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Here's UT's stats of transfers

Total # 43
75th Percentile 1L GPA 3.62
50th Percentile 1L GPA 3.45
25th Percentile 1L GPA 3.11

I'd say you'd get in. You're already in Texas. However, if your goal is entertainment law UCLA would be much better.

I know that for transfers in 2013 (c/o 2015) UT took a few folks beyond the top 10% at St. Mary's (and a decent chunk of the top 10%). That year Texas took nearly 60 transfers to supplement their class of 300 1Ls. Class of 2016 had 320 1Ls and UT only matriculated 43 transfers last summer to fill out that class. Those 43 included 3 from STCL, 2 from StMU, and 1 each from John Marshall Law School and Loyola New Orleans.

Class of 2017 was back down to 300 1Ls... does that mean there will be another big (~60) transfer class? No way of knowing without being on the inside.

BTW, bear in mind that the number of students attending from TTTT schools is not necessarily reflective of the number of students offered admission from those schools. Required reporting on transfer admissions is far more limited than for 1L admission. All they have to report is the number of transfers who actually come, GPAs, and schools of origin.

HTH.

boblawlawblog wrote:Would offering to pay for the school's provided on campus housing make any kind of difference?

I can't answer any of your other questions, but don't do this. It won't make a difference, and it shouldn't.

I don't think you're getting into UT unless you get top 10%, same with UCLA. Its true that in 2013, UT accepted some students from schools like Loyno, ST, St Marys etc....I think most of these students were in the top 10%, to the extent they wernt, I think that year might be an aberration. I guess it cant hurt to apply though. I don't know much about UCLA operates but I think its kind of like UT, i.e. admit kids from the low ranked schools in the region in the top 10%, and probably top quarter for the tier one schools.

I think you've got a shot at UT, but it's less than 50/50. Obviously, an improvement in Spring grades would be a boost (and a decline would close the door). If your grades remain where they are, I suspect that you would not be admitted prior to the OCI bidding deadline, so you'll want to be mass-mailing as well.

Like timmyd, I don't think you have a shot at UCLA. As he says, their list of TTTTs for transfers mirrors UT's in its regionality.

Finally, you might look into whether transferring to UH is worth it. (I've never looked into it, so I don't know how the calculus of that would work out).

I was perhaps a little quick to dismiss the merits of at least applying, you definitely should. A couple of considerations. First, if you are admitted in the top 15%, that is, if your rank remains constant, might be tough to really finish well here and I think that's something to think about. I came from Loyno, along with I think four or five others. There has been a perfect correlation between 1L class rank and UT rank. So we had top 6%-15% admitted and the person that was top 15% is in the bottom of the class but I think all others are above median. Might be better to kill it at current school and graduate with high honors. Again, this is probably too small of a sample to make this call with, just something to think about. Second, you also could look at UH and SMU, probably UH would be better since you already in H-town. PM me with any questions.

top 15% is nothing to get your hopes up. you might have a chance at UT; prob not UCLA (unless you have ties there too). I'd imagine GULC, UT, Emory and GW are the top ranked schools you have a chance at. I'd apply to all of them to gtfo of tttt

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boblawlawblog wrote:(1) A couple of things: my father went to UT. The professor who gave me the CALI (highest score) is a UT Law graduate, and is writing my recommendation suggesting I would be a perfect fit specifically for that school. Are these the kinds of ties the university looks favorably upon?

(2) Do I have a shot at USC?

(3) I am going to apply to UH, but I harbor some bitter resentment because they wait listed me, originally.

(1) They might give some small shit about the prof, but probably not. They don't care who your dad is, unless he's actually somebody important (e.g. at the legislature or his name is on a big donor plaque somewhere around the school -- of course with the heat they've taken recently, maybe that would be cause for a ding rather than an admit).

(2) No.

(3) Get over it. Your numbers weren't up to snuff. Now you have new numbers to show off and those old numbers (ugpa, LSAT) are basically meaningless.

OP:
I think this is pretty accurate:
assuming your rank stays in the top 15%
UH=likely admit but I don't think this would be worth it personally, same with SMU, neither of those schools have enough pull to make it worth it because I think that high ranking student from ST beats median (which is basically what you will be presumed to be, if not below, going into 2L for OCI purposes) from either of those schools
SMU=depending on whether they take a decent transfer class, likely admit, see above
UT=I'd say 10-20% chance, get in then go
UCLA=less than 10% chance, get in then coin flip, I don't think UCLA has all that much pull in Tx honestly, but I could be wrong.
USC=same
rank in the top 5-10%
UH=admit, not worth it
SMU=admit, not worth it
UT=75% chance at admit, get in then go
UCLA=25% chance, analysis remains the same as above
USC=same.
Gtown=50/50, get in then go, possible counterargument here would involve cost and inability of a student from tttt to get job at oci. I would still go. At the end of the day, still a degree from a prestigious institution.

