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0L here, planning on making a transfer attempt after my first year. Still haven't made the final decision on which school I'll be attending in August, but I just realized that the one I was leaning towards doesn't teach Crim Law as a first year course.

Does anyone know if that will matter in a transfer application? Or is it purely a numbers game?

Don't worry about it, there is a 90% chance that you won't be able to transfer anyway

If you want more hits change the title to "0L Transfer: No Crim taught in first year ... problem?"

sparty2L wrote:Don't worry about it, there is a 90% chance that you won't be able to transfer anyway

This. And though you don't want to hear it: retake/reapply.

thrillerjesus wrote: planning on making a transfer attempt after my first year

Do it for teh lulz!

thrillerjesus wrote: I just realized that the one I was leaning towards doesn't teach Crim Law as a first year course.

Ba-ba-ba-baawhuuuuut?

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1. you are annoying people during by far the most stressful week of their year....

2. you might as well say, I'm going to start playing basketball this year but apparently my local court uses chain nets...will this be a problem when I enter my name in the NBA draft?



In hopes of ending this thread and not sounding like a complete asshole...no, it won't matter.

All of the above is credited.

FWIW, if your plan to finish in the top few students pans out and you are able to transfer, we had a 2L transfer student in our 1L crim section this year. it didn't seem to hold him back.


Stinger- just curious- why is this the most stressful week of the year?

b1ue wrote:

bk187 wrote:

sparty2L wrote:Don't worry about it, there is a 90% chance that you won't be able to transfer anyway

This. And though you don't want to hear it: retake/reapply.

See: "The PlighTTT of A'nold"...

Sweet. I hope you get into HYS .

zanda wrote:All of the above is credited.

FWIW, if your plan to finish in the top few students pans out and you are able to transfer, we had a 2L transfer student in our 1L crim section this year. it didn't seem to hold him back.


Stinger- just curious- why is this the most stressful week of the year?

Well, this being a transfer board...out of the schools in the t14, only Michigan and Berkeley have sent out acceptances (besides EA/ED programs). Northwestern acceptances started yesterday, Gtown did another round of something today, Duke completed and reviewed starting today, lots of deposits are due either this week or next, I think you get the point.

No seriously, you'll have an easy time transferring so long as you're confident you can grade into the top 10%, and chances are if you're going to law school you're smart! The crim class is the only thing in your way. Maybe ask the Dean if you can switch into an upper level class so you can transfer after 1L. They'll understand.

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At the risk of getting my head taken off, does anyone else feel like the hyperbole spewed at 0L's is a little over the top sometimes? I think it's clear that, to a degree, it's necessary as a deterrent - otherwise the board would be swamped with similar inquiries. But at the same time, the day I walked into my first class (at my unranked school, mind you), I knew I'd be in the top 10% if I applied myself. I think the correct advice is if you have empiric evidence that you're intelligent in a capacity that lends itself to law school, you probably can plan on transferring, but you're doing yourself and everyone else a disservice by focusing on it before you even take your first class.

Regarding the crim law thing, you will probably have to limit your applications to those schools that have part time programs.

Edit - obviously, I'm not advocating that you can plan to transfer into a T10...though given the right circumstances, you probably could.

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well, I am transferring and my school doesn't teach Con Law in the 1L year....so I doubt a lack of crim law will hold you back

transplantedbuckeye wrote:well, I am transferring and my school doesn't teach Con Law in the 1L year....so I doubt a lack of crim law will hold you back

Ditto. No Con Law in 1L. Transfer school is throwing me into a 1L Con Law class when I arrive in the fall. They said it was no big deal and fairly common. Don't sweat it.

I haven't followed A'nold's story myself, but I will say that I went into school thinking I'd probably transfer, and by maybe a month in I was pretty certain of it. The publicity of my intentions might have led to some awkward situations, to be sure, but besides that I don't see what harm it did, or that it was in any way irrational for me to go into a school planning to transfer. I've never understood the notion that you shouldn't go to a school where you wouldn't be happy graduating. Frankly, I won't be that happy if I don't get into Harvard this time around, but I plan on being a lawyer, so I'll take the best I get. Last year, I was dealing with a terrible undergraduate GPA; I had to get my foot in the door somewhere, so I ended up at W&L. It certainly wasn't a place where I'd be thrilled to graduate from, but it is a place from which you can establish a career. Had I not done as well as I'd hoped, I still would have ultimately ended up with an okay job. Now, if I had only been able to get into schools with really lousy career options, I still would have gone because I would have been confident that I'd do really well there. In my case I'd be right; to be sure, some people must go to bad schools and delude themselves into thinking that, for some reason, they'll defy whatever landed them in the bad school in the first place and do well enough to transfer a long way up. But if you're someone with, say, a 167 and a 2.4 and you can only get into t3s, and you're pretty certain that you've gotten past whatever problems caused you to get the 2.4, what's so irrational about going to the t3, knowing that you'll be more talented than the vast majority of your class and eminently capable of transferring to a top 20 school? If law's really what you want to do, I don't see what the other option is. Accumulating work experience for several years just so you can get into a somewhat better school? Your numbers will still follow you.

