BU/BC -> GW Forum

[Anonymous User]

Slightly below median at BU/BC, secondary journal, $15000 per year scholarship.

Accepted at GW as a transfer, chance to get on the law review, but will lose the scholarship. Would love to work in NY, but really wouldn't mind working in either Boston or Washington.

The benefits I can see in transferring to GW is the option to start a fresh transcript and the chance to get on the law review. Thus far, I have not received a single interview from ~10 DC firms, ~10 SF firms, ~10 LA firms, ~30 NY firms. Will miss out on GW OCI, but doesn't seem like I'll be grabbing something via OCI anyway.

If you were me, would you transfer?

[Nebby]

No.

[FSK]

No.

I'm at GW. If I were below median here, I would drop out.

[Big Dog]

The benefits I can see in transferring to GW...

You need an eye exam. There are NO benefits....

[objctnyrhnr]

Slightly below median at BU/BC, secondary journal, $15000 per year scholarship.

Accepted at GW as a transfer, chance to get on the law review, but will lose the scholarship. Would love to work in NY, but really wouldn't mind working in either Boston or Washington.

The benefits I can see in transferring to GW is the option to start a fresh transcript and the chance to get on the law review. Thus far, I have not received a single interview from ~10 DC firms, ~10 SF firms, ~10 LA firms, ~30 NY firms. Will miss out on GW OCI, but doesn't seem like I'll be grabbing something via OCI anyway.

If you were me, would you transfer?

Why are Boston firms not on your list? If you go to BC/BU, you go there TO WORK IN BOSTON. Anybody who gets a job outside of Boston is typically lucky, connected, or just has an objectively far above par resume/gpa. IMO, that's what you're doing wrong. Focus your search in Boston and contact some alumni and absolutely do not transfer.

[Anonymous User]

OP here.

Bid results have not yet been finalized for Boston firms yet, and I will definitely be targeting Boston.

On the other hand, I haven't seen anyone acknowledge the mentioned benefits to transferring - a chance to be on the LR and a clean transcript. Should I strike out during this OCI, which is very likely, wouldn't those two factors amount to a substantial benefit?

If I would prefer DC to Boston post-grad, would that change anything?

[FSK]

OP here.

Bid results have not yet been finalized for Boston firms yet, and I will definitely be targeting Boston.

On the other hand, I haven't seen anyone acknowledge the mentioned benefits to transferring - a chance to be on the LR and a clean transcript. Should I strike out during this OCI, which is very likely, wouldn't those two factors amount to a substantial benefit?

If I would prefer DC to Boston post-grad, would that change anything?

Ignoring the the poor wisdom of paying full tuition at GW, yes. Lots of our graduated find jobs through internships during the semester. Its one of GW's strong point - its easy to get competitive internships when you're in the city not in the summer.

[Paul Campos]

This is a really bad idea. First, GW is significantly more expensive than BC/BU even without taking the tuition discount you're getting into account. GW's COA for this year is listed at $78K, v. $66K for the Boston schools. Half of that difference is because GW's sticker tuition is $6K higher; the other half is that GW is in an extremely expensive part of an extremely expensive city (not that Boston is cheap obviously -- I think the two Boston schools are actually lowballing their COL estimates a bit but still).

So GW will end up costing you at least $50K more once you take into account everything, not counting interest assuming you're debt financing, so more like $60K.

You need to forget about getting a job through OCI, which means you need to forget about getting a job with a law firm that pays more than $60K (at best). You also need to to consider whether you're willing to to run a significant risk of being un or severely under-employed.

As somebody else said, the real decision here is whether to stay in Boston or drop out.

[Jchance]

If you really want to be a lawyer, I'd transfer rather than stay.
Otherwise I'd drop out.

