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Posted: **Mon Jun 30, 2014 8:55 pm**

So has anyone heard back from UT yet? My app was completed a couple weeks ago and I had an interview right after. I haven't heard anything since.

Posted: **Mon Jun 30, 2014 10:15 pm**

FWIW, this is the week I heard last year.

Posted: **Mon Jun 30, 2014 10:28 pm**

UT is in kahootz with Vandy..

Posted: **Tue Jul 01, 2014 4:21 pm**

BVest wrote:FWIW, this is the week I heard last year.

OOOO, LAWD. Here's to hoping they follow the same schedule this year!

Posted: **Tue Jul 01, 2014 10:59 pm**

Are you talking about Tennessee or Texas-Austin?

Posted: **Wed Jul 02, 2014 10:38 am**

k101010 wrote:Are you talking about Tennessee or Texas-Austin?

TX

Posted: **Wed Jul 02, 2014 4:30 pm**

Of interest to the possible UT transfers, two new grading policies going into effect this fall, as described by the dean:

Floating Curve in high-gpa classes:

Our curve generally requires that the average of the grades in a course be between 3.25 and 3.35. Going forward, however, if the average incoming GPA of the students who enroll in an upper-division class is above 3.50, the instructor can raise the curve for that class accordingly; the average grade in the class can then be between 3.25 and whatever that average incoming GPA might be.

This change is meant to encourage you to sign up for courses without worrying that they are full of classmates who have high GPAs, who are strong test-takers, and who will make it hard to succeed. This may not be a common anxiety, but we gather that it is substantial with respect to a few courses. Instructors have the right to opt out of this new rule if they wish, but we expect that the “floating curve” just described will be used in most courses where the new rule makes it available.

. . . and as described by the student affairs office:

New Pass/Fail Policy for Graded Classes

Beginning in Fall 2014, you may choose to take one course pass/fail instead of for a letter grade during your second or third year [ed. note: one total for your career] . . . . Directed Research and Study and classes that are generally offered pass/fail (such as clinics) are not affected by this policy. Please review the entire policy on the SAO website http://www.utexas.edu/law/sao/academics/passfail.html. The deadline for electing pass/fail grading is Tuesday, November 4, 2014.

Another thing to note about the new pass/fail policy is that you can't completely blow it off. Your P/F status is invisible to the prof, and you have to get a C or better to get a Pass, otherwise you get an F.

Posted: **Wed Jul 02, 2014 5:00 pm**

BVest, it seems to me like these new policies are either neutral or beneficial to transfers. Is that your understanding as well?

Posted: **Wed Jul 02, 2014 5:06 pm**

I think they are neutral or beneficial to everyone. However, many classes are not eligible for pass/fail. This semester, I know FIT and Secured Credit arn't. I'm sure evidence isnt either. It is still pretty cool though. I mean you should be careful, but it seems to be kind of hard to get a C here. I think as long as you put forth a little effort you can usually get a b- or b.
Also, the new floating median is discretionary.

Posted: **Wed Jul 02, 2014 5:33 pm**

timmyd wrote:I think they are neutral or beneficial to everyone. However, many classes are not eligible for pass/fail. This semester, I know FIT and Secured Credit arn't. I'm sure evidence isnt either. It is still pretty cool though. I mean you should be careful, but it seems to be kind of hard to get a C here. I think as long as you put forth a little effort you can usually get a b- or b.
Also, the new floating median is discretionary.

Since you bring it up:

The following Fall 2014 courses and seminars may not be taken pass/fail:

Courses:
29380, 360K Antitrust-Wickelgren
29300, 342M Bankruptcy-Westbrook
29445, 474K Business Associations for LLMs-Ganor
29535, 378R Capital Punishment-Steiker
29065, 321Q Contracts for Foreign Lawyers-Sokolow
29365, 454R Corporate Tax-Johnson
29340, 351K Criminal Procedure: Investigation-Dix
29410, 368N Employment Discrimination Law-Fishkin
29695, 483 Evidence-Strong
29355, 454J Federal Income Tax-Peroni
29330, 450G Intellectual Property, Intro-Bone
29450, 374R International Tax-Peroni
29325, 346L Negotiation-Fox
29605, 379M Nonprofit & Philanthropy Law-Carson
29360, 354Q Partnership Tax-Johnson
29705, 385 Professional Responsibility for Transactions Lawyers -Dzienkowski
29640, 380D Secured Credit-Westbrook
29645, 180R Secured Credit Workshop-Westbrook
29305, 243C U.S. Law, Introduction-Wood

