Top Law Schools

A big component of a student's transfer app. is the prestige of the school they are transferring from. Now, this leads me to ask: what happens when a 1L's school drops dramatically in the rankings but was a decent school when said 1L matriculated a la W&L. I do not go to one of the aforementioned schools but am just curious in general how much the prestige of a school fluctuates in the eyes of a Transfer ADComm. as is influenced by USNWR. Obviously a school moving up from #30 to #36 or #40 to #45 probably makes no difference. But what about those freak falls mades by schools like W&L? To be in the top 5% at a T-30 gives a transfer obviously a much better chance at CCN or even H than it does to be in the top 5% at a t-45. Or does it not matter beyond historical demarcations (i.e. school A is traditionally thought of as a T-20 even if it drops to #22 for a year) /less tangible concepts of prestige (word of mouth reputation etc)? I guess what I am trying to ask is, how do ADComms asses the prestige of a school, especially considering how wonky USNWR can be sometimes?

user outed and warned for unnecessary anon and posting in the transfer forum as an 0L

no

I'm not a law school admissions officer, but I would be extremely surprised if USNWR ranking mattered at all when considering whether to accept or reject a transfer applicant. Law school admissions offices have long-held views about the respective quality of various law schools. The fluctuations--even large fluctuations--in a magazine's largely arbitrary ranking system are unlikely to have an effect on transfer admissions decisions.

They care about 3 major things with transfers:

1) How will they fair on OCI and thus for their ABA employment statistics upon graduation
2) How will they add something positive or unique to the community - a la great LORs, great PS, interesting softs etc.
3) Grades in doctrinal courses and rank.

If you are strong in all three areas you have a good shot at moving up

PrideandGlory1776 wrote:They care about 3 major things with transfers:

1) How will they fair on OCI and thus for their ABA employment statistics upon graduation
2) How will they add something positive or unique to the community - a la great LORs, great PS, interesting softs etc.
3) Grades in doctrinal courses and rank.

If you are strong in all three areas you have a good shot at moving up

For the OPs perspective I'm going to order these in how much they factor into transferring.

1) Grades in Doctrinal classes is ~93% of the decision
2/3) How they will fair at OCI, Interesting softs is ~7%

W&L was a decent school...? The ranking reflects the issues that were always inherent in a school of that size and in that location: no urban geographic market, lack of access to resume enhancing externships during the year, small alumni base, poor employment placement, etc. There are quite a few W&L students on here with your view but please recognize that almost all of you came to that opinion due to the enormous scholarship packages that W&L offers -- so much so that many of you with plans to work in urban markets throughout the United States were willing to overlook its lack of national portability. It's amazing how scholarship money becomes instant justification for something that has always been and will always be what it is:

A strong rural school that is competitively disadvantaged due to its location and corresponding placement rate.