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Another NU Transfer Poll

Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 5:28 pm
by eastcoast_iub
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Re: Another NU Transfer Poll

Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 5:33 pm
by ajaxconstructions
Which t25ish school? This matters a lot. Is it something like Fordham/BU/BC?

Re: Another NU Transfer Poll

Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 5:33 pm
by eastcoast_iub
ajaxconstructions wrote:Which t25ish school? This matters a lot. Is it something like Fordham/BU/BC?
IUB

Re: Another NU Transfer Poll

Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 5:40 pm
by shock259
NU potential transfer here:

I was under the impression (perhaps false hope) that a NU transfer wouldn't need to prove significant ties to be considered by Chicago firms. Not sure where I got that impression, though. Can anyone else chime in?

If you really want biglaw, I think you would probably want to transfer. I think you'd have a much better shot at it if you went to NU. Especially for those markets (do you know how well IUB does at NYC or DC biglaw?).

Good luck in whatever you choose.

Re: Another NU Transfer Poll

Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 7:55 pm
by eastcoast_iub
I second the call for some feedback on Chicago firms' openness to those without ties. People always say ties don't matter as much in NY or DC, so wonder if the same holds there...

IUB places very few in NY. I know that Arnold & Porter and Jones Day DC offices recruit at IU, but the pickings are pretty slim beyond that to my knowledge...

Re: Another NU Transfer Poll

Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 8:06 pm
by CanadianWolf
My opinion: Ties to major cities (NYC, Chicago, LA & Wash DC) are not necessary.

OP: Top 12% at IUB with money versus NU. Northwestern is the better choice. The roadblock, of course, is the $40,000 per year scholarship at Indiana. The choice becomes even more clouded if you make law review.

With law review & top 10%, you may get Chicago out of IUB---but doubtful that NYC & Wash DC would be options.

Re: Another NU Transfer Poll

Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 8:23 pm
by pballer
I find it difficult to believe that a transfer would be worth it for you here. I'd stay at IUB

Re: Another NU Transfer Poll

Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 8:40 pm
by eastcoast_iub
pballer wrote:I find it difficult to believe that a transfer would be worth it for you here. I'd stay at IUB
rationale?

Re: Another NU Transfer Poll

Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 9:51 pm
by pballer
90k in COL and tuition to put yourself in what I perceive as a marginally better chance at biglaw doesn't seem worth it. You obviously know UIB's biglaw feeder potential better than I, but I have to imagine that you're in the running for it in bloomington. Coming in as a transfer with grades outside of the top 10% doesn't seem like it would play all that well with firms coming in to NU.

Re: Another NU Transfer Poll

Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 10:06 pm
by homestyle28
pballer wrote:90k in COL and tuition to put yourself in what I perceive as a marginally better chance at biglaw doesn't seem worth it. You obviously know UIB's biglaw feeder potential better than I, but I have to imagine that you're in the running for it in bloomington. Coming in as a transfer with grades outside of the top 10% doesn't seem like it would play all that well with firms coming in to NU.
Almost all of this is wrong.

Re: Another NU Transfer Poll

Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 10:07 pm
by bk1
IUB seems to do pretty terribly i/r/t biglaw and I doubt they have that many NYC firms at OCI. It's easier to get NYC from NU than to get Chi. My suspicion is that going after DC as a xfer would be suicidal. I'd probably xfer if you really want NYC biglaw.

Re: Another NU Transfer Poll

Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 10:24 pm
by pballer
homestyle28 wrote:
pballer wrote:90k in COL and tuition to put yourself in what I perceive as a marginally better chance at biglaw doesn't seem worth it. You obviously know UIB's biglaw feeder potential better than I, but I have to imagine that you're in the running for it in bloomington. Coming in as a transfer with grades outside of the top 10% doesn't seem like it would play all that well with firms coming in to NU.
Almost all of this is wrong.
Worded it entirely as a perception, because I didn't know for sure. Legitimately interested as to why it's wrong.

ETA: Missed that he wanted *NY or DC* biglaw. What I said was based on chicago big law.

Re: Another NU Transfer Poll

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 9:06 am
by eastcoast_iub
bk187 wrote:IUB seems to do pretty terribly i/r/t biglaw and I doubt they have that many NYC firms at OCI. It's easier to get NYC from NU than to get Chi. My suspicion is that going after DC as a xfer would be suicidal. I'd probably xfer if you really want NYC biglaw.
What is your rationale for "going after DC is suicidal." Everyone talks about DC like it is the holy grail, but it also the second biggest legal market in the country. There are a ton of positions there, is there anything beyond anecdote suggesting how tough it is to crack?

