Top Law Schools

I'm currently a second-year evening student (that's the twist...sorry if it's lame but I couldn't find any thread on topic). Grade cutoffs from last year put me in the top 10% with definite improvement so far this year, so I feel confident going into OCI this fall. Also have law review at my current school, and I'm pretty sure I can get 2 solid recommendations. My day job lets me pay my living expenses in full, but I am taking out full loans for tuition - will have 140-50k in debt from current school.

The transfer question: worth it to try applying to a T10 school? Only ones I'm really interested in are Columbia, Virginia, NYU, or Harvard. Will probably apply to Yale for the lulz.

Upside: obvious. Better school. Better clerkship and job opportunities (particularly interested in fed. government work, but my school has no LRAP for gov't work).

Downside: 2 full-time years instead of part-time years, lose some credits, massive increase in loans due to living expenses.

Thoughts? Would you do it?

What is your current school? How does the top 10% usually do for jobs?

If you already have $70-75k and are going to take on two more years at sticker + living expense at a T14, that will put you in about $225k deep by the time you graduate. That's a lot, even with LRAP. You might not be much better off than just using IBR from your current school.

Either way, $140-$150k is a lot of debt to take on at your current school. It might be smart to get accepted somewhere and try to negotiate.

Does your current school offer scholarships to keep people from transferring?

OP here: Current school is a Tier 1, and Top 10%+LR is pretty solid on jobs, at least for big law - I actually don't know how people seeking gov't/PI do, but at my current level of debt, my eye is on big law with a focus to lateral to government work.

I don't know if we offer scholarships to keep people from transferring but I'd certainly be open to that. I suppose it'd be worth the app fees for the bargaining chip.

I'm also a 2nd year part-time student in pretty much the same situation as you. You mentioned the possibility of losing credits. How many credits do you have? Some T14 schools have a limit on the number of credits that a transfer applicant can have. For some this is a limit on how many they will give credit for, but for others they will not even look at your application if you are over their limit. Have you talked to the admissions offices at any of these schools? I was told by UVA that they would not consider anyone over their limit. Columbia said it was fine. I have not called anywhere else.

rogermurdoch wrote:I'm also a 2nd year part-time student in pretty much the same situation as you. You mentioned the possibility of losing credits. How many credits do you have? Some T14 schools have a limit on the number of credits that a transfer applicant can have. For some this is a limit on how many they will give credit for, but for others they will not even look at your application if you are over their limit. Have you talked to the admissions offices at any of these schools? I was told by UVA that they would not consider anyone over their limit. Columbia said it was fine. I have not called anywhere else.

I'm the OP: Columbia and Harvard said no problem. NYU basically said not to bother.

I contacted Yale and UVA, too, but didn't hear back. I guess I know the answer to UVA now, though.

Michigan takes transfers in the second year of PT programs.

OP here with an updated question: final grades all in for the Spring. I have a 3.65-3.7 cum. GPA. Last year, top 10% was 3.59, and I assume it will be about the same this year. So that might put me what around 5-7%? Also - have Law Review and I hope solid recommendations. Thoughts on apps to the following and chances?

Yale
Harvard
Columbia
Chicago
Michigan
Virginia

Not interested in other T14s for a variety of reasons, but if I don't apply to Yale, I'll probably throw in Penn or Cornell to at least try to get an acceptance somewhere. While I might attend those schools, I'd also be willing to negotiate with my current school (if they do indeed negotiate) if accepted.

Based on the top 10% GPA number you gave and the fact that you're in a part-time program it seems like you go to Fordham. If that's true, they probably won't give you more money (I've heard the top 15 people get an additional 5k). Conversely, I've heard top 10%+LR is set for biglaw so you really only "need" to transfer for one of three reasons: You want to relax and not try as hard anymore, you have academic ambitions or you really want to clerk.

Assuming you are Fordham, your set for V5 and have a shot for a 2nd Circuit clerkship so why bother transferring? Fordham part-time performs really well at OCI/mass mailing, with people down to median getting V30-50 jobs. You might as well keep making money at this point. With those grades I can be pretty sure you have the top GPA in the evening program or maybe second. Most full-time working evening students are around the 33% mark, and still do well at OCI.

Regardless of my school and its potential outcomes, I really do appreciate what Fujin and Kryptix are saying. I'm not fighting anything you're saying. I'm sure that if I want to, I can have BigLaw &/or a clerkship from my current school. I'd be more than happy to stay and have been happy with it the whole time.

For purposes of this thread, I'm now interested in my chances of applying elsewhere. I have my reasons for pursuing a transfer and am interested in where I can best leverage my chances of acceptance. I appreciate any more thoughts!

Since you were so polite I guess I'll answer the question you actually asked (although my initial point was "worth" is a rather vague term, if you can get the outcome you want where you're at now is a factor in that analysis)

Given the numbers you gave and the general belief put forth on this board that schools like to poach top performers from other schools in their market (again I'm assuming fordham) I'd say you have a solid shot at getting at least one of NYU or Columbia. Probably not so much at UVA because they're a state school and have a weird in-state quota (I've heard people say they rarely take transfers who aren't from virginia). Harvard is really a black hole because I'd say you're right on the borderline. I'd call it maybe 50-50 and throw an app their way anyway. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take, right?