Top Law Schools

As the title implies, I transferred from a T2 to HYS some time in the past few years. If anyone is interested, I'll take some questions about it. Obviously, the set of people I could be is pretty small; as I'm not interested in losing my anonymity, I may be a bit circumspect in how I answer some questions. But I'll try my best to keep it helpful.

When should I ask professors about recommendations?

What is your SSN, address, blood type and do you have any identifying tatoos?

dakatz wrote:When should I ask professors about recommendations?

This was one of the trickier parts of the process for me. I guess my advice would be (assuming you're not going for EA or ED):

• You should be quite sure you want to transfer before you start asking. That means that you won't be asking before you get your first semester grades, as you shouldn't assume that you'll be a good candidate until you get those.
• Having said the above, you should start trying to lay the groundwork as soon as possible after you've made up your mind (or close to it).
• Your best moves are probably either to 1) try to become a research assistant for the target professor, to build a stronger relationship (it will make the rec much better) or 2) speak to the professor first to get advice about transferring, and ease into the idea of a recommendation.

At any rate, the sooner you can get the rec the better, because the summertime transfer process is hectic, particularly if you're working, so having the recommendations more squared away will ease that burden.

Giddy-Up wrote:What is your SSN, address, blood type and do you have any identifying tatoos?

Hmm, this information might out me.

What range in the T2 did you transfer from and was the T2 in the northeast region. The reason I ask about northeast is that I've heard it's looked upon more favorably if you transfer from a school in the same region.

ran12 wrote:What range in the T2 did you transfer from and was the T2 in the northeast region. The reason I ask about northeast is that I've heard it's looked upon more favorably if you transfer from a school in the same region.

Since he said HYS and seems adamant on anonymity (which I would too), I'd like to know this question, except rephrase it as:

Did you transfer from a T2 within the same region as the HYS you now attend?

orm518 wrote:

ran12 wrote:What range in the T2 did you transfer from and was the T2 in the northeast region. The reason I ask about northeast is that I've heard it's looked upon more favorably if you transfer from a school in the same region.

Since he said HYS and seems adamant on anonymity (which I would too), I'd like to know this question, except rephrase it as:

Did you transfer from a T2 within the same region as the HYS you now attend?

Thanks! The answer is no, it was not in the same region, but I got the impression generally during the process (based on other acceptances/rejections within the T10) that getting into a school in the same general region was somewhat more likely. If I had to guess why, I would say that schools probably get a somewhat better yield, as transfers are going to have an even stronger preference to stay local than 0Ls. But that's just my guess.

Oh, as for the range of my T2--it was in the 50 to 75 range. Not sure where it is now, but those things don't usually change too much.

What was your class rank at the Tier Two law school ? Care to share comments & observations comparing the two student bodies ?

Did you walk up to a hot 1L (with poor grades), unzip your pants, show her your acceptance letter and demand gratification? If so, did it work?

CanadianWolf wrote:What was your class rank at the Tier Two law school ? Care to share comments & observations comparing the two student bodies ?

My school gave pretty fuzzy rankings, so I can't say with much certainty. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that I was number 1. For what it's worth, I had a significantly better 1L gpa than a person who eventually graduated second in my former class--obviously, that doesn't tell us too much, but it gives an idea.

The difference between the two student bodies was real, but maybe not as substantial as I had expected. The people at the top of the class at my T2 would have been right at home at my HYS. The difference was that at the T2, there was a steep, unforgiving drop-off around maybe the 20% mark, and then maybe another around the 60% mark. The bottom quartile (by my measure, not their grades, which I don't know) at the T2 included people who seemed outright dumb. By contrast, there was no drop-off at the HYS. Everyone was very smart, and there was pretty much nobody who wasn't impressive in some way.

reasonable_man wrote:Did you walk up to a hot 1L (with poor grades), unzip your pants, show her your acceptance letter and demand gratification? If so, did it work?

Hmm, pretty sure answering this would out me.

When initially applying to law schools, was your cycle successful ? Care to share your LSAT score ? (I ask because last year several students with 161s successfully transferred to top 6 schools & this gives hope to those without stellar LSATs.)

leppotse wrote:

reasonable_man wrote:Did you walk up to a hot 1L (with poor grades), unzip your pants, show her your acceptance letter and demand gratification? If so, did it work?

Hmm, pretty sure answering this would out me.

Fucking Awesome.

CanadianWolf wrote:When initially applying to law schools, was your cycle successful ? Care to share your LSAT score ? (I ask because last year several students with 161s successfully transferred to top 6 schools & this gives hope to those without stellar LSATs.)