FWIW, I have strong ties to the area and am interning in the FG this summer. Also, I'm not dying to get into V15 or whatever super-prestige benchmark people use, I just want to get at a market-paying job at a top (V100 or so) firm.

Re: Another NU Transfer Poll

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 9:47 am
by shock259
pballer wrote:90k in COL and tuition to put yourself in what I perceive as a marginally better chance at biglaw doesn't seem worth it. You obviously know UIB's biglaw feeder potential better than I, but I have to imagine that you're in the running for it in bloomington. Coming in as a transfer with grades outside of the top 10% doesn't seem like it would play all that well with firms coming in to NU.
Marginally better? the 2011 NLJ250 numbers for NU were above 50%. IUB is less than 5%.

http://www.lawschooltransparency.com/20 ... tatistics/

Re: Another NU Transfer Poll

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 9:50 am
by pballer
I recognize that the chances for biglaw for a student entering NU as a 1L and a student entering IUB as a 1L are drastically different. However, a top 12% IUB vs a NU transfer with grades outside of the top 10% of his former class seem like they would have fairly similar biglaw chances (obviously higher chances at NU as a transfer, but I don't know if that increase is worth 90k, no law review, no professor connections). Again, this is my perception. I don't have the data to support this perception and it would be very helpful if former NU transfers could speak to success rates for students in OP's position.

Re: Another NU Transfer Poll

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 10:11 am
by aca0260
OP - by now you should have an idea of how people in your position have fared at IUB. If in the last two years people have scored biglaw then you may be wanderlusting over NU. I don't know the answer to that. Congrats on NU though.

Re: Another NU Transfer Poll

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 11:26 pm
by bk1
eastcoast_iub wrote:
bk187 wrote:IUB seems to do pretty terribly i/r/t biglaw and I doubt they have that many NYC firms at OCI. It's easier to get NYC from NU than to get Chi. My suspicion is that going after DC as a xfer would be suicidal. I'd probably xfer if you really want NYC biglaw.
What is your rationale for "going after DC is suicidal." Everyone talks about DC like it is the holy grail, but it also the second biggest legal market in the country. There are a ton of positions there, is there anything beyond anecdote suggesting how tough it is to crack?

FWIW, I have strong ties to the area and am interning in the FG this summer. Also, I'm not dying to get into V15 or whatever super-prestige benchmark people use, I just want to get at a market-paying job at a top (V100 or so) firm.
DC is the 2nd biggest legal market but it is not a close 2nd. DC trails NYC by far. You're also forgetting demand, a lot of people want to work in DC which means when you look at supply/demand it's not a pretty sight. You would be competing (as a transfer with top 12% grades from IUB) versus tons of people at GULC, GW, and HYS. DC is also filled to the brim with T14 (if not HYS) top 10%+LR types. Pretty much everything I've seen on TLS (which is quite a bit) has shown that DC is tough as hell.

The other thing to keep in mind is that NU doesn't generally do too well in DC. I'd imagine that has a lot to do with self-selection due to not having a lot of people at NU who want DC (my theory: people who could get into NU can generally also get into GULC and if they want DC they'd probably take GULC). But that's going to hurt you as well since there will be fewer NU alumni there and firms won't be expecting to hire too many NU people for DC offices. That being said, I believe that it's pretty easy to get DC screeners since not too many people want them and you have enough bids that you might as well bid NYC/DC (though I could be wrong on that last count).

Re: Another NU Transfer Poll

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 11:46 pm
by JamMasterJ
eastcoast_iub wrote:
ajaxconstructions wrote:Which t25ish school? This matters a lot. Is it something like Fordham/BU/BC?
IUB
are you from Indiana? If so, I've heard that that's a decent enough tie

Re: Another NU Transfer Poll

Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 12:00 am
by rayiner
shock259 wrote:
pballer wrote:90k in COL and tuition to put yourself in what I perceive as a marginally better chance at biglaw doesn't seem worth it. You obviously know UIB's biglaw feeder potential better than I, but I have to imagine that you're in the running for it in bloomington. Coming in as a transfer with grades outside of the top 10% doesn't seem like it would play all that well with firms coming in to NU.
Marginally better? the 2011 NLJ250 numbers for NU were above 50%. IUB is less than 5%.

http://www.lawschooltransparency.com/20 ... tatistics/
That's irrelevant in a transfer situation. Most Midwestern firms will treat an IU-B transfer to NU the same as an IU-B student of the same rank. The only advantage is to access the bigger OCI.

