Top Law Schools

I went to undergrad at a school with a law school ranked in the 60-70s. Had a really good GPA but bombed the LSAT. Decided to stay in state and go to a Tier-4 school. Just got my grades back and ended up with a 3.5 ranked in top 6% (the school has a really low curve probably to deter transferring). I know second semester grades are important but what are my chances if I remained consistent and wanted to transfer back to my undergrad school?

Also what are the biggest jumps from a Tier3/Tier4 school you can make?

amash1044 wrote:I went to undergrad at a school with a law school ranked in the 60-70s. Had a really good GPA but bombed the LSAT. Decided to stay in state and go to a Tier-4 school. Just got my grades back and ended up with a 3.5 ranked in top 6% (the school has a really low curve probably to deter transferring). I know second semester grades are important but what are my chances if I remained consistent and wanted to transfer back to my undergrad school?

You'll probably get in somewhere in schools in the 20s, if you want to transfer to one of those. t4 transfers are very unpredictable though.

Also what are the biggest jumps from a Tier3/Tier4 school you can make?

Anything is possible. A kid from my 1L school (a t3) transferred to HLS (2 years ago). I heard SLS took a transfer from a t3 that year as well. It's incredibly unlikely, but still possible.

T4 to T-10, even more unpredictable is that another student at my T-4 transferred with me, never hurts to try

Generally, T4 students at the very top of their class have a shot at T14 schools. From the data I have seen on these boards, Boalt and GULC seem to be kind of T4 friendly. With that said, it is hard to say with transfers and harder still with T4 transfers.


With a top 6% class rank you should be able to transfer to many T1 schools and likely some T20 or T30 schools. Aim higher than a T2 school unless you have a compelling reason. In fact transferring to a T2 school will require you to pay sticker and it might be better to stay in a T4 with a scholarship (if the T4 places decently in the region which is not always the case).


Takeaway:

1. If you transfer, aim higher (T30 or better).
2. Do not transfer to a T2 school and pay sticker unless you have a compelling reason to attend that school.

random5483 wrote: From the data I have seen on these boards, Boalt and GULC seem to be kind of T4 friendly. With that said, it is hard to say with transfers and harder still with T4 transfers.

Could just be regional advantages. Location of the current can be a huge factor (e.g. transferring from U of Idaho to Berkeley is different than transferring from a t3/t4 in cali to berkeley).

XxSpyKEx wrote:

random5483 wrote: From the data I have seen on these boards, Boalt and GULC seem to be kind of T4 friendly. With that said, it is hard to say with transfers and harder still with T4 transfers.

Could just be regional advantages. Location of the current can be a huge factor (e.g. transferring from U of Idaho to Berkeley is different than transferring from a t3/t4 in cali to berkeley).

Could very well be true. However, both the schools I listed tend to take a fair sized transfer class and T4 students have been admitted to these schools. With that said, the data available is sparse so it might not be representative.

work harder try to get into ucla/vandy/georgetown.

If not, look at case western and umiami. They accept EA i think....