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So, as usual, many of us are applying to transfer into the T14 for next fall.

However, the general consensus is that it is "retarded"/"financial suicide" to go to many of the T14's with no scholarship, which is exactly the situation almost all of us transfers will be facing.

Therefore, my question is: Is it better to remain top 1-5% at T1, T2, T3, or T4 with a scholarship (>50%), or to transfer into the T14 for increased employment prospects upon graduation?

Note: Do not count in HYS in the T14 calculus for these purposes because I am sure almost anyone would succeed from those schools due to connections and reputation alone.

* You can vote twice

as long as your current position puts you in a good place for your career goals, probably a bad idea to transfer. But most T3's and T4's don't put you in that position, so personally i think it's a good idea to transfer from those schools. Also depends on debt...if you're already paying sticker then i don't see the problem with paying the same money for a better degree.

Whether or not transferring is a good idea varies a lot with each person, so a general poll isn't going to give you anything useful.

Poll should have been like this

1.) T1 --> T14 (Good Idea)
2.) T1 --> T14 (Bad Idea)
3.) T2 or T3 or T4 --> T14 (Good Idea)
4.) T2 or T3 or T4 --> T14 (Bad Idea)

I'd vote (3), and maybe for (2).

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Jumping in here! I played the transfer game last year and gave up a full-ride scholarship offer from a low T-2 (now T-3 according to this year's USNW rankings) to transfer to a T-10. Transferring remains, hands down, the best decisions I have ever made (for quite a few reasons I'm happy to go into if you want to PM me).

My understanding is that the "don't go to a T-14 without a scholarship" advice is grounded in the assumption that you'll end up around median at whatever school you attend. As a transfer the general consensus, and I say general consensus because there is A LOT of debate surrounding this, is that employers will look at you as though you were sitting in the top third-ish of the class at your transfer school. At most (any??) T-14 top 1/3 of the class should set you up pretty well to land biglaw.

Also, many who transferred (though I know not all), came from 1L schools where we had some kind of scholarship. As a result, you're only taking on 2 years at sticker, not 3, which makes a roughly 50k difference in cost of attendance.

If you're at a school where the firms you want will look at you with your class rank, it may not be worth transferring (I wasn't). As others have said it's very situation dependent, and I think most of us who transferred last year are happy to talk you (or anyone else) through the decision once you know what your options are.

I was awarded $50k ($25k/year) at GULC as a transfer. It was need-based, or so they say. Regardless, my COA is down $5k over the next two years due to that financial aid. The T2 gave me no-love in the financial aid category--haha. So it’s possible that some transfers can get some money, and if they're lucky transferring actually saves them money.