Top Law Schools

Finished top 4% at Hofstra Law and graded onto Law Review. My goal is to work for a large corporate firm. Hofstra has a very poor placement for large firms with few BigLaw firms participate in their OCI. Ideally I would love to do BigLaw in LA but if I could not go to LA, NY is fine. Can anyone who knows about transferring for Biglaw give their opinion on which schools would give me the best possibility for BIgLaw? I am very interested in NYU, Michigan, GULC, and UCLA.

CDA9 wrote:Finished top 4% at Hofstra Law and graded onto Law Review. My goal is to work for a large corporate firm. Hofstra has a very poor placement for large firms with few BigLaw firms participate in their OCI. Ideally I would love to do BigLaw in LA but if I could not go to LA, NY is fine. Can anyone who knows about transferring for Biglaw give their opinion on which schools would give me the best possibility for BIgLaw? I am very interested in NYU, Michigan, GULC, and UCLA.

NYU > Mich > GULC > UCLA

but big law might be attainable from top 4% at hofstra so might make sense to stay depending on scholarship

big law w/ no debt >>>>>> big law w/ mountainous debt

A maybe at Gulc (getting in).

Of course anything higher gives u better chances at big law. ~40% big law

acr wrote:

CDA9 wrote:Finished top 4% at Hofstra Law and graded onto Law Review. My goal is to work for a large corporate firm. Hofstra has a very poor placement for large firms with few BigLaw firms participate in their OCI. Ideally I would love to do BigLaw in LA but if I could not go to LA, NY is fine. Can anyone who knows about transferring for Biglaw give their opinion on which schools would give me the best possibility for BIgLaw? I am very interested in NYU, Michigan, GULC, and UCLA.

NYU > Mich > GULC > UCLA

but big law might be attainable from top 4% at hofstra so might make sense to stay depending on scholarship

big law w/ no debt >>>>>> big law w/ mountainous debt

has anyone from hofstra ever gone big law?


edit: 13/159 last year
http://law.hofstra.edu/_site_support/fi ... f-2016.pdf

barkschool wrote:

acr wrote:

CDA9 wrote:Finished top 4% at Hofstra Law and graded onto Law Review. My goal is to work for a large corporate firm. Hofstra has a very poor placement for large firms with few BigLaw firms participate in their OCI. Ideally I would love to do BigLaw in LA but if I could not go to LA, NY is fine. Can anyone who knows about transferring for Biglaw give their opinion on which schools would give me the best possibility for BIgLaw? I am very interested in NYU, Michigan, GULC, and UCLA.

NYU > Mich > GULC > UCLA

but big law might be attainable from top 4% at hofstra so might make sense to stay depending on scholarship

big law w/ no debt >>>>>> big law w/ mountainous debt

has anyone from hofstra ever gone big law?


edit: 13/159 last year
http://law.hofstra.edu/_site_support/fi ... f-2016.pdf

I have a full scholarship with no conditions. Debt is not really a major factor. My sole concern: Is it worth it transferring to NYU, CLS or any of those comparable schools to increase my chances compared to staying at Hofstra?

CDA9 wrote:

barkschool wrote:

acr wrote:

CDA9 wrote:Finished top 4% at Hofstra Law and graded onto Law Review. My goal is to work for a large corporate firm. Hofstra has a very poor placement for large firms with few BigLaw firms participate in their OCI. Ideally I would love to do BigLaw in LA but if I could not go to LA, NY is fine. Can anyone who knows about transferring for Biglaw give their opinion on which schools would give me the best possibility for BIgLaw? I am very interested in NYU, Michigan, GULC, and UCLA.

NYU > Mich > GULC > UCLA

but big law might be attainable from top 4% at hofstra so might make sense to stay depending on scholarship

big law w/ no debt >>>>>> big law w/ mountainous debt

has anyone from hofstra ever gone big law?


edit: 13/159 last year
http://law.hofstra.edu/_site_support/fi ... f-2016.pdf

I have a full scholarship with no conditions. Debt is not really a major factor. My sole concern: Is it worth it transferring to NYU, CLS or any of those comparable schools to increase my chances compared to staying at Hofstra?

well, yeah. your chances of biglaw increase exponentially.

why is debt not a factor?

If debt is not a factor, you should target CLS/NYU, but also apply to the rest of the T13. I see no reason to include Georgetown. You should probably include UCLA, though.

barkschool wrote:

CDA9 wrote:

barkschool wrote:

acr wrote:

CDA9 wrote:Finished top 4% at Hofstra Law and graded onto Law Review. My goal is to work for a large corporate firm. Hofstra has a very poor placement for large firms with few BigLaw firms participate in their OCI. Ideally I would love to do BigLaw in LA but if I could not go to LA, NY is fine. Can anyone who knows about transferring for Biglaw give their opinion on which schools would give me the best possibility for BIgLaw? I am very interested in NYU, Michigan, GULC, and UCLA.

