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I saw that someone went from a T4 to Berkeley, and many have gone to GULC from T3/T4s. If this isn't lifehack, I don't know what is. But, it's great that they got in, and I would like to know, if there are people who've made similar leaps, how you've distinguished yourself apart from other transfers! Thanks!

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What's DNCG?

Duke, Northwestern, Cornell & Georgetown.

I'm TTT to MVP. I think I got lucky, but I tried to make sure to make an impression w/ my personal statement, and had relevant WE and a school-specific reason for applying.

1L grades.

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Jessuf wrote:

Itinerant wrote:1L grades.

This. I think the T14 schools outside out T6 are fairly open to T3/T4 transfers. I didn't have relevant work experience, my personal statement was word vomit, and I haven't done anything cool with my life. I think it all just came down to grades/rank.

You shouldn't be thinking about transferring now.

Grades are really all that matter. I think its fine to think about transferring (your goal is to get best grades possible no matter what your thinking about) but you should understand that its not the same.

By transferring what you are gaining is access to a greater number of firms at OCI and likely a more well connected alumni base. You are not looked at as a Harvard student by employers at OCI. Maybe if you strike out and your looking for employment 3L after doing really well but your 1L grades are still the most important thing.

Uncle.Joe wrote:

Jessuf wrote:

Itinerant wrote:1L grades.

This. I think the T14 schools outside out T6 are fairly open to T3/T4 transfers. I didn't have relevant work experience, my personal statement was word vomit, and I haven't done anything cool with my life. I think it all just came down to grades/rank.

You shouldn't be thinking about transferring now.

Grades are really all that matter. I think its fine to think about transferring (your goal is to get best grades possible no matter what your thinking about) but you should understand that its not the same.

By transferring what you are gaining is access to a greater number of firms at OCI and likely a more well connected alumni base. You are not looked at as a Harvard student by employers at OCI. Maybe if you strike out and your looking for employment 3L after doing really well but your 1L grades are still the most important thing.

Yes, grades are all that matter but I actually disagree with the bold point, although I am sure perception varies. For the most part though, I think the employer only cares that you will have the marketability of a Harvard JD upon graduation and they can flaunt it on the company website without ever having to mention your former school. Furthermore, if you made it to Harvard, you already passed the grades hurdle anyway from a pretty respectable T1 school. I think that holds true for all of the t6 schools, but starts vary considerable thereafter, especially post-MVP.

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Jessuf wrote:This is t3/t4 to t14 thread. A t3 transfer to Harvard happens probably once a decade. A t3/t4 transfer to a school like gulc will be viewed as a t3/t4 student with their 1L rank. Lots of firms will not even consider someone from a t3/t4 school even if they were #1. Common wisdom in terms of OCI is that firms will be interested in you as a transfer if they would have considered you originally had you stayed at your old school. I found that most firms answered "NO!!" to this question. Obviously a T2/T1 transfer would fare much better.

This is a good point. If you do exceptionally well at a lower T1 or T2, you will almost certainly be able to transfer to a better school in the same market. These students are probably going to get a job in that market anyway, so the better schools would prefer you have their name stamped on your diploma - also so they can hit you up for fundraising $$ later.

Top 5% at Davis and Hastings usually make the jump to Berkeley/Stanford. Same with Fordham/Cardozo to NYU (sometimes Columbia) and Loyola/Pepperdine to UCLA/USC. However, from what I've heard, it is uncommon for Southwestern students to jump to UCLA/USC, Golden Gate to Berkeley/Stanford, or NYLS to NYU/Columbia.

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Jessuf wrote:I do agree with Golden Gate to Stanford and NYLS to NYU/Columbia. T6 is super hard for T3/T4 to crack. Not sure if anyone this past cycle who posts on TLS did it. Berkeley seems to be better if you have iron clad CA ties, a really good rank, and really show demonstrated interest in the school.

jump_man wrote:Top 5% at Davis and Hastings usually make the jump to Berkeley/Stanford. Same with Fordham/Cardozo to NYU (sometimes Columbia) and Loyola/Pepperdine to UCLA/USC. However, from what I've heard, it is uncommon for Southwestern students to jump to UCLA/USC, Golden Gate to Berkeley/Stanford, or NYLS to NYU/Columbia.

I know for a fact that one of the previous transfer classes at CLS/NYU had 2 transfers from NYLS. Definitely not unheard of.

quiver wrote:

Jessuf wrote:I do agree with Golden Gate to Stanford and NYLS to NYU/Columbia. T6 is super hard for T3/T4 to crack. Not sure if anyone this past cycle who posts on TLS did it. Berkeley seems to be better if you have iron clad CA ties, a really good rank, and really show demonstrated interest in the school.

jump_man wrote:Top 5% at Davis and Hastings usually make the jump to Berkeley/Stanford. Same with Fordham/Cardozo to NYU (sometimes Columbia) and Loyola/Pepperdine to UCLA/USC. However, from what I've heard, it is uncommon for Southwestern students to jump to UCLA/USC, Golden Gate to Berkeley/Stanford, or NYLS to NYU/Columbia.

I know for a fact that one of the previous transfer classes at CLS/NYU had 2 transfers from NYLS. Definitely not unheard of.

And in Boston I know that there has been at least one Suffolk to Harvard transfer in the last couple years, and I know of another prospective transfer student from Suffolk was admitted to CLS.

I heard that Emory took 15+ transfers from John Marshall Atlanta this year. Not T14 but that sure is a lot of transfers from one school.