Top Law Schools

Thinking about transferring to HYS from T7 for dat need based aid (based on my calcs., it would make a huge diff., esp. at H.)
Exams have been going well so I think I'll be anywhere in top 5-25% after this semester (cumulative)

1. I was planning on using 1 LOR from a law school prof, and just reusing my old LOR I used for applying to law school (my old UG prof).
Would this be okay? (AFAIK they require 2 letters, 1 from current law professor).

2. I'm a little worried. If I get in and the need-based aid I calculated was off and they offer me less, I don't know if I'll take it. Would trying to transfer chill my relationship with my current school?

3. How do I go about asking for a letter? My professor already graded the exam so I'm not sure if he's at his office anymore. Should I ask over email? And if I ask in person, what should I say? Be blunt about it? How do I butter them up? The biggest thing I'm concerned about is when they ask "why are you transferring?", I feel like they want to hear something more than "I'll be getting more money". Also, do they ask for your personal statement (I don't have one and I was going to rewrite one in the next couple of weeks)?

1) I think you should have at least two law school professor LORs. The UG may be nice to add in as a third, but definitely is not a replacement for a second LOR from a LS professor.

2) I can't speak to this because I actually left my school (and they were pretty cold to me then). I will say that transferring is a very normal part of the process for highly ranked students in lower ranked schools. They shouldn't hold anything against you for looking into Harvard. Moreover, if you don't actually transfer, the only people in your old school who will know are the professors who wrote you the letters and some office administrator who mailed out your transcript. I can't imagine them somehow communicating that fact to everyone at the school just so that they would treat you badly afterwards. Be that as it may, you never know with some schools.

3) Email the professor and ask for a meeting. If he's unavailable, then just ask via email. People transfer all the time and most professors are nice about it. Think up a decent explanation - e.g., want to live in boston, always dreamed of harvard, more aid, etc.

(1) I re-used a LOR from my initial application, including for a school that I had applied to the previous year. But I was also out of school for a while so I thought having 1 from law school and 1 from my work experience was a good balance. If you are K-JD, I'd probably try to get two law school profs and not use one from undergrad. Also, some schools require 2 law school professors (Yale) so I had to get a second one anyway.

They are all pretty used to being asked, so it should not be a huge surprise, although I would probably avoid asking professors that have been at the school forever (for example, I had a few that had been at the school for like 30+ years, I figured asking them for a LOR to leave "their" school may not go over well, plus, like you, I was unsure if I was committed to transferring when I first applied, so I did not want to ruin my relationship with them if I ended up staying).

(2) Not if you stay. After all, if you stay, you show that you had better offers and still turned it down for your current school. If you go, people have gotten various reactions from their 1L school. I know of people who still have great relationships with their 1L professors. My experience was very different - I left and I lost the help of all of my 1L professors, including the ones with whom I had a great relationship.

(3) I agree with PP, just email and ask to meet. If he can't, ask via email. I was nervous about asking but it went fine.

SandScale004 wrote:
(2) Not if you stay. After all, if you stay, you show that you had better offers and still turned it down for your current school. If you go, people have gotten various reactions from their 1L school. I know of people who still have great relationships with their 1L professors. My experience was very different - I left and I lost the help of all of my 1L professors, including the ones with whom I had a great relationship.

not necessarily...it could mean that you had no offers and simply had to come back =/