Former Transfer T50 school to T25 school Taking Questions Forum

[Anonymous User]

I transferred a couple of years ago from a T50 school to a T25 school (ND, WUSTL, Emory, GW). I saw someone with a similar thread of their experience from a T50-T14. I thought I would give some information for those transfers who may not transfer to a T14 school.

[EncyclopediaOrange]

Why did you pick the school you did?

What were/are your career goals?

Did you meet those goals / are you on that track?

Was it worth it?

[Dexter97]

Was it hard adjusting to the new school?

How many transfer schools did you apply to?

Any advice on making a transfer application stand out?

Did you participate in OCI? If so, how did the transfer play out in the interview?

[Anonymous User]

Why did you pick the school you did?

What were/are your career goals?

Did you meet those goals / are you on that track?

Was it worth it?

Why did you pick the school you did?

Honestly, I didn't get into a T14 so I just picked a school's campus that I somewhat enjoyed. I was ranked just outside the top 10% at a T50-60 school (ranking changes depending on year). I was a little surprised that I couldn't get into a T14 or USC or UCLA.

What were/are your career goals?

My goals were to get a biglaw transactional job out of law school and work on the West Coast. Eventually, I would like to be AGC or GC at a large company.

Did you meet those goals / are you on that track? I am somewhat on track but it hasn't been an easy path.

Was it worth it?

I'm 3-4 years out and I really think that it is worth it. While my school isn't a T14, top 20% grades and a T25 school will not be a hindrance for most law firms and F500 inhouse jobs if you have relevant experience. If you are set on leaving the region that you went to law school then I would definitely try to transfer to a school like WUSTL, ND, Emory or GW vs staying at a T50. My grades only dropped slightly from my T50 school (I actually did better than at my T50 for most of my time there but had a pretty bad screwed up in one class in my last semester).

I think the biggest difference between me and one of my friends who ended up transferring to a T14 (he was top 8-9%) was that it was easier for him to get a SA and eventually get a biglaw position in a major market. He was able to get 10-15 first round interviews straight from OCI and had 3-4 call backs. Meanwhile, I had to scratch and claw. After OCi and mass mailing, I barely got 8 screeners at my T25 and had 1 callback which I did not get an offer (we both had similar resumes i.e. k-JD and studied poly sci). I didn't get a SA job and I ended up networking and started my career at a regional NLJ250 firm. I often felt it was very strange that a ~2% difference in class rank could make that big of an effect.

In my opinion, starting at a biglaw firm with a T14 pedigree give you more opportunities to pick the location that you want to live . When it came time to lateral, he had a ton of lateral opportunities and had a good opportunity to pick where he wanted to live and what kind of firm he wanted to work for. Even though I was able to get some interest in the lateral market with V100 firms, it was more difficult for me to choose the location that I wanted to live. I had to go where the job was.

[Anonymous User]

Was it hard adjusting to the new school?

How many transfer schools did you apply to?

Any advice on making a transfer application stand out?

Did you participate in OCI? If so, how did the transfer play out in the interview?

No I didn't have any problem adjusting to the new school. Even though I wish I transferred to a T14, I'm still glad I transferred. Some of my best hombres are from my transfer class. The transfer class actually turned out to be a pretty tight knit community. I think everyone in my transfer class turned out ok. Many struggled, but eventually I think everyone got something that they were interested in doing.

I only applied to the T25 as a safety and blanked the T14 with UCLA and USC.

I don't know if you should ask me how to make your app stand out. I think I really underachieved with my grades/school. My guess is that you need to show "ties" and good reasons i.e. family of why you want to go to school there.

I participated in OCI and it went horribly. I had roughly 8 screeners (half were midsize 50-75 person firms) and maybe 2-3 more screeners from mass mailing. Ended up getting 1 callback which I did not get. It was in a secondary market in which I had no ties.