NYU > Mich > GULC > UCLA

but big law might be attainable from top 4% at hofstra so might make sense to stay depending on scholarship

big law w/ no debt >>>>>> big law w/ mountainous debt

has anyone from hofstra ever gone big law?


edit: 13/159 last year
http://law.hofstra.edu/_site_support/fi ... f-2016.pdf

I have a full scholarship with no conditions. Debt is not really a major factor. My sole concern: Is it worth it transferring to NYU, CLS or any of those comparable schools to increase my chances compared to staying at Hofstra?

well, yeah. your chances of biglaw increase exponentially.

No they don't.

rpupkin wrote:

barkschool wrote:

CDA9 wrote:

barkschool wrote:

acr wrote:

CDA9 wrote:Finished top 4% at Hofstra Law and graded onto Law Review. My goal is to work for a large corporate firm. Hofstra has a very poor placement for large firms with few BigLaw firms participate in their OCI. Ideally I would love to do BigLaw in LA but if I could not go to LA, NY is fine. Can anyone who knows about transferring for Biglaw give their opinion on which schools would give me the best possibility for BIgLaw? I am very interested in NYU, Michigan, GULC, and UCLA.

NYU > Mich > GULC > UCLA

but big law might be attainable from top 4% at hofstra so might make sense to stay depending on scholarship

big law w/ no debt >>>>>> big law w/ mountainous debt

has anyone from hofstra ever gone big law?


edit: 13/159 last year
http://law.hofstra.edu/_site_support/fi ... f-2016.pdf

I have a full scholarship with no conditions. Debt is not really a major factor. My sole concern: Is it worth it transferring to NYU, CLS or any of those comparable schools to increase my chances compared to staying at Hofstra?

well, yeah. your chances of biglaw increase exponentially.

No they don't.

Does anyone know how transfer students generally fare at OCI/EIW at these schools? Do most firms look down upon transfers compared to the non transfers or does it not really matter because you have the credentials to get into the new school? I just know I'm very limited in terms of firms who will interview Hofstra students.

CDA9 wrote:

rpupkin wrote:

barkschool wrote:

CDA9 wrote:

barkschool wrote:

acr wrote:

CDA9 wrote:Finished top 4% at Hofstra Law and graded onto Law Review. My goal is to work for a large corporate firm. Hofstra has a very poor placement for large firms with few BigLaw firms participate in their OCI. Ideally I would love to do BigLaw in LA but if I could not go to LA, NY is fine. Can anyone who knows about transferring for Biglaw give their opinion on which schools would give me the best possibility for BIgLaw? I am very interested in NYU, Michigan, GULC, and UCLA.

NYU > Mich > GULC > UCLA

but big law might be attainable from top 4% at hofstra so might make sense to stay depending on scholarship

big law w/ no debt >>>>>> big law w/ mountainous debt

has anyone from hofstra ever gone big law?


edit: 13/159 last year
http://law.hofstra.edu/_site_support/fi ... f-2016.pdf

I have a full scholarship with no conditions. Debt is not really a major factor. My sole concern: Is it worth it transferring to NYU, CLS or any of those comparable schools to increase my chances compared to staying at Hofstra?

well, yeah. your chances of biglaw increase exponentially.

No they don't.

Does anyone know how transfer students generally fare at OCI/EIW at these schools? Do most firms look down upon transfers compared to the non transfers or does it not really matter because you have the credentials to get into the new school? I just know I'm very limited in terms of firms who will interview Hofstra students.

They kind of look down on transfers, but they don't write them off entirely. Obviously the higher high the law school rankings you get, the better you'll do (for example I know transfers do well at NYU, although you do have to prepare a 'why i transfered' statement there I believe). You might have a harder time at firms higher up the vault list, but you'll still have a decent shot at big law.

I transferred to UT from a TTT (put around 5-10% in Biglaw) so my experience may not be the exact same but it's still sorta similar. Although Hofstra seems to put some people in Biglaw, you know that only so many firms are going to interview Hofstra students. When people talk about increasing "chances", my view is that transferring to a better school will just give you more interviews with Biglaw firms. You will still be looked at as a Hofstra student, but in my opinion you would probably have more interviews with Biglaw firms at a T14 rather than your original school (this advice really only applies to students at TTTs). So my advice is always take a honest look at yourself and determine whether those extra interviews can be capitalized on and will actually help your chances. If you know you aren't a good interviewer, transferring up to a better school probably won't give you better chances. As a student from a TTT, you will already need to be applying to firms that are less grade-conscious and those firms tend to emphasize fit much more than some of the higher ranked firms.

