1L in top 6% at T30- should i transfer to T14? Forum

[LawLschool101]

What are my odds of getting into Georgetown, Berkeley or UChicago? I want to do corporate law in a big city. At UW I pay in-state tuition of 20k + living expenses. For the summer I'll be doing a judicial externship. Any other schools i should be looking at?

thanks.

[Calvin Murphy]

What is your definition of a "big city"??

More importantly...do you have an idea of where you want to work?

If Milwaukee (or Madison) is the answer to both of these questions, I'd imagine that you're best off negotiating for a better scholarship. While transfer odds are more of a black box than anything else, you would seem to have great odds at GULC. Both Georgetown and Chicago have early applications (only requiring first semester grades), and (as I understand it) Georgetown's application is non-binding (whereas UChicago's is)...so you've got some incentive to send that one out right away (It's due mid-month, IIRC). As for Berk and UChicago, your second semester grades will obviously be very important. If you maintain or improve your rank, I see no reason not to apply to both.

Lastly, I'd suggest adding Northwestern to your list...assuming that the Chicago market interests you. At the same time, I've only met one transfer student from Northwestern. They did well at OCI, but anecdotes aren't the type of advice you want, and so I'd want more data on transfer OCI performance before making that decision.

[Nebby]

What are my odds of getting into Georgetown, Berkeley or UChicago? I want to do corporate law in a big city. At UW I pay in-state tuition of 20k + living expenses. For the summer I'll be doing a judicial externship. Any other schools i should be looking at?

thanks.

What are your stats? School rank? T1? T2? T3? What's your GPA? What's the curve at your school? What's the historical median? What is your class rank?

[Jchance]

What are my odds of getting into Georgetown, Berkeley or UChicago? I want to do corporate law in a big city. At UW I pay in-state tuition of 20k + living expenses. For the summer I'll be doing a judicial externship. Any other schools i should be looking at?

thanks.

What are your stats? School rank? T1? T2? T3? What's your GPA? What's the curve at your school? What's the historical median? What is your class rank?

He said it in his title: "1L in top 6% at UW-Madison Law"

[buckythebadger]

What are my odds of getting into Georgetown, Berkeley or UChicago? I want to do corporate law in a big city. At UW I pay in-state tuition of 20k + living expenses. For the summer I'll be doing a judicial externship. Any other schools i should be looking at?

thanks.

You should definitely get into GULC and Berkley. As for Chicago, I think that is a little more questionable, but you have a good shot at it.
Try and decide which "big" city you most want to work in, then target a t14 that gives you the best chance at it.

Unfortunately, UW doesn't negotiate scholarships for returning students until after you have to make a transfer decision. I think they told me I could negotiate in late September, which was obviously way too late.

[Nebby]

He said it in his title: "1L in top 6% at UW-Madison Law"

Eeeek. I'm an idiot. I never read the subject lines. Ha

[tww909]

i did this. PM me if you have more specific questions. short answer is i recommend it if you want to be anywhere except milwaukee or madison big law. you should be aiming higher than gulc for sure (and maybe berkeley as well). berkeley is tough to crack absent some CA ties, uchicago can be tough because of the small class size (although they took one each from UW in the 2013 and 2014 graduating classes).

[LawLschool101]

Do you know how the credit transferring works? I see UChicago requires over 100 credits to graduate- which seems insane? UW only requires 90. Do they calculate credits differently? Any links to an explanation on this would be greatly appreciated.

[Big Dog]

also consider Northwestern

[transferror]

Do you know how the credit transferring works? I see UChicago requires over 100 credits to graduate- which seems insane? UW only requires 90. Do they calculate credits differently? Any links to an explanation on this would be greatly appreciated.

UChi is on a quarter system.

[LawLschool101]

I know they are on the quarter system but how does this affect the credit system.... i can't believe they are taking that many more classes // having that many more hours.

[transferror]

UChi students please chime in if this is wrong...

For 1L, instead of taking ≈15 credit hours/semester, they are taking ≈12 credit hours/quarter. Instead of 4 or 5 classes for ≈15 hours, they are taking 4 classes at 3 credit hours. For classes like Civ Pro/Torts/Contracts, I imagine they break it into two quarters and do Civ Pro I and Civ Pro II. This would mean 6 credit hours and 2 quarters for a class that is usually covered in 4 credit hours and 1 semester. It basically works out to be the same number of classes.

http://www.law.uchicago.edu/prospective/1Lcourses

[BVest]

I know they are on the quarter system but how does this affect the credit system.... i can't believe they are taking that many more classes // having that many more hours.

