Top Law Schools

First time poster, long time lurker

Have my grades back from a ~T15, ended up with a 3.914--well above what I was expecting. Never thought about transferring before, but figured I should ask for some advice on TLS.

In terms of career goals, I am pretty open. Did some government work before law school, and enjoyed the work-life balance that I witnessed with some of their younger attorneys. I am attracted to Big Law to pay off my loans quickly. Slight interest in a clerkship, no real desire for academia.

My ideal locations would be Chicago and D.C. Would consider UChicago ED, put hoping to get some advice. Hope to keep my grades up to this level this semester, but would not be surprised if they came down a bit.

Thanks for any advice.

have u seen this yet:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 22&t=82937

lots of good stats and advice

Class rank ? Not sure as to whether you are in a Top 15 law school or at WashUStL, Vanderbilt or USC. If you want Chicago or DC biglaw & you are at a law school ranked #15-#18, then you probably should transfer. Without knowing your class rank, it is difficult to offer suggestions beyond reading through past threads on this topic.

With a 3.914 at a T15, I would imagine you could get in any where you want, include HYS.

Pretend to transfer and negotiate big scholarship $$ from current school. I think the freedom of having no loans to pay off and a GPA like that from a T15 is worth sticking with your current school instead of transferring.

Edit: Don't bother to ED at UChicago, it'll just limit you to that school when you could get in by regular decision any way.

zomginternets wrote:With a 3.914 at a T15, I would imagine you could get in any where you want, include HYS.

Without knowing his approximate rank, it is really hard to say this definitively.

But yes, HYS are almost definitely within the realm of possibility, and even then, without a compelling reason, it might not even be worth it. LR + top 2-3% (at least, unless the T15 is NU) will get you almost anywhere you want to go.

YHS or bust, IMO.

Congrats on rocking it out. Your future certainly appears bright.

To clarify:

-School is T15-T18
-Almost positive we do not rank, but the registrar releases what GPA is Top 20%

playa2001 wrote:To clarify:

-School is T15-T18
-Almost positive we do not rank, but the registrar releases what GPA is Top 20%

My suggestion, absent a compelling reason, is to blanket T6 schools, if only to try to leverage money if you don't get HYS.

Absent a compelling reason, I wouldn't apply past that.

If you want DC or Chicago, then consider law schools--such as Northwestern for Chicago--that place well in those markets.

Wait, what? I don't understand, why do you want to transfer at all? You're not that interested in clerkships or academia, and you're at the very top of your class. I'm going to just assume you're in the top 5% of your class, and wonder whether you're in the top 1-2%. You should find out quickly. But either way, you've got to be well within range of grading onto LR at your current school.

And if that's true, you should stay. Transferring to anything less than HYS is quite frankly dumb. You're giving up far too much for it to be worth it. Even HYS, I'm not sure it's a good idea. It's just not necessary. If what you want is BigLaw or government work, you should be in a good position to get it where you are now. Going to HYS won't change that.

See this thread, which is relevant to your interests: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 7&t=144847 It's about T14, but largely applies to you too.

Wouldn't it be helpful to know the specific law school & its placement history in Chicago or DC ? Not sure if USC, for example, will be the best option for those locations.