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I have to decide by the end of the day to go to Chicago or stay at my DCNG. I am top 10% and have law review. I want transactional work in NYC. I don't have much interest in clerking, academia etc.
However, the reason I'm thinking of transferring is to move locations. My SO is moving to Chicago early next year for work. Would transferring hurt me? The traditional reasoning here is that you're viewed at your new school how you are at your old school. I'd be perfectly happy getting the firms I can get being top 10% at my DCNG, so I'm not really trying to gain a benefit from transferring, but I'm more wondering if it will hurt me in a material way.

Sounds like you have a decent reason. Couple questions that pop into my head though:

What do you do when your SO is in Chicago and you are doing transactional work in NYC? Maybe it's just too far into the future to decide...

SO is moving to Chicago early 2014? Have you considered visiting as third year student? Seems like a much less messy way to do it.

Just some thoughts.

I'm assuming you are at D, C, or G, and not Northwestern.

I think the loss of law review will hurt you more than the grades thing.

The other thing that bothers me is, as stated by the poster above, that a NY employer may question your dedication to NY if you say that you made the move for your SO in Chicago.

To me, this move makes sense if you were planning on staying in Chicago medium to long term. For Chicago employment, I think being at the local powerhouse offsets the loss of law review at somewhere like Duke.

Thanks to you both. It's a similar field to law where if my SO works for 2ish years exit options in NY should open up. But yes, I'm wary of my "Why Transfer" narrative hurting me at OCI. As one of the above posters mentioned, it would basically mean being together for 18 months. I suppose that's not worth the potential hit to placement at OCI.

I would just stay. If you transfer to Chicago, you won't see her fall semester (assuming she won't move to Chicago until 2014), and won't see her over 2014 summer because of SA. Are you going to lose any scholarship money? I would imagine that Chicago cost-of-living is also higher than Duke's.

Anonymous User wrote:I have to decide by the end of the day to go to Chicago or stay at my DCNG. I am top 10% and have law review. I want transactional work in NYC. I don't have much interest in clerking, academia etc.
However, the reason I'm thinking of transferring is to move locations. My SO is moving to Chicago early next year for work. Would transferring hurt me? The traditional reasoning here is that you're viewed at your new school how you are at your old school. I'd be perfectly happy getting the firms I can get being top 10% at my DCNG, so I'm not really trying to gain a benefit from transferring, but I'm more wondering if it will hurt me in a material way.

To clarify, do you have Law Review at DCNG or did you write onto Law Review at UChicago?

Anonymous User wrote:Thanks to you both. It's a similar field to law where if my SO works for 2ish years exit options in NY should open up. But yes, I'm wary of my "Why Transfer" narrative hurting me at OCI. As one of the above posters mentioned, it would basically mean being together for 18 months. I suppose that's not worth the potential hit to placement at OCI.

"To be close to my significant other" is pretty much the easiest answer to the "Why Transfer" question. Once you say that, nobody really questions you. I really don't think you would face much of a hit at OCI. This also depends on which DCNG you're at. If you're at Cornell or Georgetown, you might experience a benefit, since UChicago students have substantially better career prospects than students from C/G, compared to students from D/N.

Helmholtz wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I have to decide by the end of the day to go to Chicago or stay at my DCNG. I am top 10% and have law review. I want transactional work in NYC. I don't have much interest in clerking, academia etc.
However, the reason I'm thinking of transferring is to move locations. My SO is moving to Chicago early next year for work. Would transferring hurt me? The traditional reasoning here is that you're viewed at your new school how you are at your old school. I'd be perfectly happy getting the firms I can get being top 10% at my DCNG, so I'm not really trying to gain a benefit from transferring, but I'm more wondering if it will hurt me in a material way.

To clarify, do you have Law Review at DCNG or did you write onto Law Review at UChicago?

Law review at DCNG. Nothing at Chicago. Is the benefit that Chicago students get enough to offset the lack of law review?

Dude, stay. Why give up LR at a T14 for Chicago? You're going to be totally fine at your T14.

STAY! Do a visiting year at Chicago/Northwestern during your 3L year. You'll only be apart for a semester that way.