Transfer oci Forum

[lawfor]

Im hoping to get some advice from anyone whos gone yhrough the transfer process or knows ppl who have. Apologizing in advance for any errors. Im posting from my phone

Im currently at a t2 in Philly in the top 5%. Closer to the 5% and sent in a transfer app to penn. Im on half scholarship and origjnally went here to work in the philly/de region. Ive gone ovr threads discussing transfer oci results and am considering transferring to penn and trying to determine if its the right decision. My concern is my resume is unimpressive and by transferring i would lose my law school gpa and all the firms would see is my ug resume.

Theres no serious problems with my resume, 3.3 at a decent school. 1 yr of WE at a large bank and volunteer work during ug. Just from what ive heard people at or below median at penn havent been doing as well at oci (im not trying to knock penn or anything, just what ive been told from studets at penn) and im thinking theres a good chance id strike out in my interiews since im being compared with students who would have impressive resumes (just assumong this since they got into penn in the first place) and due to my status as a transfer.

In sum id just like to hear any advice ppl have on this. Ive had good mentors for law school so far but unfortunately they didnt know much on this subject and suggested i check with other ppl. Im in pretty good shape to get a job in the current region although i recognize nothing is a given. And i realize nothing would be guaranteed by transferring, id just like some insight. But given my first year success i feel like i may be giving up on an oportunity. Thanks for any advice ppl have and again sry if i screwed up anything. Ill take a look at this post when i get to a comp

Edit: i think i should also throw in where i would be looking to go since ppl generally ask that. I would be aiming for anything in the v100 in ny or dc. I dont think it would be worth it to transfer if i ended up staying in philly, due to the scholarship.

[D.Wilde]

My concern is my resume is unimpressive and by transferring i would lose my law school gpa and all the firms would see is my ug resume.

First off, the above is not accurate of how most schools treat transfers during OCI. You should be able to include both your 1L school and your 1L GPA/rank from that school on your resume. As long as students from your transfer school are putting any GPAs on their resume, you should get to as well, so long as you specify that it came from your 1L school. PM me if you'd like an example of what I'm talking about. So, unless Penn has some bizarre policy, you would not "lose" your 1L GPA, and the firms would definitely see it.

If you are not committed to working in Philly, I don't think there's anything to lose by transferring. If all you ever wanted was to work in Philly, then it might not be worth abandoning your scholarship, but if you have more mobile aspirations, then I'd vote for taking advantage of the opportunity if you are admitted to Penn. Yes, your scholarship will disappear, but your initial job prospects through OCI and your eventual job prospects throughout your career will always be stronger by being able to state that you are a graduate of Penn. Of course, if your nervous about it, you can always apply to some Philly firms anyway, and put something in your cover letter about how you're so committed to the region that the only school to which you considered transferring was Penn. That being said, if you're a good interviewer I think you've got a solid shot at some V100 offers as a Penn transfer.

[lawfor]

Thanks for the response. Not sure where I got the idea that you dont put your 1L rank/gpa on there after transferring. I definitely came into school thinking id stay around the philly region, but id like to at least look into other options.

It all hinges on actually being accepted which is no guarantee. But before worrying about any future decision, i wanted to make sure that if i did transfer my resume/1L school wouldnt have me completely outclassed when interviewing during ocis. It seems like most transfers do fine in terms of oci, but its hard to determine if some people just dont post unsuccessful results. So my only knowledge of penn ocis is what the regular employment boards post, and it seems that people who are at or below median havent had much success. Im not sure where firms view transfer students in those rankings of students they interview.

Again, thanks for the response. I didnt know much about the transfer process/results until recently and am playing catch up.

[D.Wilde]

Once/If you get in, it's worth calling or just going down to meet with the career services people to ask the percentage of transfers who received offers from V100 firms during last year's OCI.