Crazy to transfer to lower-ranked school? Forum

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Crazy to transfer to lower-ranked school?

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Jun 02, 2016 3:59 pm

I just finished 1L year at Maurer and love the school and professors, but I don't want to end up in Indiana. I'm quickly realizing that I don't have access to certain job postings like schools in Chicago do. I'm from there and want to end up there. Would it make me the dumbest law student in history to transfer from Maurer to a lower-ranked school like Kent in order to have greater networking opportunities? (Also, no disrespect whatsoever to Kent students--I should've gone there to begin with.) To me, the ranking doesn't seem to mean much, and with second summer to think about shortly I'm considering doing whatever will help me land a job at a Chicago firm. By the way, I am absolutely not looking for biglaw, I'm looking for a small to mid-size firm in Chicago. Networking from Indiana has also been difficult for the obvious reason that I don't live in Chicago anymore and I'm rarely there during week days. My class rank hasn't come out yet but given Maurer's curve, I'll be in about the middle.

Thanks for any advice!

BayCat24

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Re: Crazy to transfer to lower-ranked school?

Post by BayCat24 » Thu Jun 02, 2016 4:15 pm

Anonymous User wrote:I just finished 1L year at Maurer and love the school and professors, but I don't want to end up in Indiana. I'm quickly realizing that I don't have access to certain job postings like schools in Chicago do. I'm from there and want to end up there. Would it make me the dumbest law student in history to transfer from Maurer to a lower-ranked school like Kent in order to have greater networking opportunities? (Also, no disrespect whatsoever to Kent students--I should've gone there to begin with.) To me, the ranking doesn't seem to mean much, and with second summer to think about shortly I'm considering doing whatever will help me land a job at a Chicago firm. By the way, I am absolutely not looking for biglaw, I'm looking for a small to mid-size firm in Chicago. Networking from Indiana has also been difficult for the obvious reason that I don't live in Chicago anymore and I'm rarely there during week days. My class rank hasn't come out yet but given Maurer's curve, I'll be in about the middle.

Thanks for any advice!
Don't do this. It sounds like its already too late, but I would have advised taking a summer position in Chicago this summer. You can still "network" with Chicago firm, it just going to take some hustle. Start by finding Indiana alums in Chicago and go from there.

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