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I just finished the thousand page monster that Harvard sent me, and I am finishing Columbia's currently.

Anyone know if most transfers do these competitions or any information about success?

I also want to reiterate how ridiculously time consuming Harvard's competition is. It is quite demoralizing to think it was all for nothing.

There are several threads on this if you do a search. Very low success rate for HLS (no one managed to write on in my cycle).

Heh. Searching TLS forums has been a frustrating process. I'll give it a whirl later.

My searches have seemed to show that not many people manage to write on unless there is a separate write-on competition for transfers. My last final was on May 16th so I was still working on that during most of Harvard's write on. Now that you say its crazy huge I'm glad I didn't do anything stupid like try to start their write on the minute my final ended. I was already pretty darn demoralized.

mileslibertatis wrote:Heh. Searching TLS forums has been a frustrating process. I'll give it a whirl later.

You just did a 1000 page write-on for Harvard...searching TLS can't be THAT much more frustrating

It looks like you are doing write-ons outta my league, but when I transferred to BU they had a separate write-on for transfers and most transfers made some form of journal.

The packet for Harvard was about a thousand pages. The subcite was 28 pages on about half the page, and my case comment ended up around 17 pages. The rest was source material.

And yeah, I started on it last Friday when I got it, wrapped it up Thursday afternoon and then did the entire Columbia one in a day. This was possible in part because Columbia's entire packet was only 139 pages, about half of which was administrative materials.

Haha, you're more of a man (or woman) than me. That's epic. After 9 months of grinding I just said forget it. I wish you the best of luck!

I just searched through some old threads. General consternation, not a lot of good information. One interesting tidbit I picked up was the sentiment that it is impossible to do both the Columbia and Harvard competitions. Someone said it would be silly to try to do CLS's in "half the time" as everyone else.

That does not bode well for my 24-hour blitz. But if I am offered a spot, I will dutifully return here and inform everyone.

How does this work? I haven't even applied for transfer yet. I'm assuming I have no chance to write-on now. (Haven't decided on whether or not to do it yet).

Columbia and Harvard are over. Columbia has a publishable notes program to write on as well. None of my other targets have had their competitions yet.

mileslibertatis wrote:Columbia and Harvard are over. Columbia has a publishable notes program to write on as well. None of my other targets have had their competitions yet.

That early? Even for transfers? That's crazy given the deadlines. I wasn't going to get my application out (if I did itt) until next week.

I believe that both law schools allow/require transfer applicants to compete for their law reviews even though an admission decision has not yet been made.

NC1 wrote:

mileslibertatis wrote:Columbia and Harvard are over. Columbia has a publishable notes program to write on as well. None of my other targets have had their competitions yet.

That early? Even for transfers? That's crazy given the deadlines. I wasn't going to get my application out (if I did itt) until next week.

Yes. However, all of the secondary journals are walk-on. So transfers can still join a journal even if they do not participate in the writing competition.

You can compete in the competition before applying. I sent in my applications without my final grades because I am an impatient troll.

Do secondary journals have any cred in terms of resume/job stuff?

Secondary journals are important if it is in a specific area of law in which you have a demonstrated interest.

Skyblaze wrote:Haha, you're more of a man (or woman) than me. That's epic. After 9 months of grinding I just said forget it. I wish you the best of luck!

Same here. I thought I was a gunner, but holy hell. Good luck

mileslibertatis wrote:Do secondary journals have any cred in terms of resume/job stuff?

At the top schools, yes. Certain secondary journals at H and Y are cited more frequently than some of the T30 flagship law reviews (Harvard JOLT is a good example). Interviewers often recognize these journals and they might score you some points or at least provide a topic for conversation.

Good to know. Getting in to Harvard but not making LR would be slightly bittersweet. But also kind of a relief.