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Posted: **Tue Jul 19, 2016 2:42 pm**

I am going to be a 2L at a tier 2 law school in the Midwest. I love the school, my friends, and the opportunities presented by doing so well. I am ranked in the top 5% of my class with a great GPA(only one B+). Because of this I am going to be on journal, work for a professor as a research assistant, as well as other opportunities.

My concern is I am married and my wife and I are from Utah. She is worried that because most jobs at graduation will be in the Midwest we will be stuck forever and because my school is not a top ranked school it won't have as much weight with employers on the west coast (where we want to end up is Utah, Arizona, or Nevada).

Because of those concerns I applied as a transfer student to a tier 1 school in Utah. (I contemplated applying at higher ranked west coast schools but because of the increased tuition decided not to apply)

My question is I can't decide whether there would be a difference between staying top of my class at the lessor known Midwest school or leaving to a well known west coast school as a transfer but lose out on all of the opportunities I currently have.

Any help, advice, etc. is greatly appreciated. Thank you!
- M

Posted: **Tue Jul 19, 2016 4:32 pm**

Does your school place in your target markets? If so, I'd get in contact with alumni and see if they have advice about what you need to do, how difficult it might be from your school, etc. to secure a job in those markets after graduation. Also, maybe you can network your way into a 2L SA.

Posted: **Tue Jul 19, 2016 5:55 pm**

Do any schools in that area (U, BYU, ASU, UA, UNLV) have visiting programs? Just spitballing here but if you could, say, spend your 2L summer in SLC and your 3L year at the U you'd keep your rank and journal membership at your old school, but also get the ties and connections in the desired region.

Posted: **Tue Jul 19, 2016 8:55 pm**

Lawstudent3030 wrote:I am going to be a 2L at a tier 2 law school in the Midwest. I love the school, my friends, and the opportunities presented by doing so well. I am ranked in the top 5% of my class with a great GPA(only one B+). Because of this I am going to be on journal, work for a professor as a research assistant, as well as other opportunities.

My concern is I am married and my wife and I are from Utah. She is worried that because most jobs at graduation will be in the Midwest we will be stuck forever and because my school is not a top ranked school it won't have as much weight with employers on the west coast (where we want to end up is Utah, Arizona, or Nevada).

Because of those concerns I applied as a transfer student to a tier 1 school in Utah. (I contemplated applying at higher ranked west coast schools but because of the increased tuition decided not to apply)

My question is I can't decide whether there would be a difference between staying top of my class at the lessor known Midwest school or leaving to a well known west coast school as a transfer but lose out on all of the opportunities I currently have.

Any help, advice, etc. is greatly appreciated. Thank you!
- M

It seems like you could have gotten into some T14s with these stats. Did you apply to any of those schools at all? If not, I think that was a mistake.

In any event, I don't think the U is worth it, but BYU might be worth it because it's cheap and higher ranked. I'd transfer if you're targeting those markets because there's likely not other alum from your current school there, and your current school probably won't hold much weight in those areas.

Posted: **Tue Jul 19, 2016 10:03 pm**

OP, what do you want to do? Firms?

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