ED Chances - Chicago/GT Forum

[dtl]

This last semester I achieved a A in Civ Pro, A in Contracts and A- in Torts. My school does p/f in legal writing and I passed.

I was looking over what it takes to ED to chicago and I believe i have a (small) shot going purely from my GPA (3.889) and my rank which I have figured out with some certainty is a tie for second even though rank is not officially released until the end of the first year.

My question is if the fact that my lawschool only has 3 graded first semester classes would hurt my chances at a successful ED app.

My current law school is high 30's per USWRN.

Thanks! Not even sure if this sort of thing is well known but figured I would put out feelers anyway.

[traehekat]

This last semester I achieved a A in Civ Pro, A in Contracts and A- in Torts. My school does p/f in legal writing and I passed.

I was looking over what it takes to ED to chicago and I believe i have a (small) shot going purely from my GPA (3.889) and my rank which I have figured out with some certainty is a tie for second even though rank is not officially released until the end of the first year.

My question is if the fact that my lawschool only has 3 graded first semester classes would hurt my chances at a successful ED app.

My current law school is high 30's per USWRN.

Thanks! Not even sure if this sort of thing is well known but figured I would put out feelers anyway.

Congrats on the grades. You SHOULD be competitive for Chicago ED, however there are a couple issues that may prevent a successful ED transfer. Your GPA is very good, but with no ranking information it makes it a little more difficult to evaluate. Students who are looking to transfer from schools that don't rank until the end of the first year are at a bit of a disadvantage because it is difficult to determine exactly where they would fall in the ranks, and when you admit as few transfers as Chicago did last year, that can actually make a difference. And as you have suspected, having only 3 substantive courses does put you at a slight disadvantage to students who have 4 or even more substantive courses. I have talked to the folks at Chicago's admissions office about this and they have said up front that they have deferred transfer applicants because they felt they needed to see a little more.

FWIW, I was actually in almost the exact position as you when I ED'ed to Chicago and I was deferred (and subsequently rejected due to a small drop in the grades). Maybe some other Chicago transfers can chime in and add some information. I'll say that if you want to transfer to Chicago you will absolutely be competitive and I think that some of the above will be mitigated by the fact that you probably go to a school that has had students in the past apply to Chicago, and so they may be more familiar with your school's grading curve and can more accurately predict where you will fall. If they can determine with some confidence that you actually are in the top three students or so in your class, then you have a great shot.

[quiver]

This last semester I achieved a A in Civ Pro, A in Contracts and A- in Torts. My school does p/f in legal writing and I passed.

I was looking over what it takes to ED to chicago and I believe i have a (small) shot going purely from my GPA (3.889) and my rank which I have figured out with some certainty is a tie for second even though rank is not officially released until the end of the first year.

My question is if the fact that my lawschool only has 3 graded first semester classes would hurt my chances at a successful ED app.

My current law school is high 30's per USWRN.

Thanks! Not even sure if this sort of thing is well known but figured I would put out feelers anyway.

Congrats on the grades. You SHOULD be competitive for Chicago ED, however there are a couple issues that may prevent a successful ED transfer. Your GPA is very good, but with no ranking information it makes it a little more difficult to evaluate. Students who are looking to transfer from schools that don't rank until the end of the first year are at a bit of a disadvantage because it is difficult to determine exactly where they would fall in the ranks, and when you admit as few transfers as Chicago did last year, that can actually make a difference. And as you have suspected, having only 3 substantive courses does put you at a slight disadvantage to students who have 4 or even more substantive courses. I have talked to the folks at Chicago's admissions office about this and they have said up front that they have deferred transfer applicants because they felt they needed to see a little more.

FWIW, I was actually in almost the exact position as you when I ED'ed to Chicago and I was deferred (and subsequently rejected due to a small drop in the grades). Maybe some other Chicago transfers can chime in and add some information. I'll say that if you want to transfer to Chicago you will absolutely be competitive and I think that some of the above will be mitigated by the fact that you probably go to a school that has had students in the past apply to Chicago, and so they may be more familiar with your school's grading curve and can more accurately predict where you will fall. If they can determine with some confidence that you actually are in the top three students or so in your class, then you have a great shot.

I agree with all of the above but I'll add my own experience as well. I was at a T2 in the 60s and got into GULC EA with only three graded courses (LRW was only graded after the full year). Although I had an A in each of them, you're pretty damn close to that and at a much higher ranked school so I'd say you'll probably be accepted to GULC EA.

Chicago is a bit different because it's a CCN and they take far fewer transfers. Again, I applied ED from a T2 in the 60s with an A in three graded courses and got deferred. From what I've heard, almost everyone else from T2 schools was outright rejected when applying ED so maybe the fact that I got deferred is actually a small victory. Perhaps others have a better view on the process (maybe TToN can chime in) but my impression is that they like to take from T1 for ED and your grades certainly give you a great chance at a Chicago acceptance as well.

So in sum I guess I'd say that, from my experience, the fact that you have only 3 graded courses will have only a negligible impact on your EA/ED transfer cycle. I see no harm in applying to GULC EA since it's non-binding but with respect to Chicago, only you can decide if you want to roll the dice and have a shot at YHS. It will be a much tougher decision for you than it was for me since I had a much lower chance of ED admission to begin with. Good luck, you're in a great position either way (and congrats on the grades)!

[dtl]

Thank you for the well thought advice guys. I really appreciate it.

[Transferthrowaway]

I am a Chicago transfer and fwiw -- from what I can gather, the vast majority of the transfer class applied ED with a few RD admits (I applied RD).

[whuts4lunch]

Any idea what kind of grades one would need from Emory to have a decent shot at UChicago ED?