Transferring. Should I write on at current school? Forum

[Big Shrimpin]

i don't dispute that it can provide a small bonus. however, i do question, as subsequent posters have, whether or not the effort involved would be worth that small advantage.

How ridiculous would it be to write something like "did not write on to LR as received transfer acceptance prior to competition"?

definitely don't do this. all you'd do is draw attention to the fact that you didn't participate. resumes are a place to sell yourself, not make excuses.

This sort of illustrates the issue here, and I'll agree with you that we're arguing about the effort:advantage ratio. Your last poast illustrates my earlier point, however, about perceptions. You've sort of proved my point that a first impression could be, "hmm, I wonder why this dood didn't even try to write-on...I guess he/she wasn't hedging bets, so how does that reflect upon his/her potential work ethic, if hired?"

As a matter of degree, some people are more willing than others to take steps to get a jerb. To be sure, I'm not telling OP or anyone else to do the competition or else they're fcked and will never get a job. Yet, ITE, I don't think it would be wise for anybody (especially someone like me, trying to advise the younger LS cohort) to take certain actions/shortcuts when it comes to activities/whatever that come into play during the jerb search. I'm not saying that it will or will not come up in an interview, but with the possibility that it does (as evidenced by poasters here being asked about it during OCI), why not hedge against a potentially awkward conversation? (as an aside, some schools won't do their transfer competitions until AFTER OCI, so my advice is more applicable in those situations, I'd think)

[starchinkilt]

Is is still worth mentioning if you write onto a secondary journal at your old school?

[maf70]

Is it worth it to mention that you contemplated writing onto a secondary journal but decided not to?

[tycho_brahe]

As a matter of degree, some people are more willing than others to take steps to get a jerb. To be sure, I'm not telling OP or anyone else to do the competition or else they're fcked and will never get a job. Yet, ITE, I don't think it would be wise for anybody (especially someone like me, trying to advise the younger LS cohort) to take certain actions/shortcuts when it comes to activities/whatever that come into play during the jerb search. I'm not saying that it will or will not come up in an interview, but with the possibility that it does (as evidenced by poasters here being asked about it during OCI), why not hedge against a potentially awkward conversation? (as an aside, some schools won't do their transfer competitions until AFTER OCI, so my advice is more applicable in those situations, I'd think)

I guess if you're sitting around boozing and watching TV rather than writing-on, then I might agree. But there are some costs to taking the time to write-on. For example, how would your 1L summer employer feel about you taking time off to do both write-on competitions? Or, if you don't take time off, will you be able to really bust your ass for your 1L employer while doing a write-on? These are real costs to your future job prospects as well--maybe not at OCI (I don't know if interviewers call references or not), but certainly down the road.

I agree with the your point about the later transfer write-on competitions, and don't think my concerns really apply there.

[UCLAtransfer]

A lot of good advice in this thread.

I'll add my .02 cents: you already have an acceptance and are just about positive you will be transferring, so the only reason to write on would be just in case your spring grades bomb and you don't want to transfer to GULC, or you really want to put that "invited to join X law review" on your resume, which I can say from experience was absolutely useless.

Your time would be better spent contacting a secondary journal at your new school immediately after you decide where you will be transferring to so that you can have this on your resume for direct mailing firms and before OCI. This is only if you won't find out about writing onto L. Rev. at your new school until after OCI though. Having the secondary on there could be pretty important for OCI/direct mail purposes, even if you later end up writing onto L. Rev.

[patrickd139]

This may have been answered already, but how are future employers, who supposedly care about invitations to join law review at a school you no longer attend, supposed to differentiate between schools which allow you to grade on and those who don't? Or are you supposed to denote that as well?

[thrillerjesus]

You've sort of proved my point that a first impression could be, "hmm, I wonder why this dood didn't even try to write-on...I guess he/she wasn't hedging bets, so how does that reflect upon his/her potential work ethic, if hired?"

That's interesting, because I would think exactly the opposite. Hedging bets to me implies lack of confidence more than anything else.

[Big Shrimpin]

Hedging bets to me implies lack of confidence more than anything else.

Good thing you don't trade for a living.

[thrillerjesus]

Hedging bets to me implies lack of confidence more than anything else.

Good thing you don't trade for a living.

Yes, I'm aware of where the phrase comes from. I was merely pointing out that there are multiple ways to interpret that behavior in non-financial contexts.

[ToTransferOrNot]

I didn't do the write-on at my original school. I kind of regretted it at OCI (two interviewers asked me about the absence). Fortunately, I managed to write-on to a secondary at my transfer school (UChicago: no transfer student has made it on to Law Review via the write-on for something like 7 or 8 years, though someone did make it on via topic access in my class - but that will always be too late for 2L OCI), so I was able to deflect with that.

I don't know whether the "invited to xxx" line helps very much, but even if it helps shift you to a callback in a single interview, it's worth the time, unless it detracts from your other write-ons.

[Big Shrimpin]

I don't know whether the "invited to xxx" line helps very much, but even if it helps shift you to a callback in a single interview, it's worth the time, unless it detracts from your other write-ons.

I couldn't agree more.

[t14orelse]

I wrote on at my previous school and have the "invited to xxxx" line on my resume. I doubt it helped (or hurt) me at all. I wouldn't bother with writing on.

[patrickd139]

This may have been answered already, but how are future employers, who supposedly care about invitations to join law review at a school you no longer attend, supposed to differentiate between schools which allow you to grade on and those who don't? Or are you supposed to denote that as well?

[Big Shrimpin]

Look, we've been arguing this topic ad nauseam. I understand that people have differing views, and I'm not forcing my opinion on anyone. I want the best for your class during OCI, so when I attempt to provide advice, I try to cover my bases. I advised that, should one be presented with the opportunity to transfer, one should not neglect the added (at least marginal) benefit of writing-on to your transferor school LR, despite having no intention of staying there. If someone doesn't feel like doing their write-on because they plan on transferring, then by all means, don't feel obliged to do that transferor school write-on.

To be sure, many of you in the 2011 transfer class will be just fine in OCI at your transferee schools. Statistically, however, a handful of you will strike-out and not get the jerb you sought via transferring. Don't underestimate the devastating impact of this result. Some of the content cohort with GULC EA acceptances in their back-pocket could very well end up in OCI-poor (read, at least one of the regular GULC EA poasters from last years thread...do some research). I always advise people do as much as they can to ensure a favorable OCI result. Please don't do me the disservice of assuming that I'm implying there is necessarily a causal connection between whether one attempted his/her transferor school write-on and OCI results.

This may have been answered already, but how are future employers, who supposedly care about invitations to join law review at a school you no longer attend, supposed to differentiate between schools which allow you to grade on and those who don't? Or are you supposed to denote that as well?

patrickd, I apologize for the aside, which was not directed towards you. To answer your question, however, I didn't grade-on (missed it by like a few people/%-point or two), but I did write-on. On the resume, I made the distinction that I'd been selected based solely upon the write-on...seemed to engender a bit of a positive response at times, and never a perceivable negative response.