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I am going to finish my 1L year this year. I want to transfer for Fall 2016.


I currently attend a law school which is unranked. It is in Texas. I want to try to transfer to UT or Southern Methodist University or even a school which is close by, University of Houston. However, most of these schools require a personal statement on why I want to transfer there?

I am confused as to what to put there. I mean I don't want to be direct and say because I ACTUALLY WANT A JOB. One of the schools on my list of transfers is just down the street from my T4. What could possibly be a good reason to transfer there? Location definitely would not work.

Thanks in advance.

It's perfectly reasonable to include that one of the reasons why you are wanting to transfer is enhanced job prospects. You can also briefly discuss any clinics, journals, courses, etc. that are available at the new school that you would be interested in. For the most part, I think the general consensus is that personal statements in the transfer process aren't that important. I didn't spend much time writing mine. To the extent my personal statement was tailored to the school at hand, it was by replacing the name of a clinic and/or journal that was interesting to me.

mylaptopisdead wrote:I am going to finish my 1L year this year. I want to transfer for Fall 2016.


I currently attend a law school which is unranked. It is in Texas. I want to try to transfer to UT or Southern Methodist University or even a school which is close by, University of Houston. However, most of these schools require a personal statement on why I want to transfer there?

I am confused as to what to put there. I mean I don't want to be direct and say because I ACTUALLY WANT A JOB. One of the schools on my list of transfers is just down the street from my T4. What could possibly be a good reason to transfer there? Location definitely would not work.

Thanks in advance.

I want to do ____ type of work, and I realize to be competitive I need to be the best lawyer I can be which means attending UT. If you know you want to do biglaw, say that in the blank. If you can get more specific like transactional/litigation/govt agency/etc.

There is nothing wrong with being completely blunt and knowing what you want and how to get there.

These things are really unimportant. Transferring is so number dependent. The numbers that matter are class rank and approximate rank of school. I transferred to UT, got into a bunch of other schools GULC, WUSTL etc...My personal statement was pretty much the same every time; I just switched up the school name. However, for UT, I did specifically mention their oil and gas law classes being perceived as some of the finest in the country. I sincerely doubt it made the slightest difference.

What are the chances of my transfer to such schools:

1. UT
2. University of Houston
3. Southern Methodist University

In other words, what GPA do I need to essentially transfer from the school which I attend. I am at TSU Thurg. M. in Texas.

mylaptopisdead wrote:What are the chances of my transfer to such schools:

1. UT
2. University of Houston
3. Southern Methodist University

In other words, what GPA do I need to essentially transfer from the school which I attend. I am at TSU Thurg. M. in Texas.

What GPA do you have now? Where does it put you in your class?

mylaptopisdead wrote:What are the chances of my transfer to such schools:

1. UT
2. University of Houston
3. Southern Methodist University

In other words, what GPA do I need to essentially transfer from the school which I attend. I am at TSU Thurg. M. in Texas.

prob around top 3 in your class for ut and prob top 5%-10% for the other two

Abbie Doobie wrote:

mylaptopisdead wrote:What are the chances of my transfer to such schools:

1. UT
2. University of Houston
3. Southern Methodist University

In other words, what GPA do I need to essentially transfer from the school which I attend. I am at TSU Thurg. M. in Texas.

prob around top 3 in your class for ut and prob top 5%-10% for the other two

Idk how TTTT his school is, but I'm pretty sure Houston and SMU at least are more than willing to take someone on paying sticker. I'd guess 25% is sufficient for those two, if not 33%.

PeanutsNJam wrote:

Abbie Doobie wrote:

mylaptopisdead wrote:What are the chances of my transfer to such schools:

1. UT
2. University of Houston
3. Southern Methodist University

In other words, what GPA do I need to essentially transfer from the school which I attend. I am at TSU Thurg. M. in Texas.

prob around top 3 in your class for ut and prob top 5%-10% for the other two

Idk how TTTT his school is, but I'm pretty sure Houston and SMU at least are more than willing to take someone on paying sticker. I'd guess 25% is sufficient for those two, if not 33%.

it's like the cooley of texas. median is 145/3.08