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I completed my first year of law school this past may from a T1 school and right now had to take a leave of absence due to financial issues and will return in the spring semester. My school has told me that I will be considered as a class of 2014 student (instead of 2013) even after I complete my spring semester, I'm wondering if I will be allowed to apply for transfers?

any ideas?

If you had only completed 1L and then took a whole year leave of absence, I think you would have been eligible at most schools. There was someone in my transfer class in that situation. I think it is complicated by the fact that you only took the fall off and will have 3 full-time (correct?) semesters of credits done by the end of this school year. Many law schools don't let you apply once you have more than a certain number of credits, usually 32-40. You should check the admissions site of each law school you might be interested in transferring to and you should be able to find the answers there. You will probably be ineligible at some of them and eligible at others. If you think you have a strong chance to transfer and want to transfer, maybe you will be better off taking this whole year off and just re-enrolling in the fall at your old school if it doesn't work out. If you are a successful transfer, you probably won't get credit for the half year of classes, and if you stay, it won't make much of a difference if you will be c/o 2014 anyway, right?

Wholigan wrote:If you had only completed 1L and then took a whole year leave of absence, I think you would have been eligible at most schools. There was someone in my transfer class in that situation. I think it is complicated by the fact that you only took the fall off and will have 3 full-time (correct?) semesters of credits done by the end of this school year. Many law schools don't let you apply once you have more than a certain number of credits, usually 32-40. You should check the admissions site of each law school you might be interested in transferring to and you should be able to find the answers there. You will probably be ineligible at some of them and eligible at others. If you think you have a strong chance to transfer and want to transfer, maybe you will be better off taking this whole year off and just re-enrolling in the fall at your old school if it doesn't work out. If you are a successful transfer, you probably won't get credit for the half year of classes, and if you stay, it won't make much of a difference if you will be c/o 2014 anyway, right?

This sounds right to me.

Hey thanks for the reply. There are some schools that specify the maximum number of credits(U Penn) but some others don't(Columbia) and I am wondering if these schools will consider someone in my situation? Anyone ever heard of anything like this?

madude wrote:Hey thanks for the reply. There are some schools that specify the maximum number of credits(U Penn) but some others don't(Columbia) and I am wondering if these schools will consider someone in my situation? Anyone ever heard of anything like this?

Columbia absolutely has a max. It is 32.

http://www.law.columbia.edu/jd_applican ... incriteria

I believe that the ABA imposes a 32 credit limit on the transfer hours that law schools may accept.