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Hi everyone--I am trying to decide if transferring and giving up what I have is worth it to better my chances of getting a job at a big firm in DC. Any advice you have would be great---here are my "stats":

I am at WCL (American) right now and have a 3.91 with the highest grade designation in three of my four fall classes. I made Moot Court and wrote on to the International Law Review Journal. I am going to be interning with a Judge on the Maryland Court of Appeals (Supreme Court) this summer.

Right now I have applied EA to GULC. If I get in, would it be worth it to go?

Do I have a snowball's chance in hell at higher ranked schools?

Thanks for the advice

My guess is that you definitely have a chance at some higher ranked schools. If you are interested in transferring, I'd most certainly shoot an app out to the even higher T14 schools you are considering. Worst comes to worst, they say no. But I'm pretty sure GULC will be a yes.

What's your class rank? ... Definetely hit the t6 with apps.

I would suggest staying at your current school because not only is it a great school, there is no guarantee you will be able to accomplish what you've already accomplished at your new school. If you stay top of the pack and do the extracurricular activities you already have, you will definitely be in a great position to work anywhere you want, big law or otherwise. Moreover, OCI will be very easy for you with those stats.

However, if you go to the higher ranked school, you'll be starting fresh. There is no guarantee that you'll be able to do as well in OCI, get onto a journal, or even get into Moot court. In fact, there is no guarantee that you'll even do well in this new environment. Remember, what it took to be successful at your current school may not be what it takes to be successful at a new one.

Top of your class with all of your achievements will definitely be better career wise than middle of the road at a higher ranked school. With this economy there is no "golden ticket" school. Furthermore, with the debt load you're likely to have from a T14, I think it would be a better decision to stay. FWIW

I'm not sure GULC is worth it. However, with those grades you should be applying to HYS.

I wonder if OP knows that some other poaster (louisiana or something?) also has a 3.9x and is considering transferring. Looks like doods at American get the message.

If you want biglaw and have no scholarship money right now, then here's my suggestion:

1. repeat grade performance this spring
2. assuming you did really well, apply to t6, with a smattering of safeties in the t14...as VW said, you're in the running for H if you maintain that GPA, and at least have a solid chance at CCN
3. transfer the fck out of American
4. interview well
5. ?????
6. enjoy biglaw/being chained to a desk for 10-12 hrs/day

HTH.

vanwinkle wrote:I'm not sure GULC is worth it. However, with those grades you should be applying to HYS.

If you booked 3 out of 4 classes and have a 3.91, you are likely at the top of your class. Given you go to a borderline T1, you have a shot at getting into HYS. Applying to all three and send applications to CCN as well (much better shot at CCN). You can consider applying to other T14 schools, but with DC as your target market, GULC might be a better choice.

WMCowgirl wrote:Hi everyone--I am trying to decide if transferring and giving up what I have is worth it to better my chances of getting a job at a big firm in DC. Any advice you have would be great---here are my "stats":

I am at WCL (American) right now and have a 3.91 with the highest grade designation in three of my four fall classes. I made Moot Court and wrote on to the International Law Review Journal. I am going to be interning with a Judge on the Maryland Court of Appeals (Supreme Court) this summer.

Right now I have applied EA to GULC. If I get in, would it be worth it to go?

Do I have a snowball's chance in hell at higher ranked schools?

Thanks for the advice

My question is how you didn't make law review with those grades? Or does your write-on competition happen during 1L year instead of after it?

snowpeach06 wrote:

WMCowgirl wrote:Hi everyone--I am trying to decide if transferring and giving up what I have is worth it to better my chances of getting a job at a big firm in DC. Any advice you have would be great---here are my "stats":

I am at WCL (American) right now and have a 3.91 with the highest grade designation in three of my four fall classes. I made Moot Court and wrote on to the International Law Review Journal. I am going to be interning with a Judge on the Maryland Court of Appeals (Supreme Court) this summer.

Right now I have applied EA to GULC. If I get in, would it be worth it to go?

Do I have a snowball's chance in hell at higher ranked schools?

Thanks for the advice

My question is how you didn't make law review with those grades? Or does your write-on competition happen during 1L year instead of after it?

Not too sure about the LR question. My best guess is that I just didn't put enough time into write-on. Our write-on is over spring break, during which I also had two job interviews, a Con Law Midterm, and an appellate brief to work on. Basically--I choose to focus more on my grades thn write-on in hopes that if I could maybe grade on. Oh well

Interesting, I thought Yale was the only school where people couldn't grade on to LR.

re: transferring--since you didn't make LR, if you don't have/get a decent scholarship, I would shoot for transferring into a T-14 school, hopefully Harvard. Congrats!

zomginternets wrote:Interesting, I thought Yale was the only school where people couldn't grade on to LR.

re: transferring--since you didn't make LR, if you don't have/get a decent scholarship, I would shoot for transferring into a T-14 school, hopefully Harvard. Congrats!

Just FYI grades don't count for anything at Wisconsin for Law Review (with the VERY tiny exception that the top 10 people only have to be in the top 2/3 of the law review competition to make the Journal)...

Needless to say there are some very high scoring students at Wisconsin who do not make the law review...