TL;DR It may be semantics but transferring up does increase your chances but only because you will probably secure more interviews than if you stayed. You have to determine yourself if those extra interviews are worth whatever the extra debt number will be.

SmokeytheBear wrote:

CDA9 wrote:

rpupkin wrote:

barkschool wrote:

CDA9 wrote:

barkschool wrote:

acr wrote:
NYU > Mich > GULC > UCLA

but big law might be attainable from top 4% at hofstra so might make sense to stay depending on scholarship

big law w/ no debt >>>>>> big law w/ mountainous debt

has anyone from hofstra ever gone big law?


edit: 13/159 last year
http://law.hofstra.edu/_site_support/fi ... f-2016.pdf

I have a full scholarship with no conditions. Debt is not really a major factor. My sole concern: Is it worth it transferring to NYU, CLS or any of those comparable schools to increase my chances compared to staying at Hofstra?

well, yeah. your chances of biglaw increase exponentially.

No they don't.

Does anyone know how transfer students generally fare at OCI/EIW at these schools? Do most firms look down upon transfers compared to the non transfers or does it not really matter because you have the credentials to get into the new school? I just know I'm very limited in terms of firms who will interview Hofstra students.

They kind of look down on transfers, but they don't write them off entirely. Obviously the higher high the law school rankings you get, the better you'll do (for example I know transfers do well at NYU, although you do have to prepare a 'why i transfered' statement there I believe). You might have a harder time at firms higher up the vault list, but you'll still have a decent shot at big law.

I'm not sure where you got your info, but to the extent we're talking about CLS/NYU, transfers do overwhelmingly very well (including with the top vault firms, if you care about that sort of thing). I wouldn't say that transferring "exponentially" increases your chances at biglaw, but it certainly gives you access to many firms that would not otherwise interview you out of Hofstra. Whether that's worth the transfer for you is a more personal decision.

What do you mean by "debt is not really a major factor"? Do you have a lot of savings/rich family, or do you just not care about debt? The answer to this question matters a lot for transferring purposes.

Yeah like I said, they do well at NYU. I know from experience that once you get lower down the T14 food chain, transfers tend to do less well, but still OK, which was my point when I almost word for word said that firms kind of look down at transfers, but dont write them off entirely, but the higher up the t14 food chain you get, the better you'll do.

SmokeytheBear wrote:Yeah like I said, they do well at NYU. I know from experience that once you get lower down the T14 food chain, transfers tend to do less well, but still OK, which was my point when I almost word for word said that firms kind of look down at transfers, but dont write them off entirely, but the higher up the t14 food chain you get, the better you'll do.

You said:

SmokeytheBear wrote:They kind of look down on transfers, but they don't write them off entirely. Obviously the higher high the law school rankings you get, the better you'll do (for example I know transfers do well at NYU, although you do have to prepare a 'why i transfered' statement there I believe). You might have a harder time at firms higher up the vault list, but you'll still have a decent shot at big law.

It is not true that firms "kind of look down at transfers" at CLS/NYU, as indicated by your previous post. It's also not true that transfers to CLS/NYU have a harder time "at firms higher up the vault list". And why-I-transferred statements are not a thing; you need to have an answer to that question for OCI interviewing purposes--which will likely come up at interviews regardless of where you transfer--but you make it sound like NYU transfers must write another personal statement for OCI or something.

In any case, I agree that CLS/NYU transfers do very well and that transfers do less well as you descend the rankings. But even at the lower T14, the transfer classes usually do as well at OCI as the native population into which they transferred.

quiver wrote:

SmokeytheBear wrote:Yeah like I said, they do well at NYU. I know from experience that once you get lower down the T14 food chain, transfers tend to do less well, but still OK, which was my point when I almost word for word said that firms kind of look down at transfers, but dont write them off entirely, but the higher up the t14 food chain you get, the better you'll do.

You said:

SmokeytheBear wrote:They kind of look down on transfers, but they don't write them off entirely. Obviously the higher high the law school rankings you get, the better you'll do (for example I know transfers do well at NYU, although you do have to prepare a 'why i transfered' statement there I believe). You might have a harder time at firms higher up the vault list, but you'll still have a decent shot at big law.

It is not true that firms "kind of look down at transfers" at CLS/NYU, as indicated by your previous post. It's also not true that transfers to CLS/NYU have a harder time "at firms higher up the vault list". And why-I-transferred statements are not a thing; you need to have an answer to that question for OCI interviewing purposes--which will likely come up at interviews regardless of where you transfer--but you make it sound like NYU transfers must write another personal statement for OCI or something.

In any case, I agree that CLS/NYU transfers do very well and that transfers do less well as you descend the rankings. But even at the lower T14, the transfer classes usually do as well at OCI as the native population into which they transferred.

You're totally misreading what I said, but no need to further distract from OPs question.