SLS Transfers Forum

[MarkTwain]

Hi all,

I transferred from Virginia to SLS last year, and I'll be happy to answer any questions. Once some of you are admitted, I'll be available via PM to provide advice on choosing a school, etc.

Good luck!

[kinggps]

What were your numbers? Thx!

[MarkTwain]

I was top 2-3% at Virginia (according to an estimate by Virginia's OCS) and graded on to Law Review.

[DOOM]

Wow, impressive. How did you decide on transferring? Personal reasons? And how does getting on SLS law review work for transfers?

[Mickey Quicknumbers]

isn't this the same thing drake did?

[traydeuce]

Were the majority of transfers from high-ranking schools like you, or were there a fair amount of sub-t20 transfers?

[howcani111]

any regrets?

[MarkTwain]

Just on my way out to dinner - I'll post responses in a few hours (including the breakdown of where the other transfers transferred from).

[howcani111]

Just on my way out to dinner - I'll post responses in a few hours (including the breakdown of where the other transfers transferred from).

CAN'T WAITTTTTTTTTTT

[MarkTwain]

Hello all.

The breakdown (if I recall correctly) was:
1 Yale
1 Columbia
2 NYU
1 Chicago
2 Berkeley
1 Michigan
1 Penn
1 Virginia (me)
1 UCLA
1 Fordham
1 Minnesota
1 Hastings
1 T3/T4 (I'll leave the school unknown so as not to out him/her - but the circumstances were extremely unique and he/she was #1 in his/her class.)

There are 2 others I can't recall at the moment. I'm not sure how well people did - so I can't really comment on anyone's situation other than my own.

I also know a few transfers from the class ahead of me (a smaller transfer class) from GW, GULC, and 2 from UCLA (including Xeoh85).

I definitely haven't had any regrets. I do miss friends from Virginia, but other than that the experience has been wonderful. The people are great, the law review process was fair (see below), and despite the common concern that transfers will have trouble getting recommendations, I've been fortunatel enough to land a great federal appellate clerkship (I'd prefer not to name the judge).

Law Review Process:
SLS is GREAT about this. First, the information that everyone wants: 10 tried out, 6 made it (60%!). Transfers are given the same writing competition and bluebooking exercise that their classmates-to-be completed in June, and the same amount of time (~17 days - no you're not expected to use all of it, it's very fair in terms of time commitment). Another important point is that transfers are not in competition with one another. In theory everyone can make it. The SLR board grades the tryouts by assigning numerical scores, and a cutoff is established. Then, any transfer scoring above the pre-established cutoff makes it. It's a VERY fair process, and potentially a reason to choose SLS over its peer schools.

OCI:
Not much to say here. OCI was extremely fair as well. I ended up at my top choice firm in NYC. Everyone who wanted biglaw got it (including their choice of location).

[XxSpyKEx]

Hello all.

The breakdown (if I recall correctly) was:
1 Yale
1 Columbia
2 NYU
1 Chicago
2 Berkeley
1 Michigan
1 Penn
1 Virginia (me)
1 UCLA
1 Fordham
1 Minnesota
1 Hastings
1 T3/T4 (I'll leave the school unknown so as not to out him/her - but the circumstances were extremely unique and he/she was #1 in his/her class.)

There are 2 others I can't recall at the moment. I'm not sure how well people did - so I can't really comment on anyone's situation other than my own.

I also know a few transfers from the class ahead of me (a smaller transfer class) from GW, GULC, and 2 from UCLA (including Xeoh85).

I definitely haven't had any regrets. I do miss friends from Virginia, but other than that the experience has been wonderful. The people are great, the law review process was fair (see below), and despite the common concern that transfers will have trouble getting recommendations, I've been fortunatel enough to land a great federal appellate clerkship (I'd prefer not to name the judge).

Law Review Process:
SLS is GREAT about this. First, the information that everyone wants: 10 tried out, 6 made it (60%!). Transfers are given the same writing competition and bluebooking exercise that their classmates-to-be completed in June, and the same amount of time (~17 days - no you're not expected to use all of it, it's very fair in terms of time commitment). Another important point is that transfers are not in competition with one another. In theory everyone can make it. The SLR board grades the tryouts by assigning numerical scores, and a cutoff is established. Then, any transfer scoring above the pre-established cutoff makes it. It's a VERY fair process, and potentially a reason to choose SLS over its peer schools.