Hey OP, I transferred from STCL to UT last year. PM me and we can talk. Not to sound negative but I will say that without top 10%, I think you're really close to an auto-reject. Despite that, definitely send in the app anyway. There were 3 total STCL kids that transferred to UT btw. Seriously though, PM me and we can chat there. Also, if you get into UT, GO!!! IMO, if it's either UH or STCL, then leverage the fuck out of your position and try to make STCL to give you as close to a full ride as possible or GTFO. STCL WILL give you a big scholly if you correctly leverage your admissions to other schools.

So I figured I would chime in and give you some advice and insight based on my experiences. You've got a lot of UT advice here, but little from UCLA.

I was a transfer from a tier 4 school to UCLA two years ago (just graduated). I'd recommend you apply, simply for the sake of applying - the $100 application fee is not much in the grand scheme of things. That said though, sorry to be the barer of bad news, but I do not think you have a shot. In my year there were close to 40 transfer students. Last year, even less. In my year, there were two students (myself and one other) that transferred from tier 4 schools and both of those schools were in California. I finished my first semester of law school number one in my class and slipped to number three at the end of the year. That worked out to put me in the top 2%, with a GPA of 3.9. The other guy that transferred from a tier four school was number one in his class.

To speak a bit more about the process, UCLA is incredibly selective of their transfer students. The Dean of Admissions personally interviews each applicant they are considering (either in person or via skype). It's not something they take lightly, and they really want to make sure you'd be a good addition to the school. Based on your numbers alone, it doesn't sound like you would be in the running for an interview. But again, I am always one to encourage putting in the application, because, why not!

From the sound of it, you stand a much better chance at UT. You have the locality advantage as well as strong ties and connections. USC might not be out of the question for you as well. Three of my classmates who I believe were in around the top 20% of the class range all got in to transfer. (I got in myself, but UCLA was a no-brainer between the two). I think USC is fairly easy to transfer to and if it's not too late, you can even apply early decision to them. No clue what that timeline is like though.

Undoubtedly you need to get out of tier four and move up in the world. Hopefully you did better your second semester and boosted your GPA and rankings, to make that process easier. Best of luck and feel free to message me if you have any more questions!

lawdude1251 wrote:So I figured I would chime in and give you some advice and insight based on my experiences. You've got a lot of UT advice here, but little from UCLA.

I was a transfer from a tier 4 school to UCLA two years ago (just graduated). I'd recommend you apply, simply for the sake of applying - the $100 application fee is not much in the grand scheme of things. That said though, sorry to be the barer of bad news, but I do not think you have a shot. In my year there were close to 40 transfer students. Last year, even less. In my year, there were two students (myself and one other) that transferred from tier 4 schools and both of those schools were in California.

What advice there was in this thread (and the telling lack of it) prior to this post was right on. Don't waste your $100. If UCLA wants to take from a TTTT, there are plenty in the pacific time zone that they don't have to (and won't) look elsewhere.

A friend of mine is top 5% (maybe higher?) at STCL. I think she said they gave her a fat scholly after she got her 1L grades. She wants to practice in Houston. Would it be advantageous for her to transfer to UT or should she stay?

sandwhich wrote:A friend of mine is top 5% (maybe higher?) at STCL. I think she said they gave her a fat scholly after she got her 1L grades. She wants to practice in Houston. Would it be advantageous for her to transfer to UT or should she stay?

YES!!! UT offers incomprehensibly better placement within every segment of the legal market and Houston is the primary city that UT places in. It cannot be overstated how much better of a school UT is than STCL from a potential employer's perspective. Her chances at OCI will be vastly improved is she makes the move.

mandimeoutof10 wrote:

sandwhich wrote:A friend of mine is top 5% (maybe higher?) at STCL. I think she said they gave her a fat scholly after she got her 1L grades. She wants to practice in Houston. Would it be advantageous for her to transfer to UT or should she stay?

YES!!! UT offers incomprehensibly better placement within every segment of the legal market and Houston is the primary city that UT places in. It cannot be overstated how much better of a school UT is than STCL from a potential employer's perspective. Her chances at OCI will be vastly improved is she makes the move.

I'm not going to say this isn't true but anecdotally I don't know any transfers to UT who got an offer at OCI (other than maybe people ITT?).

