Possibly complicated Part-time Transfer Situation Forum

[misled_drummer]

I finished my first semester as a part-time student at Southwestern Law School with a 3.77. I made transferring a priority prior to attending Southwestern and it looks like it paid off first semester.

Here is where it gets complicated. I am going abroad this summer (6 units). I will have a total of 24 units including the summer units, which meets the minimum requirements for some schools, but unfortunately is after the application deadline.

I wanted to transfer into Southwestern's Full-time program as a back-up option next year, so my unit load will obviously increase.

Here is the problem. I know many schools cap the number of units they will accept (usually around 30) and I will go over in whatever program I choose. Is it better for me to stay in the part-time program next year or should I still switch into full-time? Since I will have to apply to schools in my second year, does that automatically mean I will have to do a total of 4 years of law school and is transferring even worth it at that point?

I want to stay in California. I went to Cal undergrad and would love to go back there, but my top choices are UCLA and USC. Sorry for the long post.

[ToTransferOrNot]

Contact admissions and ask - no one is going to be able to help you here.

[misled_drummer]

Contact admissions and ask - no one is going to be able to help you here.

Obviously, contacting admissions is the best route. But I would like some general advice from the forum, if that's ok with you?

[patrickd139]

Contact admissions and ask - no one is going to be able to help you here.

Does not get much more general or advisory than that.

[misled_drummer]

Going to contact UCLA and USC later today.

I am leaning toward staying in the part-time program and then transferring next year to another school. If I switch into fulltime at my school, not only will I lose my rank, but I will take on more units than schools are willing to give me credit for.

[mardimar]

I transferred after 1 year of part-time. I took summer classes. I'm a 2L at HYS

Obviously, when I was applying to transfer, I had less than the number of credits schools require...ususally, the equivalent of 1/3 of law school courses (28/29 credits). Schools know and expect their part-time applicants to be lacking in credits. In my PS and my "Why part-time?" addendum, I stressed the number of credits I was taking that summer. I had 21 after 1L, and another 7 that summer. Because it looks like you will only have 24 at the end of the summer, and not 28/29, you will likley need to do another year of part-time, and eat the tuition you lose after you cap out at 30 credits.

I believe you must do 2 years at your new school, which is why, tranferring to full time during your second year will not allow you transfer schools.

Of course, if I were you, I'd shoot an email to the schools directly. Good luck.

[misled_drummer]

I appreciate the response.

I decided that if I stay here, I will not transfer to the full-time program at my school for the exact reasons that you mentioned.

I also contacted USC and received some good news. Hopefully UCLA tells me something similar.

Any other suggestions you may have just from your personal experience?

Thanks again.

[stinger35]

Another PT transfer here. A bigger problem for you is going to be the abroad credits in general. I looked into doing the same thing and almost every t10 school said that they would not accept abroad credits. Just FYI

[misled_drummer]

Yeah I did not realize that the summer credits could be a problem. USC seemed fine with it, but I'm not sure if they thought I was just talking about summer school and not studying abroad. UCLA did not give me a clear answer. They obviously said that the grades would not apply toward my GPA, which is fine.

The way I see it, transferring credits from an abroad program should not be a big deal since most schools allow students to participate in other ABA approved law school study abroad programs. So technically, if I was a student at UCLA I could participate in Southwestern's study abroad program and the credits would transfer. It should work the other way too.

I am going to arrange a meeting with the schools next week so I can get some definitive answers.