Top Law Schools

I ranked 11/248, 3.69 GPA which lands me in the top 5% at George Mason

164 LSAT and 3.55 UGPA also from George Mason

I want to transfer into a T14 school- what are my chances? any tips for transfers? I know I don't have much of a shot at HYS, but what about CCN? I've been looking around at the forums and it seems I have a really good shot at GULC. What about NYU/Chi/Duke/UVA? UVA is one of my top choices along with Columbia (which seems like a long shot). I get in-state in VA schools which is why UVA is on top of my list.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!!

I think you'd have an excellent shot at UVA, not sure about the others. Just a note though: in-state tuition at UVA is still nearly 40K.

Top 5%, I think you are into the T14 for sure (excellent shot at Georgetown)

The only question is whether you will get a hail mary acceptance to H.

also, i'm assuming you're still a 1l at Mason? You still have to do well this semester and keep your grades up if you want to transfer (i'm in the top 30% and am gunning like crazy this semester--you got your work cut out for you to keep that class rank! That said, I would already have applied to Georgetown with that good of a first semester (they do early acceptance where you get in on the strength of the first semester alone)-I wouldn't risk a lackluster 2nd semester

Yes I'm a 1L here at GMU. I hope I can keep up the grades- I have more motivation now knowing that the studying paid off. We have so many more people gunning this semester trying to get those bumps. I didn't get any bumps last semester, so I'm not really counting on them this time around. I just have to put in ALOT more time at the library to compete with everyone this time around~

I had no idea UVA tuition was so high for in-state... WOW that's double GMU. I don't think the tuition will keep me from going there but lower tuition would have been an added perk :-/

A hail mary pass from Harvard?! I can't even fathom that--- *sigh*--- one can only hope!!! I figured you had to be #1 in the class for something like that, or stanford or yale.

I am about to send in my EA GULC app. - wish me luck

See, I get the whole wanting to move up in the rankings thing, but dude, you are top 5% at George Mason. I would bet that you'd (pure speculation) be way better off being top 5% at Mason for OCI than a top 5% transfer from Mason at GULC.....I could see why you'd want to transfer to like Michigan and above, but the lower top 14 almost seems like a step down for you unless you are shooting for academia.

I don't want academia, I want BigLaw and I would like to practice in the DC area. I figured GULC would give me a better shot at that than GMU? If I get in to a higher T14 than GULC I'd do it.

Do employers look unfavorably at transfers?

AP86 wrote:I don't want academia, I want BigLaw and I would like to practice in the DC area. I figured GULC would give me a better shot at that than GMU? If I get in to a higher T14 than GULC I'd do it.

Do employers look unfavorably at transfers?

Just a guess from what I've seen over the years on these kinds of boards, but I'd think that a top 5% student with LR from GMU > transfer student to GULC, at least for 2L OCI purposes. If you want to be in D.C., then it seems like top 5% will do you very well from GMU.

Do you think its worth it to transfer to UVA? Or is it better just to stay put?

AP86 wrote:Do you think its worth it to transfer to UVA? Or is it better just to stay put?

I think UVA/GMU is a much tougher call. Should you get into UVA, no matter which school you choose (so long as you stay around T5%), i think you will have to really screw up not to land a 2011 SA position. i don't think it would hurt to talk to some current 2Ls who are at the top of their class at GMU to see what their experience was with fall OCI in '09

Thanks for the tip, that's a good idea.

Btw, do you know how GMU treats potential transfer outs? Are they going to mark my record or something? I heard some schools do that.