Transferring PT -> PT Forum

[swords]

Any minimum credit hour requirements to be considered to transfer into a PT? Options include taking 9 hours first semester and 10 second OR 12 - 12. Anyone have experience success transferring from a pt to another pt?

Thanks.

[A'nold]

Any minimum credit hour requirements to be considered to transfer into a PT? Options include taking 9 hours first semester and 10 second OR 12 - 12. Anyone have experience success transferring from a pt to another pt?

Thanks.

Wait, so you are not in law school yet and are organizing your pt schedule around transfering? I'm not trying to be a jerk I am actually wondering.

I think you are good to transfer into most pt. programs. Do you have any specific ones in mind, like in the same city or something?

[XxSpyKEx]

GULC

[swords]

^^ Not a jerk question at all. But to answer your question, yes =) In fact it gets worse - Im gonna pick a school based on the transfer probabilities and secondly if I can't transfer.. where Im happy to stay at. Im currently waiting to hear back from schools and will be definitely attending in Fall 2010.

[edit - taken this paragraph out - so Schools don't see this]

So IM realistic and imagine that I will end up in tier 3 / 4 range and then try to make a jump as high as possible depending on how I perform in law school. Because I do not want to give up my current position, I wanna stay with PT programs and thus my original question. Further.. if the original post sounded stupid... you're gonna love this: I've looked at all the schedules for all the potential schools that I MIGHT end up at and found common courses that I will have to take and started preparing for them (Getting to maybe, E&E books for contracts and criminal procedures...) [per recommendations by posters on how to do well in law school]. While I was doing this / waiting to hear back from schools ... I noticed that there are some schools that offer 9 / 10 credit hour semesters as oppose to 12 - 12. Obviously there is a huge advantage to take the 9 / 10 path as it provides for less course work and greater chance to do better. But I wanted to make sure that it wouldn't put me at a disadvantage doing that as far as transferring...

I've read alot of the recommendations that you and others have said to people like me... but waiting another year with retake LSAT is not an option for me. My firm has been "suggesting" me to consider law school for this year and thus here we are =).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[swords]

I should add... this post doesn't really mean that Im dead set going to law school with intention of transferring (just mindful of the opportunity). If school / setting is good... honestly I would be ok to stay at most of my choices of law school. Just asking if it puts me at any disadvantage one way or another AND if someone has had similar PT -> PT experience.

[A'nold]

Actually, I am one of the only TLS posters that you will ever see that has no problem w/ people going to ls with the intent of transferring, as long as they could see themselves graduating from the school they decide to attend.

What schools are you looking at if you don't mind? Some offer better transfer opportunities than others. If you are in the D.C. area you have some great pt programs to shoot for as a transfer. With those entry #s, GULC might be out of the question. I know people say that pre-law stats don't matter but if you look at the YahooTransferApps Group it seems like really low numbers can make a difference at the top 18 schools.

[swords]

Yeah GULC was def. out .. i knew that. For the coming year, my options are U. of Balt, NYLS, Albany, Hofstra. Of course I've gotten into others as well such as Cooley, Charlotte, Thomas Jefferson, Charleston, but I think Im gonna pick out of the first 4. Honestly, I'd be ok if I had to stay with U. of Baltimore or NYLS if transfer doesn't work out.

As for transferring, being realistic... I would venture GW, University of Maryland, America. I don't know what others I should look at. Outside of D.C. metro area, Im open to move if necessary too and work remotely.

[XxSpyKEx]

GULC would be your school to shoot for transferring to.

If I can just add my 2 cents- I would recommend shooting for a smaller non-NYC market (meaning don't attend NYLS, Albany, or Hofstra). Regardless of what the ranking say those are really some of the worst schools to attend in the country because NYC already has so many people wanting to live there from much better schools than those. The problem is that they are not even "regional schools" because you won't be able to find a job in NYC leaving those schools (in other words, they have no region that they place well in).

Obviously don't attend Cooley either.

[swords]

I will def. apply to GULC, GW, ... But also understand that even if (big if) I am near the top of my class from tier 3/4. I will be out qualified from those clowns that are gonna transfer from higher up. Nonetheless, I'll give it a shot, get every GULC alumni I know to write me a letter.

But back to my question, having say 19 credit hours by end of semester as oppose to 24 something from other PT programs wouldn't be a problem right? Personally Im heavily leaning towards University of Baltimore because a) NY cost of living would be too high b) Having some comfort that I will be in the area for next few years, I can finally buy a place and stop wasting $ on rent. If I get into GW, GULC .. great. If I get into University of Maryland as a transfer..I would be in-state and maybe they would look at me more favorably than out of state transfer? and c) at worst, I stay at U. of Baltimore good program.


On the other hand.. UB is tier 4, whereas NYLC tier 3 .. and I THINK Hofstra tier 2?

[A'nold]

I will def. apply to GULC, GW, ... But also understand that even if (big if) I am near the top of my class from tier 3/4. I will be out qualified from those clowns that are gonna transfer from higher up. Nonetheless, I'll give it a shot, get every GULC alumni I know to write me a letter.

But back to my question, having say 19 credit hours by end of semester as oppose to 24 something from other PT programs wouldn't be a problem right? Personally Im heavily leaning towards University of Baltimore because a) NY cost of living would be too high b) Having some comfort that I will be in the area for next few years, I can finally buy a place and stop wasting $ on rent. If I get into GW, GULC .. great. If I get into University of Maryland as a transfer..I would be in-state and maybe they would look at me more favorably than out of state transfer? and c) at worst, I stay at U. of Baltimore good program.


On the other hand.. UB is tier 4, whereas NYLC tier 3 .. and I THINK Hofstra tier 2?