OCI:
Not much to say here. OCI was extremely fair as well. I ended up at my top choice firm in NYC. Everyone who wanted biglaw got it (including their choice of location).

Holy shit. How does someone transfer from a tier 3 or 4 to Stanford? ... I don't get it.

[MarkTwain]

I believe that the chances are zero if the applicant has nothing more than top grades going for him/her. This person is very special for a number of reasons that, honestly, I've never encounted before (either on TLS or in school).

[MarkTwain]

I thought this might also be helpful: my acceptance call was on July 20 last year. I do think some people are accepted later, because not EVERYONE accepted at a top school attends (some attend other schools, and some decide to stay at their current school - I nearly did this). They seem to take a first round of people, and then a few more once the dust settles on that group. I can't speak with authority on this point, but that's how it SEEMS to work.

[traydeuce]

So like I thought, people like me outside the t20 have very slim chances. The thing about the write-on is interesting though. What I wonder is, if that many people made it, doesn't that mean that a much higher share of the class is on Law Review than at other schools, thereby devaluing the resume-building worth of being on Stanford LR vs. Harvard's, Columbia's, Chicago's, etc.?

[MarkTwain]

About 25% of those attending Stanford serve on SLR. The YLJ recruits an even-greater percentage of Yale's class. This is due to staffing requirements. These schools all publish approximately the same volume of work each year, so they require a certain number of bodies. Frankly, I haven't noticed it having any effect on the prestige of being on LR. These are small schools we're talking about. Employers don't get nearly as many applicants from S as they do H, C, V, etc., so you don't HAVE to distinguish yourself as much.

[MarkTwain]

I've had a lot of PM questions about the T3/4 student who transferred to Stanford. I promised him/her that I wouldn't say anything, and I must stick to that. I'll simply say that being #1 won't be enough, nor will merely having a unique story, etc. I've never met a person IRL or on TLS who had a story 10% as interesting or unique as this student. His/her entire life story, including educational experience, is absolutely one-of-a-kind.

[traydeuce]

It's interesting, then, that 40% of the incoming transfers ultimately made Law Review if only 25% of the class does. Of course it's a tiny sample, but I suppose you could either attribute that to a higher share of transfers trying to make Law Review than the share of non-transfers who did the write-on, or that the transfers by and large are somewhat higher-quality students. Which is pretty conceivable, given that they were all at the top of their classes at their old schools.

[MarkTwain]

Actually, 60% of the transfers who tried out made it (6/10). I'm not sure about the data for the rest of the class.

[kazootey]

What GPA would I need from a T25-30 school to have a chance to transfer to SLS? Also, for Law Review, is it possible for a transfer to end up being the president of Law Review?

[traydeuce]

60% of the ones who tried, but only 40% of the transfers total. I assumed your 25% figure was the share of the class on Law Review, not the success rate in the write-on.

[broadhead]

OP: do you remember anything about the window you were given within which to accept the offer?

Also, just wanted to say thanks for doing this and congratulations on your success.

[MarkTwain]

Tray: Just to be clear on the numbers:
25% = the rough overall % of the SLS class on SLR.
40% = the % of the SLS transfers of '11 on SLR.
60% = the % of transfers who tried out and made it. I don't know this % for the overall class.

Broadhead: I had about a week to decide.

Kaz: I really can't speculate as to what GPA would be needed. I don't know any of my fellow transfers' grades, but I've heard it ranged quite a bit. Transfers are definitely eligible for board positions on SLR. We have one this year and had one last year. President though? Not likely for practical reasons.

[traydeuce]

So like I said, either transfers entered the competition at a greater rate, transfers succeeded at a greater rate (and perhaps, transfers tend to succeed at a greater rate?) or both.

[MarkTwain]

Oh, I'm not arguing against anything you said. I just try to report the facts I'm aware of so that others can draw their own conclusions. One fact that might point towards your parenthetical conclusion is that a lot of transfers had already completed one tryout. One fact that would point against it is that a lot of SLS 1Ls participate in journals, but few transfers do so.

[pandacot]

MarkTwain --

Any thoughts that you would like to share on the quarter system that SLS implemented a while back?