OP: Desperation won't help matters. Try to improve your class rank. Let UTexas know that it is your first choice & that you plan to practice in the state. Apply to several tier one law schools that will improve you placement chances. Consider applying to Michigan if you improve your class rank, Georgetown & Vanderbilt should also be considered.

BigZuck wrote:

mandimeoutof10 wrote:

sandwhich wrote:A friend of mine is top 5% (maybe higher?) at STCL. I think she said they gave her a fat scholly after she got her 1L grades. She wants to practice in Houston. Would it be advantageous for her to transfer to UT or should she stay?

YES!!! UT offers incomprehensibly better placement within every segment of the legal market and Houston is the primary city that UT places in. It cannot be overstated how much better of a school UT is than STCL from a potential employer's perspective. Her chances at OCI will be vastly improved is she makes the move.

I'm not going to say this isn't true but anecdotally I don't know any transfers to UT who got an offer at OCI (other than maybe people ITT?).

I suppose that as a transfer from this last year I'll throw in my own anecdotal experience: I got several offers from OCI and at least 20 interviews (I don't know the actual number because I ended up canceling a few of them after making a choice), and the three other transfers with whom I am actually friends also all got offers. I'm going into a public interest position, but also rejected offers at 2 biglaw firms in Austin (you may think I'm crazy but I don't have much debt and the money isn't driving me), while my other three friends are all summering in biglaw firms (Baker Botts, Bracewell, forget the other one now).

BUT we all came from T50 schools and were top 10% at those schools. So that definitely played a role. However, being at UT for the OCI made a big difference too, because 90% of the employers who came to interview wouldn't have gone to OCI at our previous schools.

What I will say is that I applied late, got in a couple days after my interview, and barely made it before OCI started. So to anyone thinking about transferring to UT and who cares about the increased OCI opportunities, get your applications in ASAP. I think OCI began on something like June 20th.

Edit: I made this account pretty quickly. I don't know why I put 2015 in my username. I started in Fall 2014.

UTTransfer2015 wrote:

BigZuck wrote:

mandimeoutof10 wrote:

sandwhich wrote:A friend of mine is top 5% (maybe higher?) at STCL. I think she said they gave her a fat scholly after she got her 1L grades. She wants to practice in Houston. Would it be advantageous for her to transfer to UT or should she stay?

YES!!! UT offers incomprehensibly better placement within every segment of the legal market and Houston is the primary city that UT places in. It cannot be overstated how much better of a school UT is than STCL from a potential employer's perspective. Her chances at OCI will be vastly improved is she makes the move.

I'm not going to say this isn't true but anecdotally I don't know any transfers to UT who got an offer at OCI (other than maybe people ITT?).

I suppose that as a transfer from this last year I'll throw in my own anecdotal experience: I got several offers from OCI and at least 20 interviews (I don't know the actual number because I ended up canceling a few of them after making a choice), and the three other transfers with whom I am actually friends also all got offers. I'm going into a public interest position, but also rejected offers at 2 biglaw firms in Austin (you may think I'm crazy but I don't have much debt and the money isn't driving me), while my other three friends are all summering in biglaw firms (Baker Botts, Bracewell, forget the other one now).

BUT we all came from T50 schools and were top 10% at those schools. So that definitely played a role. However, being at UT for the OCI made a big difference too, because 90% of the employers who came to interview wouldn't have gone to OCI at our previous schools.

What I will say is that I applied late, got in a couple days after my interview, and barely made it before OCI started. So to anyone thinking about transferring to UT and who cares about the increased OCI opportunities, get your applications in ASAP. I think OCI began on something like June 20th.

Edit: I made this account pretty quickly. I don't know why I put 2015 in my username. I started in Fall 2014.

Do you mean bidding started June 20th? OCI was in August.

This is good to hear. Like I said, super anecodotal, I only know a couple transfers but they didn't get anything from OCI.

I think if you get in early enough to participate in OCI AND you wouldn't be precluded from big law based on your 1L grade/school combo AND you want to work in TX long term a UT transfer might make sense. It was just disheartening to see my friends who were transfers struggle to get a job. Glad to hear that wasn't the case across the board.

BigZuck wrote:

UTTransfer2015 wrote:

BigZuck wrote:

mandimeoutof10 wrote:

sandwhich wrote:A friend of mine is top 5% (maybe higher?) at STCL. I think she said they gave her a fat scholly after she got her 1L grades. She wants to practice in Houston. Would it be advantageous for her to transfer to UT or should she stay?

YES!!! UT offers incomprehensibly better placement within every segment of the legal market and Houston is the primary city that UT places in. It cannot be overstated how much better of a school UT is than STCL from a potential employer's perspective. Her chances at OCI will be vastly improved is she makes the move.

