transferring and better opportunities Forum

[jainyv]

I have a question. If you do well enough to transfer to yale or stanford or harvard can you do law review or journal and do you have a chance at a prestigious clerkship or a scotus clerkship?

[to_transfer_or_not]

I have a question. If you do well enough to transfer to yale or stanford or harvard can you do law review or journal and do you have a chance at a prestigious clerkship or a scotus clerkship?

At Harvard you need to do write on competition before being accepted as a transfer. Since the school is so large and the number of write on slots is so small, the chances of making LR are really small.

Yale and Stanford both have separate transfer admit write on competitions. Other threads discuss how difficult it is to get on to the flagship journals as a transfer, but it seems like the general consensus is something like a 50/50 shot.

See this thread regarding clerkships: http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... 7&t=179090

You might be more competitive for a post-graduate clerkship as a HYS grad with LR, but SCOTUS seems like a pretty remote possibility for transfers (even relative to the normal HYS population).

[concurrent fork]

You might be more competitive for a post-graduate clerkship as a HYS grad with LR, but SCOTUS seems like a pretty remote possibility for transfers (even relative to the normal HYS population).

Yeah this is interesting. Although we have some data suggesting HYS transfer classes enjoy close to 100% success rate at OCI (which is higher than the general population, at least at HLS), I don't think there's any evidence that transfers outperform re: Art III clerkships. In fact, as I suggested in the thread linked above, I'm not sure the prestige of the new school really compensates transfer clerkship applicants for the disadvantages arising from the lost connections/general chaos of transferring. I think the upshot is that, given this uncertainty, clerkship access shouldn't be a primary driver in the decision to transfer. But again, this is just my observation based on anecdotal evidence.

[jainyv]

thanks for the replies! I know that scotus is very difficult to land, but my question was more in terms of even a possibility at a scotus clerkship. Are you just out of the running if you're a transfer student.

[CCN-S Transfer]

thanks for the replies! I know that scotus is very difficult to land, but my question was more in terms of even a possibility at a scotus clerkship. Are you just out of the running if you're a transfer student.

A transfer's chances at SCOTUS are based basically entirely on whether that person would've had a shot prior to transferring. Aka if you are #1 at a T14 or among the top 5 or so students at a T6 and you transfer into YSH, then I'd guess that transferring wouldn't really hurt you much. The most difficult part would be making strong enough connections with faculty at the new school in time to land a top feeder clerkship. My hunch is that if you were already a real SCOTUS candidate and you started talking with faculty at your new school immediately upon arriving, they would try to get you there (more SCOTUS clerks is good for the school). You would still have to impress some faculty at your new school, as you still need them to feel comfortable putting their confidence in you (when they put their reputations on the line and recommend you to judges they know).

[ToTransferOrNot]

Eh, I think it's a little much to say that no transfer student would be competitive for SCOTUS if they wouldn't have been competitive pre-transfer. If you hit on the right combination of things. Basically: law review, publish (preferably both a note and an actual article), quickly establish relationships with heavy-hitting profs (very possible, contrary to popular belief), land a feeder (much harder, but some transfers can land feeder clerkships, particularly if they go after it in the context of a second clerkship), graduate magna or summa.

Incredibly difficult, but frankly, you're shooting for the same inputs as anyone else who is going for SCOTUS. It's not impossible. In the end, though, making ANY law school-related decision on the basis of SCOTUS chances is absurd.

As for clerkships? Again, transfers have a tougher time than "natives," especially for clerkships of the post-grad variety, but it's not impossible. I sincerely doubt that anyone actually hurts their chances by doing it, aside from perhaps the top-10% of T14 law review grade-on kid who transfers to HYS and misses out on Law Review.