Seminars:
29985, 397S Corporate & Securities Law-Carson
29980, 397S International Petroleum Transactions-Dzienkowski
29955, 397S Equal Opportunity Law-Fishkin
29990, 397S Law, Business & Economics Workshop-Wickelgren
30000, 397S Mega-Settlements-Baker

Looks like Dzienkowski, Fishkin, Westbrook, Peroni, and Carson were the big holdouts (it's the prof's option to not allow it). Obviously there are others up there, but among them I'm seeing lots of adjuncts or classes exclusively for int'l LLMs, who I don't think get to do this anyway).

As far as the floating median being discretionary, Farnsworth outright says that (quoted above), but it's also implied from the policy itself:

Current curve = median between 3.25 and 3.35
Curve permitted in classes with combined GPAs above 3.5 = median between 3.25 and class combined GPA

Thus, if the prof wants to give just a 3.30 median, that falls well within the 3.25 to combined GPA range.

Posted: **Wed Jul 02, 2014 5:41 pm**

It is mostly neutral to transfers, but a higher percentage of your classes will be eligible for the normalized curve than someone who did 1L at UT, and if people truly take advantage of P/F (as in they both use their P/F and they get a B or lower because they're using their P/F) that opens up more spots at the top of the curve.

Posted: **Thu Jul 03, 2014 1:11 pm**

With tomorrow being the 4th, if they don't say anything in the next 5 hours, it's not going to be until next week.

Posted: **Sun Jul 06, 2014 4:41 pm**

Got home and my acceptance was waiting for me in the mail!

Posted: **Sun Jul 06, 2014 6:14 pm**

mandimeoutof10 wrote:Got home and my acceptance was waiting for me in the mail!

Congrats (and I think I failed to mention ITT that my acceptance last year came by snail mail).

Posted: **Tue Jul 08, 2014 2:00 pm**

I know a few others that heard back today as well. The decisions will probably keep rolling in.

Posted: **Sun Jul 13, 2014 10:45 pm**

I am doing the skype interview with UT on Tuesday. Anybody know what questions they ask during the interview?

Posted: **Mon Jul 14, 2014 11:10 am**

ilybb wrote:I am doing the skype interview with UT on Tuesday. Anybody know what questions they ask during the interview?

Ya, just be prepped for basic questions. I, along with a few others that have gone through this already seem to think that this is more or less a final screening. Be confident but the interview should be pretty painless. Less than 15/20 minutes.

Posted: **Mon Jul 14, 2014 2:31 pm**

mandimeoutof10 wrote:
ilybb wrote:I am doing the skype interview with UT on Tuesday. Anybody know what questions they ask during the interview?
Ya, just be prepped for basic questions. I, along with a few others that have gone through this already seem to think that this is more or less a final screening. Be confident but the interview should be pretty painless. Less than 15/20 minutes.

Thanks, mandimeoutof10. How long did you wait until you hear back from them after the interview?

Posted: **Tue Jul 15, 2014 8:37 am**

ilybb wrote:
mandimeoutof10 wrote:
ilybb wrote:I am doing the skype interview with UT on Tuesday. Anybody know what questions they ask during the interview?
Ya, just be prepped for basic questions. I, along with a few others that have gone through this already seem to think that this is more or less a final screening. Be confident but the interview should be pretty painless. Less than 15/20 minutes.
Thanks, mandimeoutof10. How long did you wait until you hear back from them after the interview?

I received a small envelope (usually a bad sign) in the mail and it was postmarked 2 days after my interview. I know someone who interviewed after me and was called an hour after his interview and given the good news. Because it's getting so late, I suspect that's probably what they'll start doing now but who knows.

Posted: **Wed Jul 16, 2014 7:31 am**

To those that plan on attending.

