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deadline for transfer app is in 1 month to UCLA.
i got my grades, rank is 12/206.
just outside of top %5 who receives automatic full tuition...happy, but also .F ME!. i have 20k scholarship that i hope gets upped but probably won't because financial aid is not accommodating here.

SO, the question is, whether or not i should hustle to get 2 professor rec's, by deadline and apply to UCLA/USC. and if i could get in?

right now i am on a public interest track, but had undergrad economic background, interested private smaller to midsize law firms also. really don't think I'm cut out for big law for any period of time, but if it was offered $$, would have a hard time not taking...

want to end up in San diego to live and work. but, in all actuality would like to be able to work elsewhere in CA if the opportunities were there. (which is why i am also asking if UCLA would give more options in SD and elsewhere than USD)
if USD offered me much better scholarship i would stay, but wondering if the financial office will do more if shown transfer acceptance letters.


any input is appreciated

Hi. I think if you want to have the opportunity to practice in other parts of CA, UCLA and USC are both much better options. USD is an excellent choice for San Diego, so you'll almost certainly have good options, especially since it looks like you'll graduate with honors.

Still, I think transferring opens more doors, particularly in the private sector. I'd be concerned about debt though, since you are not considered for scholarship awards when you transfer (that's my understanding at least). If you know you want to do public service this is less of an issue since you can do loan forgiveness after ten years of payments.

Your mistake was not readying your transfer application earlier, but I think you can still pull it off. I think you'd be competitive at UCLA and at USC. You might even consider UCI.

Apply to UCLA and Berkeley.

Apply to the top 14. I transferred out of USD to a top 20. Crazy to be in a real OCI.

Someone got into Harvard when I was there that was in the top 5%.