[objctnyrhnr]

let's get some more information. what are your goals (is it just biglaw?), where is your network, what is your fall back plan if you can't successfully OCI in either city, what city would you rather be in, how good are your social/networking skills, what are you doing this summer and where?

but I still think that a lateral transfer is a bad idea. you don't KNOW that you'll make law review, and you don't KNOW that you will do well at OCI at GW. additionally, you don't even know your results in boston yet. all you know for sure about your transfer is that you'll lose your scholarship. below median at one of those schools (bc/bu) is not terrible (obviously not great), and you can certainly pull it to top third or top 25% by graduation time, assuming you take a bunch of seminar classes and are learning from your mistakes on exams. obviously getting biglaw will be much tougher at this point, but the boosted GPA in conjunction with good networking and more openness to other positions will definitely be good. BU's/BC's network in Boston is far more powerful than GW"s network in DC because of the size of the markets, and the other schools' alumni who will be in it. bu/bc dominate boston private sector, where DC"s is way more congested with a ton of other schools (many of which are prestigious) whose alumni are largely interested in practicing there.

obviously respond to this post and continue the thread, but can you also PM me if you are interested? I might be able to offer some insight that I don't want to post on the thread.

[FSK]

Also, most GW transfers strike out. Its basically a big scam to make GW more money.

[fratstar1]

did you apply anywhere else? how was your transfer cycle as a below median candidate?

also agree its not worth it.

[Paul Campos]

let's get some more information. what are your goals (is it just biglaw?), where is your network, what is your fall back plan if you can't successfully OCI in either city, what city would you rather be in, how good are your social/networking skills, what are you doing this summer and where?

but I still think that a lateral transfer is a bad idea. you don't KNOW that you'll make law review, and you don't KNOW that you will do well at OCI at GW. additionally, you don't even know your results in boston yet. all you know for sure about your transfer is that you'll lose your scholarship. below median at one of those schools (bc/bu) is not terrible (obviously not great), and you can certainly pull it to top third or top 25% by graduation time, assuming you take a bunch of seminar classes and are learning from your mistakes on exams. obviously getting biglaw will be much tougher at this point, but the boosted GPA in conjunction with good networking and more openness to other positions will definitely be good. BU's/BC's network in Boston is far more powerful than GW"s network in DC because of the size of the markets, and the other schools' alumni who will be in it. bu/bc dominate boston private sector, where DC"s is way more congested with a ton of other schools (many of which are prestigious) whose alumni are largely interested in practicing there.

obviously respond to this post and continue the thread, but can you also PM me if you are interested? I might be able to offer some insight that I don't want to post on the thread.

Stop telling the OP that the OP can still get big law. Absent special circumstances/freakish luck that's not happening. If the OP doesn't have a realistic Plan B other than working for a big law firm then staying at BU/BC at these prices is just lots of good money after bad. 2L and 3L grades barely matter for big law, and in any case this stuff about "take easy classes and learn from your mistakes" (as if evereybody else who didn't ace 1L isn't going to be trying to do exactly the same thing) is special snowflake syndrome on steriods.

[objctnyrhnr]

let's get some more information. what are your goals (is it just biglaw?), where is your network, what is your fall back plan if you can't successfully OCI in either city, what city would you rather be in, how good are your social/networking skills, what are you doing this summer and where?

but I still think that a lateral transfer is a bad idea. you don't KNOW that you'll make law review, and you don't KNOW that you will do well at OCI at GW. additionally, you don't even know your results in boston yet. all you know for sure about your transfer is that you'll lose your scholarship. below median at one of those schools (bc/bu) is not terrible (obviously not great), and you can certainly pull it to top third or top 25% by graduation time, assuming you take a bunch of seminar classes and are learning from your mistakes on exams. obviously getting biglaw will be much tougher at this point, but the boosted GPA in conjunction with good networking and more openness to other positions will definitely be good. BU's/BC's network in Boston is far more powerful than GW"s network in DC because of the size of the markets, and the other schools' alumni who will be in it. bu/bc dominate boston private sector, where DC"s is way more congested with a ton of other schools (many of which are prestigious) whose alumni are largely interested in practicing there.

obviously respond to this post and continue the thread, but can you also PM me if you are interested? I might be able to offer some insight that I don't want to post on the thread.

