Transfer from St. Mary's U to UT Austin Forum

[muscleboundlaw]

Hello all,

How difficult would it be to transfer from a tier 4 to a t20 like UT Austin. Would top 5% in class be enough?

[A. Nony Mouse]

This forum is for current law students seeking advice on applying to transfer from one law school to another. As such, the following rules are hereby in place:

1) 0Ls should not be posting questions here.

If you're a 0L who wants advice about anything from current law students, including how transferring works, then you want to go to this forum set up just for you: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=4

0Ls are welcome to be here, to read and to make appropriate comments, but read note #3 below before you comment.

2) 1Ls (and 0Ls!), do not ask about transfer odds or possibilities before you have grades.

Asking for transfer advice before you have grades is a waste of everyone's time. There are two reasons for this.

The first is that 95% of transfer admissions is your 1L grades, and you can't predict in advance how well you're going to do. If you intend to transfer up a tier, you're going to need to do very well your first year, probably top 10% or better. The problem is, everyone is going to be trying to be in the top 10% of their class their first year, and if 100% of the class is trying to be in the top 10%, 90% will be disappointed. And since there's no way to know how well you can do until you actually get grades, nobody can help you figure out your chances of transferring without at least some grades.

The second is that you make real sacrifices when you transfer, and it's not something you should be planning on less than a semester into law school. You leave behind connections with professors and opportunities such as LR at your old school. If you're asking about transferring before you have grades back, it suggests you're just planning to transfer no matter what, which is dumb. This is the advice you'll get if you start seeking transfer advice before you get any grades back.

If you're merely curious about what transfer possibilities are available for those who do really well at your school, you can read through old threads here to see how people did in previous cycles, or go search for the Yahoo! group "transferapps" and read through their material. Or read Arrow's excellent guide to transferring, available here: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 22&t=82937

But do not start new threads about transfer chances before you have grades. Those are a waste of everyone's time.

3) Please don't attempt to give transfer advice if you haven't been through 1L year yet.

As a general rule, if you have to preface your statement with "I'm a 0L, but..." that's probably a good sign you simply shouldn't say it. The same is true for 1Ls who haven't gotten grades back or who haven't been through the transfer process. Unless you're sure you know something, please assume you don't. Otherwise, you'll just end up irritating people with statements that seem okay to you but are obviously wrong to people who know the process. If you continually give bad advice here, you may be assumed to be trolling and banned accordingly.

I think that about covers it. Paying attention to this sticky will help you avoid a lot of drama, negative reputation, and banning. Not paying attention to this sticky could result in timeouts or bans. It's your choice.