I'm not going to say this isn't true but anecdotally I don't know any transfers to UT who got an offer at OCI (other than maybe people ITT?).

I suppose that as a transfer from this last year I'll throw in my own anecdotal experience: I got several offers from OCI and at least 20 interviews (I don't know the actual number because I ended up canceling a few of them after making a choice), and the three other transfers with whom I am actually friends also all got offers. I'm going into a public interest position, but also rejected offers at 2 biglaw firms in Austin (you may think I'm crazy but I don't have much debt and the money isn't driving me), while my other three friends are all summering in biglaw firms (Baker Botts, Bracewell, forget the other one now).

BUT we all came from T50 schools and were top 10% at those schools. So that definitely played a role. However, being at UT for the OCI made a big difference too, because 90% of the employers who came to interview wouldn't have gone to OCI at our previous schools.

What I will say is that I applied late, got in a couple days after my interview, and barely made it before OCI started. So to anyone thinking about transferring to UT and who cares about the increased OCI opportunities, get your applications in ASAP. I think OCI began on something like June 20th.

Edit: I made this account pretty quickly. I don't know why I put 2015 in my username. I started in Fall 2014.

Do you mean bidding started June 20th? OCI was in August.

This is good to hear. Like I said, super anecodotal, I only know a couple transfers but they didn't get anything from OCI.

I think if you get in early enough to participate in OCI AND you wouldn't be precluded from big law based on your 1L grade/school combo AND you want to work in TX long term a UT transfer might make sense. It was just disheartening to see my friends who were transfers struggle to get a job. Glad to hear that wasn't the case across the board.

Er yea bidding. And my understanding was that if you missed the deadline to get your applications in that was that.

The important date for transferring and OCI is that you get accepted prior to the bidding deadline (and with a couple days to spare so that you can send commitment and get onto symplicity). That deadline the past two years has been July 12 and 10, but obviously changes annually.

From UT's CSO (behind a login, so just take my word for it): Bidding for Session I takes place June 22 - July 8, 2015.

BigZuck wrote:

mandimeoutof10 wrote:

sandwhich wrote:A friend of mine is top 5% (maybe higher?) at STCL. I think she said they gave her a fat scholly after she got her 1L grades. She wants to practice in Houston. Would it be advantageous for her to transfer to UT or should she stay?

YES!!! UT offers incomprehensibly better placement within every segment of the legal market and Houston is the primary city that UT places in. It cannot be overstated how much better of a school UT is than STCL from a potential employer's perspective. Her chances at OCI will be vastly improved is she makes the move.

I'm not going to say this isn't true but anecdotally I don't know any transfers to UT who got an offer at OCI (other than maybe people ITT?).

I know numerous UT transfers that struck out completely at OCI (as in not even a single callback) and you're right in that I'd likely have a very different tone/perspective if I struck out as well but when answering the OP's narrow question of should his "friend" transfer from STCL to UT, the answer (when I made it) is, in my opinion, a relatively easy one. STCL's OCI is a joke and seemingly every transfer I know got 20 some odd interviews from most every big firm in TX. Yes you can strike out but the name recognition/reputation between the two schools is so gigantic that I don't think this is a difficult call TBH. Of course, YMMV

mandimeoutof10 wrote:

BigZuck wrote:

mandimeoutof10 wrote:

sandwhich wrote:A friend of mine is top 5% (maybe higher?) at STCL. I think she said they gave her a fat scholly after she got her 1L grades. She wants to practice in Houston. Would it be advantageous for her to transfer to UT or should she stay?

YES!!! UT offers incomprehensibly better placement within every segment of the legal market and Houston is the primary city that UT places in. It cannot be overstated how much better of a school UT is than STCL from a potential employer's perspective. Her chances at OCI will be vastly improved is she makes the move.

I'm not going to say this isn't true but anecdotally I don't know any transfers to UT who got an offer at OCI (other than maybe people ITT?).

I know numerous UT transfers that struck out completely at OCI (as in not even a single callback) and you're right in that I'd likely have a very different tone/perspective if I struck out as well but when answering the OP's narrow question of should his "friend" transfer from STCL to UT, the answer (when I made it) is, in my opinion, a relatively easy one. STCL's OCI is a joke and seemingly every transfer I know got 20 some odd interviews from most every big firm in TX. Yes you can strike out but the name recognition/reputation between the two schools is so gigantic that I don't think this is a difficult call TBH. Of course, YMMV

I'm not OP, and it actually is for a friend, my school can be figured out from my post history.