3.75 at Rutgers-Newark... Where should I go? Forum

[Riles246]

Hey guys and gals. I just finished my first year at Rutgers-Newark in the evening program with a 3.75 gpa. I've applied to Fordham and GWU for transfer, but is there somewhere better I might be able to get in to? I work a grueling full time job at a prestigious ____ firm (trying to preserve some manner of anonymity, although its probably futile), and can probably transfer to a different local office if I get in somewhere else. Quitting is also a possibility if the school is good - up till now, I haven't wanted to switch to full time since its kind of putting all my eggs into one (tier 2) basket.

Any input? I'm trying to be realistic with my aspirations, and I have alumni connections at one of the two that I've already applied to so I hope to get into at least that one. My undergrad grades weren't good enough to do it on the first try.

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Update 6-14-10:
Applied at GULC, GWU, and Fordham. I decided that since I only have 1 year in the PT program, I'm only shooting for other schools with PT programs for now. If nothing pans out and I keep my grades up next year, then I'll try for more schools and include applications for their day programs as well. Thanks again for all the input!
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Update 7-21-10:
Rejected from GULC and GW, accepted to Fordham. Must be due to my only having completed a single year of part time studies. That's what I'll tell myself at least.

[vanwinkle]

What % rank would that be? Different schools have different curves, just giving us a GPA isn't helpful at all.

[senunit]

Dont mean to follow up your question with my question, but I would really like to know how the evening program is affecting your transfer process. From what I know, the evening program at R-N is a part-time program. That being said, does the part-time program put you at a disadvantage when applying since you don't have a full time set of credits for that high GPA? In turn, this might be a valuable point for you to also consider in choosing "where you should go." Please advise.

Thanks, and sorry I couldn't be of any help.

[Riles246]

To the first reply- the curve is to a range (weird, I know) of 2.95-3.05. Otherwise no idea what the distribution is.

To the second reply- I've been in contact with the admissions departments at both schools, and they've given no trouble at all for evening classes. At Fordham, they said that their schedule matches my schedule, so I would just transfer into their evening program and take the same classes that I would have taken. I didn't go into as much detail with the GWU admissions dept.

I would imagine the lack of credits won't matter too much since I'll be compared to other night students, rather than evening students. Perhaps the best thing is that as an evening student, I'll have more than one shot at transferring since after the next semester, I will still be under the max transfer credits, and after next year, I'll only be a couple over (which I'm willing to lose).

Good question, though. It's definitely something I've thought about, so we'll see. I'll update this thread when responses come in. I'm predicting denials since my ugpa was only a 3.0 and my lsat wasn't that great, but they do seem to focus on law grades so we'll see.

[senunit]

To the first reply- the curve is to a range (weird, I know) of 2.95-3.05. Otherwise no idea what the distribution is.

To the second reply- I've been in contact with the admissions departments at both schools, and they've given no trouble at all for evening classes. At Fordham, they said that their schedule matches my schedule, so I would just transfer into their evening program and take the same classes that I would have taken. I didn't go into as much detail with the GWU admissions dept.

I would imagine the lack of credits won't matter too much since I'll be compared to other night students, rather than evening students. Perhaps the best thing is that as an evening student, I'll have more than one shot at transferring since after the next semester, I will still be under the max transfer credits, and after next year, I'll only be a couple over (which I'm willing to lose).

Good question, though. It's definitely something I've thought about, so we'll see. I'll update this thread when responses come in. I'm predicting denials since my ugpa was only a 3.0 and my lsat wasn't that great, but they do seem to focus on law grades so we'll see.

Thanks for the reply. So as I understand, you are applying as an evening student to ONLY part-time programs? You are not applying into their full-time program.

Also with respect to your ugpa and lsat, Ive done soooo much research about that and for the MOST part, those two factors are virtually completely irrelevant to the transfer process. Good luck and keep us updated if possible!

[TheBigMediocre]

I have no idea if you can even transfer into GULC pt program, but why not take a look at that?

[OG Loc]

With a 3.0 curve, you're definitely better than top 10% - I would bet top 5% and maybe better. I have no idea if/how PT affects the xfer process, but conventional wisdom would probably say that those numbers are good enough for better schools than Fordham and GW.

Congrats on dominating the curve while working a full time job, that's a seriously impressive accomplishment.

[Riles246]

Thanks for the replies. I should probably clarify further based on the question posed above- I think I'm aiming for the evening programs at the destination school. While I could definitely see myself leaving the firm, I'm also aware of how good it looks on my resume, as well as how much I am learning while I work there. I also know how useful it is to have relatively secure employment (as long as I keep working hard) during times like these.

Anyway, thanks for the words of encouragement. I'm realistic too, so if I don't get in this semester, I can always try again after the fall semester, and then again after next spring. It seems most schools that accept evening students allow transfer in either the fall or the spring. And if I never get to transfer... oh well! I'm very happy with the education that I'm currently receiving as well.

Back to the matter at hand- based on your input, I've also consulted the website for GULC, Cornell, and a few others. I've noticed that so far, only GULC offers evening programs, but based on the US News and World report, it looks like Georgetown, GWU, and Fordham are the top three evening programs. So, it looks like I'm on to something! Not sure yet where I'll ultimately apply, but I expect this will be a busy weekend for me

Thanks again.