URM? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone know/have any insight as to whether URM status has any weight in transfer admissions? I don't see why they wouldn't, because it still goes towards the overall % of the minority population at the school, no?

[thricelawyer9]

Does anyone know/have any insight as to whether URM status has any weight in transfer admissions? I don't see why they wouldn't, because it still goes towards the overall % of the minority population at the school, no?

If you're within range, then URM might give you a little boost, but first year grades are most important. What are your stats and where do you want to go?

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone know/have any insight as to whether URM status has any weight in transfer admissions? I don't see why they wouldn't, because it still goes towards the overall % of the minority population at the school, no?

If you're within range, then URM might give you a little boost, but first year grades are most important. What are your stats and where do you want to go?

I'm in the top 1% at a T2 in California. I want to work in BigLaw, preferably in NY or Chicago. I would love to go to a T6 school.

[Top20TransferHopeful]

Does anyone know/have any insight as to whether URM status has any weight in transfer admissions? I don't see why they wouldn't, because it still goes towards the overall % of the minority population at the school, no?

If you're within range, then URM might give you a little boost, but first year grades are most important. What are your stats and where do you want to go?

I'm in the top 1% at a T2 in California. I want to work in BigLaw, preferably in NY or Chicago. I would love to go to a T6 school.

Oh yeah, you're seriously solid. I would go for Columbia. You'd definitely be in to Chicago and NYU. You will probably get into Harvard if you keep your grades up second semester.

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone know/have any insight as to whether URM status has any weight in transfer admissions? I don't see why they wouldn't, because it still goes towards the overall % of the minority population at the school, no?

If you're within range, then URM might give you a little boost, but first year grades are most important. What are your stats and where do you want to go?

I'm in the top 1% at a T2 in California. I want to work in BigLaw, preferably in NY or Chicago. I would love to go to a T6 school.

Oh yeah, you're seriously solid. I would go for Columbia. You'd definitely be in to Chicago and NYU. You will probably get into Harvard if you keep your grades up second semester.

Thanks! I know OCI will be better at T6 but are there really any disadvantages to transferring, mainly other than law review?

[Joscellin]

Does anyone know/have any insight as to whether URM status has any weight in transfer admissions? I don't see why they wouldn't, because it still goes towards the overall % of the minority population at the school, no?

If you're within range, then URM might give you a little boost, but first year grades are most important. What are your stats and where do you want to go?

I'm in the top 1% at a T2 in California. I want to work in BigLaw, preferably in NY or Chicago. I would love to go to a T6 school.

Oh yeah, you're seriously solid. I would go for Columbia. You'd definitely be in to Chicago and NYU. You will probably get into Harvard if you keep your grades up second semester.

Thanks! I know OCI will be better at T6 but are there really any disadvantages to transferring, mainly other than law review?

Loss of scholarship
Loss of professor connections (many won't write clerkship LoRs if you xfer out)
Loss of friends
Scramble to new school/city at the last minute
Slim chance of LR
Loss of your 1L grades with respect to gpa
Loss of Latin honors/Coif at some schools

[thricelawyer9]

Does anyone know/have any insight as to whether URM status has any weight in transfer admissions? I don't see why they wouldn't, because it still goes towards the overall % of the minority population at the school, no?

If you're within range, then URM might give you a little boost, but first year grades are most important. What are your stats and where do you want to go?

I'm in the top 1% at a T2 in California. I want to work in BigLaw, preferably in NY or Chicago. I would love to go to a T6 school.

Oh yeah, you're seriously solid. I would go for Columbia. You'd definitely be in to Chicago and NYU. You will probably get into Harvard if you keep your grades up second semester.

Thanks! I know OCI will be better at T6 but are there really any disadvantages to transferring, mainly other than law review?

Just depends. Top 1% at a TT in CA will pretty much get you anything you want. You will get BigLaw in CA. You just might not get BigLaw in NY or Chicago because most TTs in CA are pretty regional. When you transfer, it's my understanding that you are treated like a median student at the new school. They won't view you as being the same caliber as top 1% or even top 10-20% students at the new school. This is especially true the higher you transfer up. Some people that transfer end up striking out at OCI at the new school and would have had a great OCI at the old school.

