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I am a 1L at a T4 in the midwest, I am top 10% (15/153) and I picked up a federal clerkship for this summer working in a magistrate's chambers. I have been entertaining the idea of transferring to a school out west (Colorado-Boulder as a top choice). Below are my thoughts and I would appreciate any advice.

Cons (of transferring):
I can't work for the federal judge if I APPLY to transfer (conditioned by the school)
I will lose a a 50%-75% scholly for next year
Not entirely sure where I want to go
No connections in CO but have connections in CA and TX (but I believe I can make connections if and when I get there relatively easily)

Pros:
Working and living in CO would fit my lifestyle very well
Provides an out from the midwest (born and raised here)

imo, you need a much stronger justification to take the financial hit and give up your top 10% grades than just Colorado would be a nice place to live.

From what I gathered, transferring to non-T14 is generally not a good idea due to the financial burden except:
(1) The designation school feeds well into your target market
(2) You have very strong personal reasons to move to the said location
(3) You are not receiving any money at the current school and just want to trade up. (but in your case trading up to a ranked 44 school is still somewhat problematic considering you will forgo your good grades, journal opportunities, etc.)

In sum, you need a much more compelling reason than what you provided

Top 10% at a TTTT won't get you far enough up the transfer ladder to make it worthwhile to forgo the scholarship, IMO.

Also, FYI, a federal clerkship is where you are compensated, as a federal magistrate clerk, post graduating from law school. A judicial intern/externship is where you volunteer for a judge while in law school.

Brah, Denver is so awesome, brah.

Thanks, folks, for the responses. I guess I should've added that I am particularly attracted to CU because of the quality of their environmental law program and their health law program.

davisoz - Thanks for clearing that terminology up.

Do you all have any recs for starting points on making contacts out-of-state (short of joining their bar assc. and taking flights out to attend events)? I realize that is one of the best ways, and I have intentions of doing that, but I am wondering if there other avenues?