Top Law Schools

Let me start by saying my plan is NOT to transfer from a (what used to be T3) school. I have a generous scholarship offer and am not dead-set on Big Law. This post is merely out of curiosity and for my own edification. I in now way "look down" on my school and am happy to be a student here. Transferring is of course something that can only be done once and I want to make sure if I decided to apply, it's done right and without grandiose or morbid expectations. I will say that this is a T3 school in the Great Lakes states and my 'supposed' target(s) is(are) Michigan first and foremost, followed by UVA and GULC, and finally IU, UIUC, Wisconsin, OSU.

Has anyone (of course people have, asking readers directly) successfully transferred from a T3 school to one of these schoools, the T14 or upper T1? The question is vague and speaks in generalities, I know, but I am just trying to get a (recent) overall picture into the success rate of those people.

Disclaimer: This is not a troll post, so please don't respond as such. Don't be an ass. I am asking a legitimate question and if you can only respond with stupidity or arrogance, please save it.

On a happier note, thanks in advance for everyone's help!

Plenty of people transfer from T3 into the T14.

Come back when you finish your first year.

Don't go to law school thinking of transferring.

Only go to the school you want to graduate from.

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I think I covered all the bases there.

UM takes transfers from MSU/Wayne State, but they are all like top 5 in their class, if not #1/2.

Yup. My buddy transferred from NIU with a 3.45 (top 8%) to Wisconsin. However, as others already stated, everyone is gunning for top 10% and it is not easy to do.

I was #1 at T3. Got into a low t-14 school but decided to go to a different school for personal reasons. It's possible, but don't count on it.

I didn't go into law school at my TTT planning to transfer, but after 1L grades were posted I was in the top-third of my class and on a whim I decided to spend $60 and apply to the only other school I would consider going to (in the 40-50 range). I didn't expect to get in, I just thought "Why the hell not." I even enrolled in summer classes at my 1L school and almost started buying books for fall semester.

But the new school offered me a spot. It was completely unexpected. I even made a post about it in this forum, and everything I've read indicates that you have to be top 5 or 10% to be considered a candidate anywhere. But there really isn't any data on it.

It's obviously not a T14. For the record, I know people that did much better than I, but they only tried to transfer to T2 schools. I guess my advice, should you transfer, is that it doesn't hurt to aim high. Crazy shit happens.

Also, I think this is something that you should ask about during your second semester (or after your fall grades come out, if they're great). You'll actually have numbers to work with at that point, maybe a provisional ranking if your school does that, but just focus on school and don't worry about transferring until you know you're doing well enough to even consider it.

OP: Based on your profile stats (150/3.0) & your statement that you have a generous scholarship from your current Great Lakes state law school, my guess is that you're at Cooley. If correct, you'll probably need at least a top 10% ranking to transfer into the upper tier one law schools & top 2% for the lower T-14.

P.S. It would help if you just shared the name of your current law school as I realize that Toledo & Akron are also possibilities whereas it is unlikely that you're at MSU.

CanadianWolf wrote:OP: Based on your profile stats (150/3.0) & your statement that you have a generous scholarship from your current Great Lakes state law school, my guess is that you're at Cooley. If correct, you'll probably need at least a top 10% ranking to transfer into the upper Tier One law schools & top 2% for the lower T-14.

P.S. It would help if you just shared the name of your current law school as I realize that Toledo & Akron are also possibilities whereas it is unlikely that you're at MSU.

Surprisingly, it's not Cooley. Didn't even apply there. I just don't want any responses to be based off a specific school, but rather the T3 in general. I am set to start at Ohio Northern next month.

it seems like movement to the top 20-50 is not that hard. It is just getting closer to the top 14 that is the challenge.

Last year I read a few posts on TLS by Ohio Northern law students. Job prospects are dim. You'll probably need better than top 10% for a top 35 law school & top 1% for the lower T-14 as Ohio Northern is a Tier Four law school.

jarofsoup wrote:it seems like movement to the top 20-50 is not that hard. It is just getting closer to the top 14 that is the challenge.

Agreed. 3/135 at a TTT - In at Emory, but looks like I won't be cracking the T14.

You can get into GWU as top 15% from a T3.

You can get into American outside of top 1/3 from a T3.

Not saying this is the norm, but it happened for people at my school.

(Since you mentioned GULC)

My TTT matches your description. I have a friend who transferred to a Top 20-25 school with grades just inside the top 33 percent, two friends who transferred to Michigan (both ranked top 5 in their class, tremendous secondary factors, didn't matter to UM) and a friend who was turned down by Michigan, but accepted by Notre Dame (top 15 in his/her class). I also know transfers to GULC and Ohio State, not sure where they ranked, though.

To echo an earlier thought on this thread, it seems much easier to transfer to schools in the 15-35 range than the T14.

I considered transferring, stayed, and ended up with debt under $10k and a firm job that pays market rate in Detroit.

top 8% at T4 got wait-listed at GULC

OP's law school "used to be" Tier Three. It has fallen into Tier Four.

Lycurgus wrote:top 8% at T4 got wait-listed at GULC

Same, but I got dinged at GW. So be wary. Got into American though. Shoulda applied to GMU.

Be wary that transferring into some T1s may not put you in a much better place than you would be at your old school. For example, a T3 in the top 1-3%, LR, small secondary market, etc is probably going to have a better shot at getting a real job than a school like AU at median. You can assume you'll do super well at your new school too, but it's a gamble. Not to mention the T3 should cost WAY less money than an AU type of school.

However, if you can break into the T14, it's a different story.

Edit: don't mean to troll AU. You can insert any expensive school in a huge, oversatured legal market in that sentence and it still holds true.

shock259 wrote:Be wary that transferring into some T1s may not put you in a much better place than you would be at your old school. For example, a T3 in the top 1-3%, LR, small secondary market, etc is probably going to have a better shot at getting a real job than a school like AU at median. You can assume you'll do super well at your new school too, but it's a gamble. Not to mention the T3 should cost WAY less money than an AU type of school.

However, if you can break into the T14, it's a different story.

Edit: don't mean to troll AU. You can insert any expensive school in a huge, oversatured legal market in that sentence and it still holds true.

+1.

It's going to come down to a self-assessment of your own situation. The debt is not so bad for me as I work, live frugally, no wife or kids to hold me down, and have military tuition assistance. Though AU may not translate into biglaw jobs, it'll definitely give me more credibility for movement in my area of interest as opposed to the current school I go to which is the worst ranked school in the same saturated market. And worst case scenario, I keep on truckin' in my own agency and be better off than most law students.

OP pm me..

OP, depends on what your goals are. If you have a set goal, are focused, and are realistic, almost anything is possible. I went from low-end TTTT to GWU as an expedited admit, giving me a chance to write-on for their journals. So going from a upper T4, possibly T3 again next year, to an upper T1 is possible.

However, you need to realize that you need to be near the top of your class, top 10% won't cut it. top 1% is more like it. That being said, there's a 99% failure rate.

Go to the school you don't mind graduating from. Whether it's graduate from a lower school with almost no debt, and build your career slowly, or take the risk at better ranked/positioned schools by accruing more debt but possibly starting off with a better paying job.