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Hi all. I did well in the first year with a 3.94 GPA. Im considering staying put at NYLS and hopefully getting an invite to law review and Harlan Scholars program (top 15% at the end of first year). This includes a scholarship of 30K a year.


What are the opportunities at NY area schools that are higher up the totem pole?

I haven't seen any info on this website about transferring out of country. make sure they let you transfer the class credit for your 1st year of law school.

What is your class rank?

Other NY schools: Columbia, NYU, Fordham, Brooklyn, Cardozo, Cornell (i'm sure there are more, these are just the ones that come to mind). I would imagine Brooklyn and Cardozo wouldn't be too hard, although with a 30K/year scholarship I'm not sure it's worth transferring to anything less than Fordham.

That said, I'm not sure what kind of reputation NYLS has as a law school.

zomginternets wrote: What is your class rank?

I asked at Academic affairs and they said that since the grade curve varies from year to year, they wont know until the end of Spring semester. (I don't understand why they cant just look at the spread of Fall grades and determine where it stands now.) That said, the dean of Academic affairs said she was certain that 3.82 would fall at least in the top 10% if not higher


Do any NY schools offer scholarships to transfer students? Even at Fordham, I dont know if can justify full tuition.

First off, congrats on the awesome first semester grades. If you want to get a good job in the NYC legal legal market, then TRANSFER to nothing less than Fordham. I would take Fordham at sticker over NYLS with 30k/year as Fordham is well-respected and can open doors to good opportunities. That being said, if you want to practice law in Canada, then go to law school in Canada and NOT NYLS. Good luck

There's no way that 3.82 at NYLS is anything less than top 5%...most T3s have ridiculous curves, that should be way up near the top of the class.

Whatever you do, don't transfer to Fordham. That would be crazy. You won't get any scholarship, and your employment opportunities won't be much better. As a transfer, you have to assume you'll be treated as roughly a median student by employers (at least at OCI). Median at Fordham and $2.25 will get you a metrocard.

You can and should aim higher. 3.82 at NYLS puts you in contention for NYU, in my opinion, and maybe Columbia as well. Lower T14s are definitely doable, and should be your targets.

At any rate, keep up the good work--a lot can happen between now and the end of second semester.

Rule11 wrote:Whatever you do, don't transfer to Fordham. That would be crazy. You won't get any scholarship, and your employment opportunities won't be much better. As a transfer, you have to assume you'll be treated as roughly a median student by employers (at least at OCI). Median at Fordham and $2.25 will get you a metrocard.

You can and should aim higher. 3.82 at NYLS puts you in contention for NYU, in my opinion, and maybe Columbia as well. Lower T14s are definitely doable, and should be your targets.

At any rate, keep up the good work--a lot can happen between now and the end of second semester.

This. Assuming that you are, indeed, in the top 5%, you should not transfer to any school (barring personal exceptions) that's ranked below 20th. Keep up the good work!

seespotrun wrote:

Rule11 wrote:Whatever you do, don't transfer to Fordham. That would be crazy. You won't get any scholarship, and your employment opportunities won't be much better. As a transfer, you have to assume you'll be treated as roughly a median student by employers (at least at OCI). Median at Fordham and $2.25 will get you a metrocard.

You can and should aim higher. 3.82 at NYLS puts you in contention for NYU, in my opinion, and maybe Columbia as well. Lower T14s are definitely doable, and should be your targets.

At any rate, keep up the good work--a lot can happen between now and the end of second semester.

This. Assuming that you are, indeed, in the top 5%, you should not transfer to any school (barring personal exceptions) that's ranked below 20th. Keep up the good work!

So OP should transfer to WUSTL but not Fordham/BC/BU? This is why I hate USNWR.

T14 or bust with that GPA I would say. No reason to transfer up and pay sticker at a T25/T30.

Bramwell wrote: Do any NY schools offer scholarships to transfer students? Even at Fordham, I dont know if can justify full tuition.

No, transfer schools never offer any scholarships.

Thanks all for your congratulations and advice! I should clarify a point that may have been blurred somewhere in the thread. I still dont have a rank assigned to the 3.82. Someone theorized that this is top 5%. Whether this is true, I dont know.

Wow, so you really think I have a chance at NYU or Columbia?

Do transfer schools still look at LSAT scores? I got a 161 and my under grad GPA was 3.9

No. With that 3.9, you could have gotten into a lot of Tier 2s, why NYLS?

I would be shocked if it is not much better than top 5%. Apply to NYU and CLS. If you don't need to stay in NY, apply to Chicago and Georgetown.

ndirish2010 wrote:No. With that 3.9, you could have gotten into a lot of Tier 2s, why NYLS?