I don't want to give my exact LSAT score. It was between 167 and 170, though, so I don't know if I can fuel your hopes that way. However, my impression, both from my cycle and from looking at others, is that LSAT is just not important for transfers.

I guess I would say my cycle when initially applying was pretty unsuccessful, partially because I was a dope about it and applied in March or something, past many deadlines. I got waitlisted at a couple of T14s, and got a substantial scholarship at my T2 (enough that, with a 2L SA, I would have been debt-free at the end). I was much more proactive and strategic about my transfer, though (although I'm pretty sure my app to my eventual transfer school was late as well, though that time it wasn't exactly my fault).

Did you blanket the T14 with transfer apps? Get dinged at any of the T14 below HYS? If so, lowest school you got dinged at?

Wholigan wrote:Did you blanket the T14 with transfer apps? Get dinged at any of the T14 below HYS? If so, lowest school you got dinged at?

I applied to the T6 only, I think. I didn't get into Chicago.

How successful was OCI once you transferred? Maybe more importantly, did the transfer allow you the opportunities you were hoping for when you graduated from HYS?

lonestar wrote:How successful was OCI once you transferred? Maybe more importantly, did the transfer allow you the opportunities you were hoping for when you graduated from HYS?

Ultimately, OCI was very fruitful for me. I had several V5 offers. Some employers seemed a little confused to see a T2 transcript when they were interviewing at HYS, but in some ways it was actually helpful, because I knew in advance that (nearly) every interviewer would want to talk about it.

In general, I think the transfer did help, although it's too early to say for sure. One of my ambitions in transferring was to make myself more competitive for academia at some point, but I haven't yet started to actively pursue that beyond trying to publish and develop a research agenda.

Were you able to write on to any journals?

ihp12 wrote:Were you able to write on to any journals?

I did a secondary journal. Not sure if it was worth it, but it wasn't a lot of work I guess.

1L GPA? Also, do you know what the 1L school range was for the other transfers that got accepted into your transfer school? Basically, do you think 1L's at TTT's are basically locked out of HYS (as seems to be the consensus on this board)?

reasonable_man wrote:

leppotse wrote:

reasonable_man wrote:Did you walk up to a hot 1L (with poor grades), unzip your pants, show her your acceptance letter and demand gratification? If so, did it work?

Hmm, pretty sure answering this would out me.

Fucking Awesome.

I really just wanted to +1 this, but I guess I'll ask a substantive question for perpetuity. Any advice on study habits/exam taking?

zomginternets wrote:1L GPA? Also, do you know what the 1L school range was for the other transfers that got accepted into your transfer school? Basically, do you think 1L's at TTT's are basically locked out of HYS (as seems to be the consensus on this board)?

I don't know if I'm comfortable saying my exact 1L gpa. It was about a 3.9 (although that probably won't help you, as T2s can vary somewhat on their curves/distributions).

Others in my transfer class generally came from higher-ranked schools. Several were T14. Nobody from a T3/T4. I don't think that 1Ls at TTTs are categorically locked out of HYS, but I do think you'd need to be pretty extraordinary to pull that off. I'd be surprised if it hadn't happened at least a few times.

mistergoft wrote:

reasonable_man wrote:

leppotse wrote:

reasonable_man wrote:Did you walk up to a hot 1L (with poor grades), unzip your pants, show her your acceptance letter and demand gratification? If so, did it work?

Hmm, pretty sure answering this would out me.

Fucking Awesome.

I really just wanted to +1 this, but I guess I'll ask a substantive question for perpetuity. Any advice on study habits/exam taking?

Sure. Just off the top of my head:

• Do practice exams under timed conditions.
• Go over your answers with other smart people and compare (but be diligent about this--most study groups are just for gossiping, but a committed study group that does work for the meeting will definitely help you).
• Treat every exam like it's closed book, because going through your outline on test day is a huge waste of your time. Most exams I only brought the textbook, and I can only think of one time I actually opened it.
• Practice typing. I was the first person done on every exam I took 1L year, often by an hour or two. It's great to have the luxury of going over your exam for a while when you're done. It's also great to leave.
• Do whatever you can to get excited about the material. If you absolutely cannot manage that, you will probably do poorly.
• Read your professor's scholarship. Not to be obsequious--it just often gives you a good idea of where the material fits in a larger puzzle.
• I know there's some controversy about it, but I think that 0L prepping is very helpful. I recommend reading E&Es. It helps you by giving you a bird's-eye view of the subjects.