I've heard good things about UB, actually, for its rank. GULC takes a few every year from them it seems, so that can be your long shot reach (if you pull off being the top of your class). Hofstra pt. would probably give you a better chance of transferring, albeit not a TON better chance. That whole University of Maryland in-state thing sounds like a good, rational goal so UB might be your best bet.

[XxSpyKEx]

I will def. apply to GULC, GW, ... But also understand that even if (big if) I am near the top of my class from tier 3/4. I will be out qualified from those clowns that are gonna transfer from higher up. Nonetheless, I'll give it a shot, get every GULC alumni I know to write me a letter.

But back to my question, having say 19 credit hours by end of semester as oppose to 24 something from other PT programs wouldn't be a problem right? Personally Im heavily leaning towards University of Baltimore because a) NY cost of living would be too high b) Having some comfort that I will be in the area for next few years, I can finally buy a place and stop wasting $ on rent. If I get into GW, GULC .. great. If I get into University of Maryland as a transfer..I would be in-state and maybe they would look at me more favorably than out of state transfer? and c) at worst, I stay at U. of Baltimore good program.


On the other hand.. UB is tier 4, whereas NYLC tier 3 .. and I THINK Hofstra tier 2?

Your odds will be bad leaving a t4 if you want to transfer into the t14 (from the transfer database last year it looked like the best t4 transfers did was transferring to the t20, and that was being at the way top of the class). NYLS or Hofstra probably increase your odds of transferring if you are in the top 3% or so. The problem is that you are completely screwed if you don't make top 3% and transfer out because they are complete TTTs and not schools you want to graduate from. Another issue might be OCI transferring out from either of those toilets because firms might not be very impressed by your high grades from schools that they rarely hire students from. Could you get into a t2 in another market (i.e. not NYC)?

Why don't you want to re-take the LSAT and wait another year? Are you planning on paying money to attend any of these schools? ... There's nothing wrong with going to a t3 if you don't have aspirations for working at a large firm or anything like that, but paying money to attend a TTT is a terrible plan because even if you manage to find job paying $45K /year it will be impossible to repay $150K in student debt. Also, when you're making a decision keep in mind that cost of living, health insurance, etc, etc will run you around $50K across 3 years if you choose to attend law school in a smaller city. NYC it will cost a lot more. So attending a TTT with less then a full tuition scholly is terrible plan (just think about it, even if you are only paying $15K /year for tuition you will end law school with at least $100K in debt).

[swords]

^ You bring up great points and I appreciate those. As for not waiting a year to retake - I had touched on this in my deleted section earlier, but was nervous that Schools that Im admitted to / pending would be able to pick me out given the #s and background (Yeah paranoia). The reason I can't wait is b/c I work as a Patent Agent for a law firm (that will be picking up the tab of whatever is left after scholarship) before which I worked as a patent examiner with uspto. When I was interviewing for the PA position, I had "inadvertently" suggested that I would follow through with going to law school to stand out of the crowd somewhat - which they started asking about after 2 years of me not making a move.

So that takes care of the debt issue (which I wont have any), health insurance and all that. As for the salary I graduated with a degree in Physics, Computer Eng., Electrical eng. (I WISH i had just picked one and done good in 1 rather than go all over the place) and am making in $105k without bonuses as an agent.

That is where I kind of lose myself of what I want to do with a degree. I realize that my ceiling, which I will be able to reach in next 4 years, is $130,000 or $140,000 depending on market, whereas starting patent attorneys that come in to our and other firms around d.c. make $160k plus (well they were until firms downsized hiring). Its like they are doing the SAME work - and I do better - as me (albeit they have opportunity to move to litigation team), yet make alot more $$$. So its kind of ego :-p

On the flip side, a lot more is expected of them so they find themselves working like slaves or as one put it "Im a billing machine" long hours and weekends, whereas I have alot more flexibility; I come in and go how I feel (as long as work gets done). So having said all that... what I THINK i want from a law degree is a flexibility DOWN the road if i ever want to move to a litigation team and not simply prosecute applications in front of uspto.

As for getting into tier 2: I am still waiting to hear back from some schools - American (not holding my breath), Catholic (same), Marquette (PLEASE accept me) .. which would make my decision relatively easy.

I sincerely hope that above didn't come across as "oh i have money..dont really care about degree" thing that I've seen here. I definitely take this field very seriously and with respect. More importantly, the information and advise I have gotten from here has been amazing and I appreciate the time you guys take addressing us.

[XxSpyKEx]

^ If you're not paying for your law degree and if the law firm is going to guarantee you a job when you come back, then it really doesn't matter where you attend law school. You might as well just go to the best law school* you can get into and let the law firm pick up the tab. However, if you are looking to work for a different firm then that can be tougher. ... But I'm going to speculate here and assume that you aren't going to be allowed to switch firms right out of law school anyway if that firm is paying for your education, in which case it would make sense to attend the best law school you can get into (even if it's the most expensive).

*By best law school, I mean the highest ranked because that will give you the best odds of being able to transfer out (even though it doesn't really matter if you transfer if you already have a job lined up).

[A'nold]

Another cool thing about your situation (if you have a guaranteed job lined up like it seems) is that you could even transfer if you finish in the top 1/3 or so to a marginally better school. Say you finish in the top quarter at like Marquette. You might be able to get into, say, George Mason or UConn or some school like that and it wouldn't be career suicide to transfer b/c tuition is free and you already have a job lined up.

Contrast this with my (and many others on here)'s situation: Being atop my t3 is probably better than transferring to say BU b/c the top of my class here will likely get me a decent job in this state and with lower debt. If debt and finding a job didn't matter, I could transfer to GW or W&M and not have to worry about the repercussions.