Re: Another NU Transfer Poll

Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 12:04 am
by rayiner
eastcoast_iub wrote:FWIW, I have strong ties to the area and am interning in the FG this summer. Also, I'm not dying to get into V15 or whatever super-prestige benchmark people use, I just want to get at a market-paying job at a top (V100 or so) firm.
DC is the second-largest legal market, but it's also insanely school snobby and insanely popular with the top students at HYS, and top students from the whole T14. Remember, there are 500 students who are top 10% at a T14.

As someone who did OCI in both DC and NYC from a lower T14, my experience was that in terms of selectivity, DC V50 ~= NYC V5; DC V100 ~= NYC V25.

Re: Another NU Transfer Poll

Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 12:55 am
by shock259
rayiner wrote:
shock259 wrote:
pballer wrote:90k in COL and tuition to put yourself in what I perceive as a marginally better chance at biglaw doesn't seem worth it. You obviously know UIB's biglaw feeder potential better than I, but I have to imagine that you're in the running for it in bloomington. Coming in as a transfer with grades outside of the top 10% doesn't seem like it would play all that well with firms coming in to NU.
Marginally better? the 2011 NLJ250 numbers for NU were above 50%. IUB is less than 5%.

http://www.lawschooltransparency.com/20 ... tatistics/
That's irrelevant in a transfer situation. Most Midwestern firms will treat an IU-B transfer to NU the same as an IU-B student of the same rank. The only advantage is to access the bigger OCI.
Is that because they are somewhat familiar with IUB? Or are NU transfers generally considered as students of their prior school? Probable NU transfer here coming from CU Boulder.

Re: Another NU Transfer Poll

Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 1:19 am
by rayiner
shock259 wrote:Is that because they are somewhat familiar with IUB? Or are NU transfers generally considered as students of their prior school? Probable NU transfer here coming from CU Boulder.
Because they probably also recruit at IU-B.

Re: Another NU Transfer Poll

Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 7:27 pm
by eastcoast_iub
rayiner wrote:
shock259 wrote:
pballer wrote:90k in COL and tuition to put yourself in what I perceive as a marginally better chance at biglaw doesn't seem worth it. You obviously know UIB's biglaw feeder potential better than I, but I have to imagine that you're in the running for it in bloomington. Coming in as a transfer with grades outside of the top 10% doesn't seem like it would play all that well with firms coming in to NU.
Marginally better? the 2011 NLJ250 numbers for NU were above 50%. IUB is less than 5%.

http://www.lawschooltransparency.com/20 ... tatistics/
That's irrelevant in a transfer situation. Most Midwestern firms will treat an IU-B transfer to NU the same as an IU-B student of the same rank. The only advantage is to access the bigger OCI.
The "only" advantage is really a huge advantage, no? Isn't access to a better OCI a huge (if not the primary) reason why most students transfer?

Some firms won't even give you a sniff if you're from a lower-ranked school. But T14 has a certain cachet with certain employers, right? T14 are known quantities in the largest legal markets. You can't say the same for IUB. Few big firms recruit there, esp. on the East Coast. NU's OCI is grade-blind, so it will give me the chance to get in front of an array of firms. Of course I will have to bid selectively, since I'm outside the Top 10% at Indiana. But beyond the top of the V100, how many firms are going to instantly disqualify me based on that?

Re: Another NU Transfer Poll

Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 7:28 pm
by eastcoast_iub
rayiner wrote:
shock259 wrote:
pballer wrote:90k in COL and tuition to put yourself in what I perceive as a marginally better chance at biglaw doesn't seem worth it. You obviously know UIB's biglaw feeder potential better than I, but I have to imagine that you're in the running for it in bloomington. Coming in as a transfer with grades outside of the top 10% doesn't seem like it would play all that well with firms coming in to NU.
Marginally better? the 2011 NLJ250 numbers for NU were above 50%. IUB is less than 5%.

http://www.lawschooltransparency.com/20 ... tatistics/
That's irrelevant in a transfer situation. Most Midwestern firms will treat an IU-B transfer to NU the same as an IU-B student of the same rank. The only advantage is to access the bigger OCI.

Re: Another NU Transfer Poll

Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 7:47 pm
by attractive_NUisance
Ask to talk to some NU transfers to get their take. A bunch of people transfer in to NU every year. From those that I know, the same or higher percentage who wanted big law got jobs at big firms as regular NU students. OCI at NU will get you around 18-22 screener interviews. I think the brand value of going to and graduating from a top school is significant even if firms still look at you a little more skeptically than a 3 year NU student with the same gpa. If it didn't add any value there would be exactly zero people transferring in every year.