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I am currently at a top 40 state law school. The school is pretty good for if you want to stay in state. I have done very well in my first semester my gpa is between 3.7 and 4.0 and I was wondering what would be my chances of transferring to yale or harvard or somewhere in the t14 like nyu? Is it worth it to go there besides a possibility of a more prestigious clerkship? Is law review possible, and this is a question for other transfers: how have they been able to fit in?

jainyv wrote:I am currently at a top 40 state law school. The school is pretty good for if you want to stay in state. I have done very well in my first semester my gpa is between 3.7 and 4.0 and I was wondering what would be my chances of transferring to yale or harvard or somewhere in the t14 like nyu?

You're gonna have to be more specific grade/rank wise. From a T1 you'll need to be in the top 5% to have a chance, probably more like top 2% to have a real shot; many YSH transfers come from T14 and T20ish schools and YS take very small transfer classes to begin with. For CCN you should be inside the top 10% with top 5% probably getting you at least 1 of the 3.

jainyv wrote:Is it worth it to go there besides a possibility of a more prestigious clerkship?

Not really sure what you're asking. If you're asking whether it's worth it to transfer to YSH if you don't want a prestigious clerkship then the answer is: it depends. Lots of factors may go into this decision including geographic preference, career goals, how much you are paying now vs. how much you would pay at the transfer school, etc.

jainyv wrote:Is law review possible

Depends on the school. Pretty sure Harvard and Columbia make you attempt to write on to LR before the applications are even due (and probably before you even have second semester grades back). To my knowledge, all the other T14 schools have a specific transfer write-on competition in August/September for a few reserved transfer spots. The difficulty of attaining one of those spots also depends on the school.

jainyv wrote:this is a question for other transfers: how have they been able to fit in?

Fine. It's generally not too difficult to fit in if you put forth some effort to hang out with people and go to events. Other transfers can give their perspective but I think that's the general consensus.

You probably need to rank in the top 5% of your current law school class to have a realistic shot (top 2% for Yale)--assuming that you do not have URM status.
If accepted, you shouldn't have any difficulty fitting in.

No more derailing OP's thread. If someone is doing something they shouldn't, use the report button rather than shitting up the thread.

Since this took up OP's entire first page I have split the derailment off. If 0L's/1L's should err on the side of not saying anything in this forum unless they are absolutely sure. If you're a 0L/1L and what you post is likely to be posted by someone else, you should probably just wait until someone with experience posts it.

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Agreed that you have to be more specific in terms of grades. If you're closer to a 3.7 (top 10%), you have a solid chance at schools like Michigan/Northwestern/Penn... if you're closer to a 4.0 (and #1 in your class), HYS come on the table. If you're somewhere in between, there's CLS/NYU.

Most transfers don't make LR, but there's usually an opportunity to do a journal, and if you do really well you have a chance at a good federal clerkship (I know a whole bunch of M transfers who are trying it... personally, my grades aren't good enough and I think I'd just rather work so long as I get an offer from my SA).

As for "fitting in"... it can be difficult at times, I'm not going to lie (which is why I'd recommend trying to transfer somewhere where you know people, if possible). Only because a lot of times you're going into a big school where everyone knows each other, since most of the schools that take a substantial amount of transfers are pretty big... but the good news is that at least of those schools you'll get to know your transfer classmates pretty well.

thanks for the responses. What if i want to transfer to columbia, is law review possible? Is there some sort of a competition? This is what the website says

Law review:
The Writing Competition is typically held during the second or third week of May. Transfer applicants may participate in the writing competition prior to the submission of an application for transfer admission. In order to take part in the writing competition, transfer applicants should contact Sam Rothschild at ene@columbialawreview.org to register for and receive information regarding the competition.

In addition to the writing competition, the Columbia Law Review conducts a Publishable Notes program, through which second-year students may submit a Note for publication. If a student's Note is accepted, s/he will be offered a spot on the Columbia Law Review's staff during the 3L year.

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