write them. Mainly because the article i cited above says "We also place a great deal of weight on your recommendations from your law school professors" which implies more then one LOR from law profs.

Stanford does say 1 from a law prof, I either completely misread that, or got it from old data. the thing with Stanford too remember is you have to send in the LOR's individually to the school with their own special form.

[dbt]

Where do Yale and Stanford say they require 2 LORs from law professors. I got that they want 2 LORs, one from law prof, one from another.

I dont think i have Yale as two from law profs, I just got the sense that they wanted Law profs to write them. Mainly because the article i cited above says "We also place a great deal of weight on your recommendations from your law school professors" which implies more then one LOR from law profs.

Stanford does say 1 from a law prof, I either completely misread that, or got it from old data. the thing with Stanford too remember is you have to send in the LOR's individually to the school with their own special form.

ok no problem I just wanted to make sure since I only have one law prof writing a rec and I don't want to "burn any bridges" with any other profs in case I decide to stay/don't get in.

[Lawl Shcool]

ok no problem I just wanted to make sure since I only have one law prof writing a rec and I don't want to "burn any bridges" with any other profs in case I decide to stay/don't get in.

I wouldn't worry about "burning bridges." I have spoken with all my profs about transferring just to get more perspectives on the decision and all have been very encouraging. I highly doubt any have or will hold it against me because all of them went to top schools and understand the value of graduating from a great school. FWIW most of my profs have said that if I get the opportunity, to go in a heartbeat.

[ZXCVBNM]

Wait, did Yale say in that letter they put more weight on first semester grades? Why?

by "first term grades" i think she meant your grades from the entire first year even though she said GPA right after which seems repetitive. But if you think about it, there are different ways to get to a 3.7. All A's and a C. Half A's and half A-'s. Maybe it makes a difference to them.

[dcpolitico]

Wait, did Yale say in that letter they put more weight on first semester grades? Why?

by "first term grades" i think she meant your grades from the entire first year even though she said GPA right after which seems repetitive. But if you think about it, there are different ways to get to a 3.7. All A's and a C. Half A's and half A-'s. Maybe it makes a difference to them.

I would prefer someone with all A's and a C and who included an addendum as to why the C was undeserved.