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I know there have been some threads from individuals asking for advice on whether to accept a transfer offer or stay where they're at currently. I've seen people post insightful responses and I'm hoping people we be so kind to do the same for me. I'm coming from Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles and have been accepted to UC Hastings College of the Law (I still have applications pending at Loyola, UCLA, and USC. Acceptances at USC and UCLA would make the decision easier but they are somewhat of a reach for me and I've heard that Loyola might not make a big enough difference to make it worth it to transfer there). I am in a huge bind and have been thinking about this non-stop and feel as though I'm just as confused as I was when I first considered transferring.

I currently attend Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles (I'm not sure if you know of it, I believe it is a T3 or T4, I'm not quite sure!) and I am in the top 10% of my class and have been offered a position on law review and moot court for this upcoming year. Also, I have professional background experience in finance working at Morgan Stanley and another finance firm. I intend on practicing law in Los Angeles at a large law firm or at least a mid-sized one. I've also been offered a scholarship for approx. 50-75% of my tuition (which would end up costing me around $20,000-$30,000 less than UC Hastings).

I don't know whether it is smart to transfer given my success at my current school and the ability to "boost" my resume with law review AND moot court. Basically, I am one of the most well rounded students in my class year and figure that even though there are only approximately 6 large firms coming to campus for Fall OCI (ex: Baker Hostetler, O'melveny and Meyers), I will have an advantage over my fellow classmates given my background and achievements. On the other hand, I don't know if the firms are just "showing up" on campus but will unlikely hire anyone.

I'm also not sure how transfers fare during the OCI at the schools they transfer to given that UC Hastings students will have started there from their 1L year and I'm not sure if firms will look down on someone who just transferred there. I believe there are approximately 50-100 large firms interviewing during OCIP there. Also, I am worried because I feel that if I obtain a summer associate position, it would end up being in San Francisco and I would have to end up spending a large part of my career there, as opposed to working in Los Angeles, where I want to live. Then again, I don't know if its likely or possible, but perhaps I could work at a firm in San Francisco and then transfer afterwards to their L.A. office, (if they have one) but I don't know if that is a reasonable expectation.

Money is obviously important and it would be less of a risk to stay where I am right now, but I would be willing to spend the extra money and uproot myself if I am confident that the move would largely increase my chances of obtaining the position and career I want in the future. On the other hand, perhaps my achievements and resume would still give me a decent chance of obtaining a solid positiong coming from Southwestern.

Any insight, advice, or suggestions one may have on what I should do would be extremely appreciated. I've seen the users on this forum post extremely helpful messages and I will definitely give great weight to what you have to say. Good luck to everyone out there with applications pending, I hope you get in to your school of choice or at least somewhere that would bring you satisfaction. To those of you already accepted somewhere, congratulations and good luck at your new school! We are all going through this difficult transfer process together, and I am happy to know that there are people out there who can relate to what I am going through. Thank you all again!

There is such a disparity between the reputations of these schools that I think that Hastings has to be the right choice.

It's not even close. Stay.

1. You want to be in LA
2. You've been offered a massive scholly
3. Hastings is BANK and will probably cost you more than 100k extra
4. You are on LR and in the top 10% of your class
5. You want LA
6. You want LA

+1 million

You want LA, and you have a big scholly at SW... Take the money and enjoy life

The scholarship definitely saves me money and makes law school less of a financial risk for me but at the same time, I'm afraid that I would be closed out of many opportunities just by the mere fact that I attend Southwestern. I figure it may be worth it to pay the extra $60,000 (approx. $25k-30k extra per year) at UC Hastings so that I would be entitled to at least interview with a much larger amount of firms that come on campus. Further, I would have that degree from a T1 school that may help me in the future post-grad once the economy picks up whereas if I stay at Southwestern, I will forever have that T3 degree behind me. As much as I want to live in LA eventually, I am willing to live in San Francisco for at least the remainder of law school and a couple years afterwards but I don't know if it's that easy to transfer offices.

Basically, 1) I'm wondering if the extra $60,000 (which is alot of money for me, I'm basically living on student loans) would give me a much greater chance at landing a biglaw position and 2)if I would be easily able to transition back to L.A. (it's only a 7 hour drive from San Francisco!).

Thank you again to those who have posted their thoughts already and to any of you who may post in the future. Hope everyone gets great news this week!

jltransfer wrote:The scholarship definitely saves me money and makes law school less of a financial risk for me but at the same time, I'm afraid that I would be closed out of many opportunities just by the mere fact that I attend Southwestern. I figure it may be worth it to pay the extra $60,000 (approx. $25k-30k extra per year) at UC Hastings so that I would be entitled to at least interview with a much larger amount of firms that come on campus. Further, I would have that degree from a T1 school that may help me in the future post-grad once the economy picks up whereas if I stay at Southwestern, I will forever have that T3 degree behind me. As much as I want to live in LA eventually, I am willing to live in San Francisco for at least the remainder of law school and a couple years afterwards but I don't know if it's that easy to transfer offices.

Basically, 1) I'm wondering if the extra $60,000 (which is alot of money for me, I'm basically living on student loans) would give me a much greater chance at landing a biglaw position and 2)if I would be easily able to transition back to L.A. (it's only a 7 hour drive from San Francisco!).

Thank you again to those who have posted their thoughts already and to any of you who may post in the future. Hope everyone gets great news this week!

once you land a job and have experience where you went to school does not matter much. YEs some people may put your school into consideration, but if you have experience and good recommendation from your first law firm then youll be okl.,

From what I've read, it seems like being a transfer at UCH is probably not as good as being top 10% + LR at Southwestern for job prospects.

If you go, there will be trouble! If you stay, it will be double.

.

I think you should stay. If you get into Berkeley, USC or UCLA I think you should transfer. Hastings or Loyola, IMO, are not worth it for someone on LR with your goals.

Make a big networking effort next year. Join bar associations (if you haven't already) and start going to events. Go to all the nickel club meetings. Research firms and target non-elite and quasi-elite firms with interesting practices (don't focus only on the firms you've heard of). I agree with the poster above who thinks you cannot expect a job at a big firm like OMM. It might happen but the odds are against you from either school.

I also think you should think about who you are aligning yourself. There are about 8,000 attorneys in LA county who graduated from Southwestern. Every person in that network will appreciate your accomplishments. If you transfer, you lose that.

This is coming from someone who will probably transfer to Loyola if I don't make law review at SW.