They're not hours. They're credits. I don't know what Chicago's formula is, but Stanford (also quarters) is 1.3 credits per semester hour, IIRC. So a 30 hour 1L becomes 39 credits.

ETA: Chicago apparently doesn't like revealing their formula. The transfer page says, "Upon receipt of the transfer student's final official transcript from their previous school, the Office of the Registrar will issue a letter to the transfer student describing both the total number of transfer credits accepted and the transfer student's specific graduation requirements." [read: We'll do the calculation for you, and maybe knock out a class we don't like.] Also, their visiting student page says, "The Law School Registrar will work with you to calculate the number of credits you will need at the other law school."

[tww909]

I know they are on the quarter system but how does this affect the credit system.... i can't believe they are taking that many more classes // having that many more hours.

They're not hours. They're credits. I don't know what Chicago's formula is, but Stanford (also quarters) is 1.3 credits per semester hour, IIRC. So a 30 hour 1L becomes 39 credits.

ETA: Chicago apparently doesn't like revealing their formula. The transfer page says, "Upon receipt of the transfer student's final official transcript from their previous school, the Office of the Registrar will issue a letter to the transfer student describing both the total number of transfer credits accepted and the transfer student's specific graduation requirements." [read: We'll do the calculation for you, and maybe knock out a class we don't like.] Also, their visiting student page says, "The Law School Registrar will work with you to calculate the number of credits you will need at the other law school."

I transferred to a quarter system school and it was no big deal. Stanford just said in my acceptance letter "we're giving you x credits for your 1L classes, you need to take y required 1L class you didn't get at Madison, and you'll have to take z credits to graduate." It was more than most of my SLS classmates had to take 2L and 3L but certainly manageable. Every transfer in my 15ish person transfer class came from a semesters school except one from uchicago and all of us had no problem meeting all the requirements. Same goes for my friend who transferred from Wisconsin to Chicago.

[LawLschool101]

To transfer into one of the t-14s id have to incur about an additional 70k over 2 years... So do you think it'd be wworth it?

[staysha]

Throw an application in at NYU. They take quite a few transfers, who all seem to do very well at OCI.

[PepperJack]

You have a very good class rank, and UW: Madison is a very good school (maybe not in terms of placement, but in terms of academic competition). The academic reputation and entering numbers are such that adcoms won't think you did well largely in part you were curved against idiots. I'd go Harvard on down, because you never know. ED to Chicago if you want the midwest might be smart if it's not past the deadline because the bets are hedged such that the risk-reward is worth it.

[LawLschool101]

is graduating from UChicago worth the $210k debt? Or is staying at UW and having 120k in debt better? Big picture trying to work in a transactional firm in either CA (i have ties to LA), DC, NY, Chicago or Denver. Also, does anybody know if schools ever give transfer students scholarships for their third year?

And to the guy who says HYS should be considered- i don't think thats realistic, and money is tight for me as it is.

[heavoldgotjuice]

HYS offer need based scholarships, so I would apply to them as a previous poster has suggested.

I would also apply to columbia, chicago, penn and nyu...

to best honest, if i were you, i would apply to every t-14 except georgetown and cornell. nothing against those places (i would love to attend any of those schools), just given your situation, the cost/benefit may suggest otherwise. $.02

[buckythebadger]

is graduating from UChicago worth the $210k debt? Or is staying at UW and having 120k in debt better?

I know the feeling of trying to answer that question in your position. There really isn't a right answer to that until all the chips have fallen into place. I don't think you should question your judgment with either decision you choose. Make the choice, and just try to not look back.

[Nebby]

I'll just reiterate what everyone is saying (or thinking but not saying), with top 6% (try to bring that up higher this semester) you have a great shot at any of the T14 (HYS is always a crap-shoot, however).

Whatever your goals, those schools will help you more in your career than UW.

Do eeeeeeeet.

[LawLschool101]

I should have done a poll- but ya thanks for the responses. I'm pretty sure I'm going to go for ED at UChicago. And if I hear bad news from them in may I'll send apps too some other T-14s