Another disadvantage is price. You will pay sticker at your new school. What's your scholarship at your TT? If you don't have a good scholarship, then this won't matter.

Some people make a big deal about losing friends etc. but I think that's a lame reason not to transfer because a lot of groups will split up after graduation anyways.

[jphiggo]

Just thought I would chime in here and let you know that it's not nearly as cut and dry as Joscellin purports it to be. Here is my anecdotal experience with transferring, which I recommend for nearly everyone given how much prestige whoring is in the legal industry.

Loss of scholarship

This is true, but there are several schools that you might be able to obtain need-based aid from (e.g. Harvard, Berkeley, GULC, etc.)

Loss of professor connections (many won't write clerkship LoRs if you xfer out)

I see this repeated around here constantly, but it doesn't hold true for me and I'm sure that's true with others. I believe it really depends on the relationship. I still keep in contact with my recommenders and I know they wouldn't hesitate to write me another letter if asked.

Loss of friends

I didn't quit being friends with anyone and everyone understood how transferring can be helpful. Plus, unless you go out of your way not to, you'll make plenty of new friends at your new school.

Scramble to new school/city at the last minute

Yeah, this was a bitch. Try to make your decision as early as you can to give you some time for logistics. I moved in on a Friday, started interviews during OCI the next Monday in basically a foreign city. Not ideal.

Slim chance of LR

Well you won't be grading on, but it's not a "slim chance." It's just that you'll need to write-on. I know plenty of transfers who did that successfully. Most of the transfers I know didn't bother, nor did I, and a lot of LRs that I'm familiar with had several spots reserved for transfers.

Loss of your 1L grades with respect to gpa

Doesn't matter. 1L grades are still going to be used by employers and you'll likely do well at your new school.

Loss of Latin honors/Coif at some schools

This would have to be school dependent. For example, I'm still able to gun for coif at my new school if I cared to.

[Joscellin]

Oh, I never meant those to be a list of evils, he had asked for downsides to transferring, so I came up with as comprehensive a list of potential downsides as I could. To the extent that they're mostly all situation dependent, I 100% agree with you.

[Anonymous User]

Loss of your 1L grades with respect to gpa

Doesn't matter. 1L grades are still going to be used by employers and you'll likely do well at your new school.

How does this affect OCI? I've heard various things from it being so much better because you have access to so many more firms because of prestige, but it doesn't really matter because firms don't consider you top 10% at X, and only see it as your original school gpa.

And since you have gone through this, what are the main benefits? Assuming you went from <14 to T14, the main thing I see is access to more firms for OCI.

[jphiggo]

Loss of your 1L grades with respect to gpa

Doesn't matter. 1L grades are still going to be used by employers and you'll likely do well at your new school.

How does this affect OCI? I've heard various things from it being so much better because you have access to so many more firms because of prestige, but it doesn't really matter because firms don't consider you top 10% at X, and only see it as your original school gpa.

And since you have gone through this, what are the main benefits? Assuming you went from <14 to T14, the main thing I see is access to more firms for OCI.

IMO, the biggest advantage of transferring is access to the new school's OCI. There are a lot of great reasons to transfer, but this one takes the cake if you're wanting big law. My original school was a regional with no large firms that came to OCI nor did the market even have any large firms, which I have a desire to work for. I had the grades to perhaps get lucky and mass mail my way into big law, like 1 or 2 from my old school manages to do each year, but I didn't want to chance it, plus I was interested in a tie-sensitive geographical region that I had no ties to. Transferring to a school in that region solved that problem instantly.

Unless you don't have great 1L grades as a transfer, which is typically unlikely, I don't believe they are going to hold you back except for possibly the most unicorn of big law jobs. I can think of only a few screeners that actually bothered to look at my transcript during the interview, as most were just wanting to see if you could hold a conversation. I'm summering at my first choice firm that I believe I would have had zero shot at applying to from my original school, for what it's worth.