4.0 @ Cornell. Worth it to transfer to Harvard? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Would appreciate the input because I am highly reluctant to give up the connections and potentially law review.

Want to clerk but I am not dead set because personal reasons tie me only to the Manhattan area, which is highly competitive. No interest in academia.

[DoveBodyWash]

how much are you paying for Cornell??

[Anonymous User]

Basically sticker (10k award a year).

[DoveBodyWash]

Basically sticker (10k award a year).

oooh..that's tough...i mean personally i would transfer to HLS if i had the chance and i was paying sticker at my school anyway...But you should apply and then just make the decision once the results come out

[SandScale004]

While I agree that if you are thinking about it, better to apply and have the choice (less you regret it for the rest of your life), I'm not sure what benefit you would get by transferring, unless you really just want that Harvard name. Otherwise, you are in a perfect position for clerkships and big law.

Why do you want to transfer?

[Anonymous User]

I honestly don't know.

Everyone has just been telling me to give it a shot for some vague long-term "prestige" benefit that I'm not sure exists? I actually don't know how many doors close simply because someone is not from HYS...

In general, I want to end up in New York, either clerking or in big law.

Also, I wasn't able to do the write-on for Harvard since it coincided with the write-on for Cornell so I'd be completely giving up law review I believe? I don't know how much that affects the balance.

[Yukos]

You should apply and try to get accepted. At the very least you may be able to negotiate a scholarship with Cornell to stay (a friend of mine did that at another T14).

[DoveBodyWash]

I honestly don't know.

Everyone has just been telling me to give it a shot for some vague long-term "prestige" benefit that I'm not sure exists? I actually don't know how many doors close simply because someone is not from HYS...

In general, I want to end up in New York, either clerking or in big law.

Also, I wasn't able to do the write-on for Harvard since it coincided with the write-on for Cornell so I'd be completely giving up law review I believe? I don't know how much that affects the balance.

yeah their write-on policy for transfers is weird, you basically have to do write-on before you even know if u have the grades to apply. There are secondary journals at H that you'd be able to join if you wanted, but if we're talking flagship law review then yea you'd have to forfeit that if you transferred.

I don't know much about clerking but I imagine that having your credentials + law review from Cornell would make you pretty competitive for a clerkship, whereas a good chunk of your new classmates at H will be ahead of you in the clerkship game, especially the ones on law review

[Lincoln]

How about YLS? They've taken a few Cornell transfers in the past few years. For Big Law, I don't really think it's worth it to transfer; only WLRK is really out of reach from Cornell with that GPA. And any clerkship in NYC is within reach with that GPA+LR (if you keep it up). Only if you wanted something really selective, like a SCOTUS feeder, DC Cir., etc., would a transfer really make sense, and for that YLS is better than HLS.

[juzam_djinn]

i really think that by transferring, you'd be shooting yourself in the foot with regards to a clerkship

if you apply, you need recs
if you do apply, get accepted, and then back out to negotiate scholarships, those same profs you used for recs would probably be the ones you go back to for clerkship recs...that would be pretty awkward

of course, you could try to strategically ask profs for transfer recs that you would NOT have asked for clerkship recs...

[09042014]

You know what is prestigious? Having a 4.0 from Cornell.

[FSK]

.

[Lincoln]

How about YLS? They've taken a few Cornell transfers in the past few years. For Big Law, I don't really think it's worth it to transfer; only WLRK is really out of reach from Cornell with that GPA. And any clerkship in NYC is within reach with that GPA+LR (if you keep it up). Only if you wanted something really selective, like a SCOTUS feeder, DC Cir., etc., would a transfer really make sense, and for that YLS is better than HLS.

I mean, if anyone from Cornell is going to get a super selective clerkship, it's going to be the applicant with a 4.0. But, I just looked into SCOTUS clerks and Cornell seems to have had under 10 ever. Your odds may be better as a YLS transfer?

Possibly. There are some pretty well established avenues to COA clerkships for top Cornell students, but none of those judges are feeders. Even at YLS SCOTUS is a stretch, of course, but the path to feeders is definitely more readily mapped out. I know quite at least a half-dozen people who have clerked or are about to clerk for DC Cir or feeders, and they are all from HYS. W/r/t Cornell, I know of one person who clerked for a feeder and then clerked for Stevens after Stevens retired but he was an anomaly, and a clerkship with Stevens isn't really a SCOTUS clerkship anyway, in the common parlance, except to the extent you get loaned to other justices.

[moneybagsphd]

You know what is prestigious? Having a 4.0 from Cornell.

Make Cornell give you $$$. Lord knows, you've earned it.