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Hi all,

I'm a 2L at a 20-30 school and I've been thinking of trying to transfer up. A few issues:

1. Can that be done after 1.5 years completed, or is it too late?
2. My school does not release class ranks. I'd estimate that I'm top 20-30%, but I have no way of knowing for sure (one AMJUR under my belt, but I also have a lower grades).
3. I have fairly strong soft factors. Will that matter at all?

Just trying to see whether a transfer to, say, a 10-20 school like UCLA or USC would be realistic. Not looking for HYS or anything.

Thanks!

leprocrastinating wrote:Hi all,

I'm a 2L at a 20-30 school and I've been thinking of trying to transfer up. A few issues:

1. Can that be done after 1.5 years completed, or is it too late?
2. My school does not release class ranks. I'd estimate that I'm top 20-30%, but I have no way of knowing for sure (one AMJUR under my belt, but I also have a lower grades).
3. I have fairly strong soft factors. Will that matter at all?

Just trying to see whether a transfer to, say, a 10-20 school like UCLA or USC would be realistic. Not looking for HYS or anything.

Thanks!

Hi leprocrastinating,

1) It is too late to transfer as a full student, sadly. The ABA requires so many hours to be completed at a school before that school may confer a degree. You're essentially married to the one who brought you, at this point. That said, there is an option at most schools to be a "third year visitor" at another school. You essentially apply to that school as a psuedo-transfer. You would spend the entire year at that school, but would still graduate from your original school. The new school would not give you a degree.

2) It's worth contacting your Dean of Students to see if they will offer your rank privately to you. If not, most applications allow for you to say "Top 20% - school does not publish ranks," or something of that sort.

3) Softs are impossible to really gauge. Did you climb Mt. Everest after battling Leukemia? Were you on some national champion-esque sports team? Did you start a successful business? There's really no way to tell how important softs are in the transfer process. If you won a Nobel Prize, or something "like" that, it'll mean a lot more than being the President of X Legal Society or on your UG Debate Team. Most everyone has those softs. Most applicants will find that their grades are the single most important factor in transferring (other factors do matter, but usually not as much).

I hope this was helpful!
LPS

Thank you, very helpful, though obviously not the answer I wanted =/.

No, my school won't release my rank privately to me. They won't even give me a range...it's very frustrating.

Do you know what the minimum units normally are? If I tried to transfer I probably wouldn't complete this semester, so I'd have 1.5 years completed and not 2.

Thanks again!

Actually, you can transfer after finishing 2L (or in the middle, I guess), you'd just have to complete 2 years at the new school anyway so probably be taking on more debt and extending your time in law school. But in real life I've only known one person who has done this. I imagine it's pretty rare.

Perfect username for this question