If ayone that wants to be a contact for transfer hopefuls next year or if you want to be put in the TLS Transfer Cycle 2014 (Class of 2016) sticky let me know via pm or post in the forum (the stickied forum—not here). Thanks!

Posted: **Wed Jul 16, 2014 9:31 am**

Walked in my half of the app on June 18th, other materials from my school were in the mail at that time. Got notification June 30th saying that they'd received all the required app materials and processed the application. Asked in the same email to schedule an interview for about a week later. Had my interview, received acceptance about 15 minutes later by email and 2 days later by snailmail. Given the turn around speed I'd say the interview is a good sign if you get one, and was probably just to make sure I wasn't crazy.

I came from a rank 40-50 school with a top 20% rank. I had a number of other personal reasons for transfer -- PM me for more details.

Posted: **Wed Jul 16, 2014 11:39 am**

I did my interview yesterday morning, and I haven't heard back from them yet. Now, I feel nervous about it ....

Posted: **Wed Jul 16, 2014 12:52 pm**

ilybb wrote:I did my interview yesterday morning, and I haven't heard back from them yet. Now, I feel nervous about it ....

stats? also, anecdotally i know around 10 ppl in lesser tx schools transferring to UT. Is this a new trend? Lots of ppl said that last year was a fluke but it seems UT may be continuing this trend of larger transfer classes in the future. It'll be interesting to see how it works out for the school's rank and the placement of the transfer students.

Posted: **Wed Jul 16, 2014 1:05 pm**

mandimeoutof10 wrote:
ilybb wrote:I did my interview yesterday morning, and I haven't heard back from them yet. Now, I feel nervous about it ....
stats? also, anecdotally i know around 10 ppl in lesser tx schools transferring to UT. Is this a new trend? Lots of ppl said that last year was a fluke but it seems UT may be continuing this trend of larger transfer classes in the future. It'll be interesting to see how it works out for the school's rank and the placement of the transfer students.

The incoming 1L class size dropped like 25% a few years ago and has held steady since then. It seems clear that the administration wants to maintain LSAT/GPA medians and tuition revenue at the same time, which necessitates accepting a very large transfer class. It's a pretty good business strategy, but I think it is pretty shitty given the current legal market. Anecdotally, the last class of transfers seems to have done very poorly at OCI/job search in general. Maybe UT was taken aback by their poor results because it was the first time they've ever taken a large transfer class and will do more to help them this year, but who knows really.

Posted: **Wed Jul 16, 2014 1:27 pm**

WokeUpInACar wrote:
mandimeoutof10 wrote:
ilybb wrote:I did my interview yesterday morning, and I haven't heard back from them yet. Now, I feel nervous about it ....
stats? also, anecdotally i know around 10 ppl in lesser tx schools transferring to UT. Is this a new trend? Lots of ppl said that last year was a fluke but it seems UT may be continuing this trend of larger transfer classes in the future. It'll be interesting to see how it works out for the school's rank and the placement of the transfer students.
The incoming 1L class size dropped like 25% a few years ago and has held steady since then. It seems clear that the administration wants to maintain LSAT/GPA medians and tuition revenue at the same time, which necessitates accepting a very large transfer class. It's a pretty good business strategy, but I think it is pretty shitty given the current legal market. Anecdotally, the last class of transfers seems to have done very poorly at OCI/job search in general. Maybe UT was taken aback by their poor results because it was the first time they've ever taken a large transfer class and will do more to help them this year, but who knows really.

I've heard about 50 transfers got into UT last year (ABA stats for previous years are usually from 4-15 students tops). I'm a transfer myself; I got in 1 day before OCI closed and I sent out about 15 apps but that's it. I'm more into public service/prosecution so I'm not too worried about that but tons of people will miss that deadline anyways.

Luckily for me I have a lot of other reasons to go to UT than just the fact that it's UT; I'm from Austin, family is here, friends are here, went to UT undergrad, all my network/life is here basically. It just so happens UT is my homecity's school and it has a highly ranked law school.

I guess even if you are transferring to UT purely for rank upgrade reasons, if your goal is to work in Texas I think that even after striking out at OCI you're probably better off than being at whatever non-Texas and lower ranked school you were at before. This is assuming you get busy doing what you need to do, get decent grades, etc.

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