Stop telling the OP that the OP can still get big law. Absent special circumstances/freakish luck that's not happening. If the OP doesn't have a realistic Plan B other than working for a big law firm then staying at BU/BC at these prices is just lots of good money after bad. 2L and 3L grades barely matter for big law, and in any case this stuff about "take easy classes and learn from your mistakes" (as if evereybody else who didn't ace 1L isn't going to be trying to do exactly the same thing) is special snowflake syndrome on steriods.

I didn't tell OP he will get biglaw. I said it will be much tougher which basically meant it won't happen unless lightning strikes.

I took easy classes/learned from mistakes and made this type of grade improvement and was able to obtain a very competitive post-grad position, and I know others who have as well. It is possible, but still tough and requires really good networking skills, and a solid strategy. Note that I emphasized that OP should look into other options/career paths besides biglaw. Life does not have to be big biglaw or bust. slightly below median is way different than bottom 10% and I do not think OP should drop out or transfer.

[weiweilt]

Speaking of bombing the first year and getting big law, I know some people who took advantage of having a joint-degree, JD-LLM or JD-MBA, for example. The advantage is that they are able to OCI twice, and in the second OCI, their 2-year GPAs are put into the same pool with other 1Ls. There are a lot of things you can do to boost your GPA in the second year. Of course not every school allows this.

[objctnyrhnr]

this is just an idea building off the last poster's, and I am not necessarily even sure that it will be applicable to OP's situation. what if OP takes a semester off during his 2L year (ABA allows up to 2 off without a good reason)? This will mean that he will graduate after 2 summers, as opposed to one. will this give him another opportunity to bid at OCI (with, presumably, a 3 semester gpa)?

[Anonymous User]

objctnyrhnr, sent you PM.

[baal hadad]

Below median with small scholly at BC/BU?

Not only would I not transfer to another middling school w no money (your pro transfer reasons are dumb)

I'd strongly consider dropping out altogether

[fanlinxun]

Also, most GW transfers strike out. Its basically a big scam to make GW more money.

I just want to point out that this wasn't true the year that I transferred to GW. In fact, a lot of transfers did very well.

That said, most of them were not below median at their 1L schools. Unless OP has a guarantee of making law review (in my year it was largely based on 1L grades even if transferred) I don't see any benefit to transferring.

[Anonymous User]

Things have taken a turn for the worse, and I received ONE interview in Boston through lottery. Received ZERO through pre-select.

I'm feeling extremely dejected at the moment. Is it an expected outcome for someone with slightly median grades to receive only 1 interview via lottery and nothing else?

[baal hadad]

Things have taken a turn for the worse, and I received ONE interview in Boston through the lottery. Received ZERO through pre-select.

I'm feeling extremely dejected at the moment.

I'm not surprised dude

better get to mailing

[Nebby]

Things have taken a turn for the worse, and I received ONE interview in Boston through lottery. Received ZERO through pre-select.

I'm feeling extremely dejected at the moment. Is it an expected outcome for someone with slightly median grades to receive only 1 interview via lottery and nothing else?

If you received only one interview through lottery then that means you bid very poorly.

[Paul Campos]

Things have taken a turn for the worse, and I received ONE interview in Boston through lottery. Received ZERO through pre-select.

I'm feeling extremely dejected at the moment. Is it an expected outcome for someone with slightly median grades to receive only 1 interview via lottery and nothing else?

If you received only one interview through lottery then that means you bid very poorly.

What it really means is that somebody below median (slightly or otherwise) at BC/BU has almost no chance of getting a job through OCI absent special circumstances.

OP, you need to re-evaulate without falling into the sunk cost fallacy. How much will it cost you going forward, in direct costs and opportunity costs, to get a JD from your school? (Forget about GW, that's a non-starter. What does it tell you about GW that it's taking sub-median transfers from lower ranked schools?). Would you have considered that sum worth it knowing what you know now about your employment prospects, which are realistically either a mid-five figure job with a small firm or no legal job at all? If the answer is no, then drop out.

[NYSprague]

Are you surprised that a below median student gets zero pre-select screeners? I'm concerned that you are naive about the job market, despite everything that has been posted here. I bet you haven't mass mailed anyone yet.