The tier 2s in the region weren't being that generous on scholarships and for this year. I was constrained to NY

You should have a really good shot at GULC as I said above. Apply early action so you won't have to use next semester's grades, and you can have a 'fallback' option if NYU and CLS don't come through.

i can't say for sure, but i seem to remember something about fordham not allowing transfers to participate in oci, so it should absolutely be crossed off your list if it was ever on it in the first place, haha.

if you are in the top 5% you have a very good shot at t14.

UCLAtransfer wrote:i can't say for sure, but i seem to remember something about fordham not allowing transfers to participate in oci, so it should absolutely be crossed off your list if it was ever on it in the first place, haha.

if you are in the top 5% you have a very good shot at t14.

Interesting point you make. If they exclude you from OCI, there really is no point in transferring there. As I see it, the only point in transferring is for jobs prospects. Academically, I am fine where I am. Suffice it to say, that I would not shell out sticker price at a NY school just for a more "elite" academic experience...

What do these schools want to see aside from class ranking in 1L?

Bramwell wrote:

UCLAtransfer wrote:i can't say for sure, but i seem to remember something about fordham not allowing transfers to participate in oci, so it should absolutely be crossed off your list if it was ever on it in the first place, haha.

if you are in the top 5% you have a very good shot at t14.

Interesting point you make. If they exclude you from OCI, there really is no point in transferring there. As I see it, the only point in transferring is for jobs prospects. Academically, I am fine where I am. Suffice it to say, that I would not shell out sticker price at a NY school just for a more "elite" academic experience...

What do these schools want to see aside from class ranking in 1L?

Most of them want to see ranking and a genuine interest in the school...a reason to transfer.


By the way, I met with the Dean today and he was kind enough to share with me that top 10% has been falling between 3.5 and 3.6. You are definitely at least top 5%.

My advice - Apply NYU, Columbia, Berkeley, Stanford, U Chicago, and Northwestern.

You have to be in the top 5% for the first 4 and top 10% in last two in order to be competitive. No auto-admits but you have a decent chance!

Don't apply to anything outside the T20 to pay sticker...that's silly.

Coolgrnmen wrote:

Bramwell wrote:

UCLAtransfer wrote:i can't say for sure, but i seem to remember something about fordham not allowing transfers to participate in oci, so it should absolutely be crossed off your list if it was ever on it in the first place, haha.

if you are in the top 5% you have a very good shot at t14.

Interesting point you make. If they exclude you from OCI, there really is no point in transferring there. As I see it, the only point in transferring is for jobs prospects. Academically, I am fine where I am. Suffice it to say, that I would not shell out sticker price at a NY school just for a more "elite" academic experience...

What do these schools want to see aside from class ranking in 1L?

Most of them want to see ranking and a genuine interest in the school...a reason to transfer.


By the way, I met with the Dean today and he was kind enough to share with me that top 10% has been falling between 3.5 and 3.6. You are definitely at least top 5%.

My advice - Apply NYU, Columbia, Berkeley, Stanford, U Chicago, and Northwestern.

You have to be in the top 5% for the first 4 and top 10% in last two in order to be competitive. No auto-admits but you have a decent chance!

Don't apply to anything outside the T20 to pay sticker...that's silly.

Interesting. Did the dean mention anything about additional offers to convince top students to stay at NYLS?

Bramwell wrote:

Coolgrnmen wrote:

Bramwell wrote:

UCLAtransfer wrote:i can't say for sure, but i seem to remember something about fordham not allowing transfers to participate in oci, so it should absolutely be crossed off your list if it was ever on it in the first place, haha.

if you are in the top 5% you have a very good shot at t14.

Interesting point you make. If they exclude you from OCI, there really is no point in transferring there. As I see it, the only point in transferring is for jobs prospects. Academically, I am fine where I am. Suffice it to say, that I would not shell out sticker price at a NY school just for a more "elite" academic experience...

What do these schools want to see aside from class ranking in 1L?

Most of them want to see ranking and a genuine interest in the school...a reason to transfer.


By the way, I met with the Dean today and he was kind enough to share with me that top 10% has been falling between 3.5 and 3.6. You are definitely at least top 5%.

My advice - Apply NYU, Columbia, Berkeley, Stanford, U Chicago, and Northwestern.

You have to be in the top 5% for the first 4 and top 10% in last two in order to be competitive. No auto-admits but you have a decent chance!

Don't apply to anything outside the T20 to pay sticker...that's silly.

Interesting. Did the dean mention anything about additional offers to convince top students to stay at NYLS?

Nope, I didn't talk to him about transferring. The Dean would be the last person to encourage me to apply or be happy that I was considering applying. His opinion is a little bias.