Ditching law review to transfer to better school? Forum

[bizjunkie4]

Wife caught a wild hair today, wants the family to move to Virginia to be closer to her parents. My stats: top 15%, law review, just finished first year at school that fell out of Top 100 this past spring, but which I otherwise enjoy and respect. Worth it to transfer to Washington & Lee (I am assuming I would not make UVA)?

[arstech]

Are you able to meet the deadlines and all that? (including having a professor recommendation or whatever)

[bizjunkie4]

Are you able to meet the deadlines and all that? (including having a professor recommendation or whatever)

Yes, I just received a "don't forget about us" transfer email from W&L. My conundrum is this: my eventual dream is to work in a small town in New England somewhere, probably in Vermont or New Hampshire, practicing as a solo attorney or with a few partners. I simply don't know how far a degree from W&L will go compared to where I am now (Louisville) if I am not seeking a Big Law job in some giant city that I hate. I will probably call admissions in the morning.

[Grizz]

It sounds like you need to work this out with your wife more than you need to work it out with random strangers on the net.

[KMaine]

Will you miss Maine Law?

[Grizz]

Will you miss Maine Law?

I simply don't know how far a degree from W&L will go compared to where I am now (Louisville)

[GeePee]

I wouldn't go from LR to W&L. Maybe if I were 100% set on D.C... but even then, probably not.

You should at least try UVA, and definitely consider going if you get in.

[traydeuce]

No, you would not make UVA. You would, however, make my former law school, which is bleeding transfers (including me). Have you checked to see if we/they allow transfers to make the law review? If so, the write-on's an exceptionally easy one; you might well make the cut. Otherwise, I wouldn't even consider leaving if practicing in New England is what you're after. We may be ranked reasonably well but awareness of W&L's existence kind of peters out above the Mason-Dixon line. We also feature the worst OCP of perhaps any t1 school. (And that's a statistically verifiable fact - our job placement numbers trail that of every other school in the t50 by several percentage points.)

[Bankhead]

Might the employment dearth have to do not w/ the CSO, but instead with the sparse networking opportunities in small town Lexington and only approximation to a major market being super-saturated DC?

[A'nold]

Hmmmm......are they desperate enough for transfer students that they will give some $$?

[megaTTTron]

If you lived in VA already I would say W&M, w/ in state tuition you could save $$ as well. Not sure how far W&L will reach in the NE. A lot of factors go into this decision. UVA would be a no brainer, but it's a tough call.

[ggocat]

Hmmmm......are they desperate enough for transfer students that they will give some $$?

Kind of defeats the purpose of accepting transfers. (Don't tell me you got money as a transfer?)

[bizjunkie4]

It sounds like you need to work this out with your wife more than you need to work it out with random strangers on the net.

Probably true! Still, there's something oddly comforting about soliciting advice from anonymous (and neutral) people on the Internet. I am sending in the app today, although I am not sure what we will do. The easy thing about being a part of a family is that you simply put the family first, and let everything else work itself out.