Top Law Schools

Throwaway account. UIUC sitting just outside of the top 25% (1 mediocre grade or else I'd be much higher).

I was super happy in the fall when I started here even though I passed up several higher schools (and 2 t14) to come here w/ a full ride. With that said, I'm not sure I wanna be part of the first UIUC group to test OCI after this most recent admission scandal.

As I stand now, what are my hope of transferring up or laterally to try and get more confidence in snagging big lawl?

Top third here isn't going to get you into the T14 (or even close). You need to kill it this semester and move a lot closer to the top 10% to have a shot there....

You could probably make a lateral transfer, but I can't think of a great reason to do that unless you have a new (and credible) geographic preference. Even for your class post-Hurd/Pless scandal, Illinois will still place better in Chicago than IU, WI, IA, WUSTL etc. The school has a strong alumni base in Chicago and that won't change.

Realistically (and I don't mean to be mean) if you finish the year outside of the top 25% and you don't have a hard-science background for IP, I don't think OCI at Illinois will be in play anyway.

I don't really know what your transfer options are but there's no way I would give up a full ride here to transfer to Georgetown.

You can't tell this off one semester's grades. I had a .6 difference between first and second. (Think below median for the semester to top 10%'ish for the semester.)

UIUCTransfer wrote:Throwaway account. UIUC sitting just outside of the top 25% (1 mediocre grade or else I'd be much higher).

I was super happy in the fall when I started here even though I passed up several higher schools (and 2 t14) to come here w/ a full ride. With that said, I'm not sure I wanna be part of the first UIUC group to test OCI after this most recent admission scandal.

As I stand now, what are my hope of transferring up or laterally to try and get more confidence in snagging big lawl?

Unless you have amazing softs (even then, probably not), you're probably not getting anywhere worth transferring to.

blowhard wrote:You can't tell this off one semester's grades. I had a .6 difference between first and second.

Like I said, it was one poor grade or else I'd be pushing top 10%. I'm hoping I can get as high as possible.

But does the consensus seem to be 10%ish is necessary to transfer to GTown and at that point I'd be better off here?

UIUCTransfer wrote:

blowhard wrote:You can't tell this off one semester's grades. I had a .6 difference between first and second.

Like I said, it was one poor grade or else I'd be pushing top 10%. I'm hoping I can get as high as possible.

But does the consensus seem to be 10%ish is necessary to transfer to GTown and at that point I'd be better off here?

Yes, but you only have ONE semesters grades.

Didn't see you had a full ride here on my first, fast, reading....If you make a lateral transfer ONLY because you are worried about the impact of the most recent scandal, it'll cost you some serious money and the job prospects don't seem like they'll be any better.

If your grades don't improve this semester, stay here and start planning to get very, very few OCI interviews. (Again, I don't mean this as a slight, it's just how our 100% preselect system works.) If you move up enough to transfer to a T-6ish, then think about it. I wouldn't give up a full-ride for much else.

UIUCTransfer wrote:

blowhard wrote:You can't tell this off one semester's grades. I had a .6 difference between first and second.

Like I said, it was one poor grade or else I'd be pushing top 10%. I'm hoping I can get as high as possible.

But does the consensus seem to be 10%ish is necessary to transfer to GTown and at that point I'd be better off here?

Yeah, I think you'd be better off here with a full-ride than paying full price at GTown. If you get a 4.0 this semester that'd probably push your GPA up to around a 3.75, which would put you in the top 10%. At that point, you have a SHOT at U of C (and similar) and you might consider it but, also at that point, your OCI prospects here are vastly different, too. It'd be an entirely different conversation.

What are your geographical preferences?

I'm strongly considering transferring, but I want to work and live back east closer to my family.

I would absolutely not lateral simply to avoid this scandal, especially if you're getting good scholarship money. I'm not convinced that, if, say, you moved up to top 15% or top 20% this semester, you're going to have OCI/employment opportunities anywhere you could think about transferring to that would be worth giving up $80,000+. Pull a 4.0, slide into top 10%, and it's a completely different story and you should be peppering CCN on down.

But if you want to work in Chicago, and transfer from UIUC to, I dunno, Minnesota or Iowa - or even Notre Dame - you'll have to explain why you gave up a huge scholly and left a school that strongly feeds into Chicago. And even if you take a hardline, I-was-morally-outraged stance, I think you'll get more than a few raised eyebrows.

I'd keep that full ride. Getting a fairly minor increase in OCI chances for 100K doesn't pay off. You already made the money v. OCI choice when you took Illinois over the 2 T14. You turned down a huge increase in OCI chances for 150K last summer.

UIUCTransfer wrote:Throwaway account. UIUC sitting just outside of the top 25% (1 mediocre grade or else I'd be much higher).

I was super happy in the fall when I started here even though I passed up several higher schools (and 2 t14) to come here w/ a full ride. With that said, I'm not sure I wanna be part of the first UIUC group to test OCI after this most recent admission scandal.

As I stand now, what are my hope of transferring up or laterally to try and get more confidence in snagging big lawl?

You can also look at it in a different perspective. If you transfer to Vandy/UCLA/USC or T14s you basically got a 1/3 scholarship since your first year of LS was free.

Going to one of the schools mentioned above will give you a significant boost to your chances at OCI. Generally employers that go to OCI at the schools listed above generally are receptive to transfers. Much more so than schools like UIUC/WUSTL/Emory.

I think you need to be in the top 20-25% to have a chance at Vandy/ucla/usc Top 20-10% for anything in the t14. Furthermore, I would not want to do OCI at UIUC with anything outside the top 15-20%.

I don't think you have a chance at GULC EA. I would consider USC binding ED if you want to leave. Even with USC I don't think you have a good chance.