traydeuce wrote:I haven't followed A'nold's story myself, but I will say that I went into school thinking I'd probably transfer, and by maybe a month in I was pretty certain of it. The publicity of my intentions might have led to some awkward situations, to be sure, but besides that I don't see what harm it did, or that it was in any way irrational for me to go into a school planning to transfer. I've never understood the notion that you shouldn't go to a school where you wouldn't be happy graduating. Frankly, I won't be that happy if I don't get into Harvard this time around, but I plan on being a lawyer, so I'll take the best I get. Last year, I was dealing with a terrible undergraduate GPA; I had to get my foot in the door somewhere, so I ended up at W&L. It certainly wasn't a place where I'd be thrilled to graduate from, but it is a place from which you can establish a career. Had I not done as well as I'd hoped, I still would have ultimately ended up with an okay job. Now, if I had only been able to get into schools with really lousy career options, I still would have gone because I would have been confident that I'd do really well there. In my case I'd be right; to be sure, some people must go to bad schools and delude themselves into thinking that, for some reason, they'll defy whatever landed them in the bad school in the first place and do well enough to transfer a long way up. But if you're someone with, say, a 167 and a 2.4 and you can only get into t3s, and you're pretty certain that you've gotten past whatever problems caused you to get the 2.4, what's so irrational about going to the t3, knowing that you'll be more talented than the vast majority of your class and eminently capable of transferring to a top 20 school? If law's really what you want to do, I don't see what the other option is. Accumulating work experience for several years just so you can get into a somewhat better school? Your numbers will still follow you.

This is a muddled, confusing mess of a post.

Did you transfer?

traydeuce wrote:I haven't followed A'nold's story myself, but I will say that I went into school thinking I'd probably transfer, and by maybe a month in I was pretty certain of it. The publicity of my intentions might have led to some awkward situations, to be sure, but besides that I don't see what harm it did, or that it was in any way irrational for me to go into a school planning to transfer. I've never understood the notion that you shouldn't go to a school where you wouldn't be happy graduating. Frankly, I won't be that happy if I don't get into Harvard...

This is as far as I got before wanting to commit a murder/suicide.

traydeuce wrote:I haven't followed A'nold's story myself, but I will say that I went into school thinking I'd probably transfer, and by maybe a month in I was pretty certain of it. The publicity of my intentions might have led to some awkward situations, to be sure, but besides that I don't see what harm it did, or that it was in any way irrational for me to go into a school planning to transfer. I've never understood the notion that you shouldn't go to a school where you wouldn't be happy graduating. Frankly, I won't be that happy if I don't get into Harvard this time around, but I plan on being a lawyer, so I'll take the best I get. Last year, I was dealing with a terrible undergraduate GPA; I had to get my foot in the door somewhere, so I ended up at W&L. It certainly wasn't a place where I'd be thrilled to graduate from, but it is a place from which you can establish a career. Had I not done as well as I'd hoped, I still would have ultimately ended up with an okay job. Now, if I had only been able to get into schools with really lousy career options, I still would have gone because I would have been confident that I'd do really well there. In my case I'd be right; to be sure, some people must go to bad schools and delude themselves into thinking that, for some reason, they'll defy whatever landed them in the bad school in the first place and do well enough to transfer a long way up. But if you're someone with, say, a 167 and a 2.4 and you can only get into t3s, and you're pretty certain that you've gotten past whatever problems caused you to get the 2.4, what's so irrational about going to the t3, knowing that you'll be more talented than the vast majority of your class and eminently capable of transferring to a top 20 school? If law's really what you want to do, I don't see what the other option is. Accumulating work experience for several years just so you can get into a somewhat better school? Your numbers will still follow you.

+1

I got pretty set on transferring during fall but we had midterms and weekly quizzes so I knew I was "getting it." I also had far from the numbers tray mentioned (i was a 3.2/156 aka all around mediocre) but I was confident I could do well if I applied myself.

traydeuce wrote:I haven't followed A'nold's story myself, but I will say that I went into school thinking I'd probably transfer, and by maybe a month in I was pretty certain of it. The publicity of my intentions might have led to some awkward situations, to be sure, but besides that I don't see what harm it did, or that it was in any way irrational for me to go into a school planning to transfer. I've never understood the notion that you shouldn't go to a school where you wouldn't be happy graduating. Frankly, I won't be that happy if I don't get into Harvard this time around, but I plan on being a lawyer, so I'll take the best I get. Last year, I was dealing with a terrible undergraduate GPA; I had to get my foot in the door somewhere, so I ended up at W&L. It certainly wasn't a place where I'd be thrilled to graduate from, but it is a place from which you can establish a career. Had I not done as well as I'd hoped, I still would have ultimately ended up with an okay job. Now, if I had only been able to get into schools with really lousy career options, I still would have gone because I would have been confident that I'd do really well there. In my case I'd be right; to be sure, some people must go to bad schools and delude themselves into thinking that, for some reason, they'll defy whatever landed them in the bad school in the first place and do well enough to transfer a long way up. But if you're someone with, say, a 167 and a 2.4 and you can only get into t3s, and you're pretty certain that you've gotten past whatever problems caused you to get the 2.4, what's so irrational about going to the t3, knowing that you'll be more talented than the vast majority of your class and eminently capable of transferring to a top 20 school? If law's really what you want to do, I don't see what the other option is. Accumulating work experience for several years just so you can get into a somewhat better school? Your numbers will still follow you.

Exactly. And those hypothetical numbers are almost exactly mine, except my LSAT is a little better and my gpa is a little worse.

And to be fair, I didn't say I planned on transferring. I said I planned on "making a transfer attempt." I'm aware of the odds for generic student x. Just as I'm aware that my LSAT is significantly higher than the majority of my T3 classmates.