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DC Big Law will be tough at your current school but might be even tougher if you transfer.

As for your non-big-law goals, it's possible that transferring could help a bit in the long term, but--and this is entirely anecdotal--I've noticed that DOJ EOIR is less prestige-focused than other divisions of DOJ.

Given that you have a substantial scholarship at your current school, and considering that I don't see transferring making a big difference for you for DC employment outcomes, I guess I lean toward you not transferring.

No harm in applying though.

rpupkin wrote:DC Big Law will be tough at your current school but might be even tougher if you transfer.

As for your non-big-law goals, it's possible that transferring could help a bit in the long term, but--and this is entirely anecdotal--I've noticed that DOJ EOIR is less prestige-focused than other divisions of DOJ.

Given that you have a substantial scholarship at your current school, and considering that I don't see transferring making a big difference for you for DC employment outcomes, I guess I lean toward you not transferring.

No harm in applying though.

Thank you. So my current school being in the DC area won't help at all for DC biglaw?

Anonymous User wrote:

rpupkin wrote:DC Big Law will be tough at your current school but might be even tougher if you transfer.

As for your non-big-law goals, it's possible that transferring could help a bit in the long term, but--and this is entirely anecdotal--I've noticed that DOJ EOIR is less prestige-focused than other divisions of DOJ.

Given that you have a substantial scholarship at your current school, and considering that I don't see transferring making a big difference for you for DC employment outcomes, I guess I lean toward you not transferring.

No harm in applying though.

Thank you. So my current school being in the DC area won't help at all for DC biglaw?

I didn't say that. The fact that your current school is in DC will help quite a bit. For a student who is targeting the DC market, you're in a much better position than a top 10% student at a T50 in, say, California or New York.

But just because your school's location helps you doesn't mean that DC big law won't be tough. It's a very competitive market, and a student who is top 10% at a school like American or George Mason will have a hit-or-miss shot at big law in DC.

If all you want is biglaw, I would just stay put, UVA and GULC don't give someone in your position a meaningfully better chance at biglaw. Someone at the top of their class at e.g. AUWCL is considered pretty desirable if you're not prestige-obsessed, and there is plenty of market-paying biglaw hiring that is not prestige-obsessed to that extent.

But if clerking is truly a high priority, CLS/NYU probably give you opportunities that e.g. AUWCL doesn't, regardless of grades.

With 3/4 scholarship, I feel like I would just stay put. That's a lot of money.

I don't know much about govt, despite being in DC.

Maybe UVA gives you a little leg up (i have no idea), but some SCALIA LAW SCHOOL, students get big law in DC every year

How much debt will you end up with at current school?

edit: just read 3/4 scholarship (and that you're part time), kind of a big gamble to take on an extra $120k of debt to transfer

With your goals I would go ahead and send transfer apps (unless there is some disincentive to doing so) but I predict that, at the end of the day, your best option is going to be to stay put.

Given what you are aiming for, it sounds like you have great grades, are in a great location, and have a relatively low debt burden. As others have said, don't throw that away to start out at median at GULC (or even UVA, for that matter).

Something T50 full ride something

Anonymous User wrote:OP here. Thanks for the feedback everyone. My scholarship will get bumped up to cover 90% of tuition this year because of my 1L ranking, but I also plan on going full-time at school in the fall so COA is going to go up. Already sent a couple transfer apps out. I'm tempted to stay though.

You didn't mention in your OP that you were a part-time student. My advice assumed that you were a full-time student as a 1L. I don't know how your part-time status impacts things: it might make it harder to transfer. It will likely make it harder to land big law. You need advice from someone who transferred (or considered transferring) as a part-time student.

rpupkin wrote: You didn't mention in your OP that you were a part-time student. My advice assumed that you were a full-time student as a 1L. I don't know how your part-time status impacts things: it might make it harder to transfer. It will likely make it harder to land big law. You need advice from someone who transferred (or considered transferring) as a part-time student.

.

LOL did not make law review, sooo that screws up my chances at DC biglaw from my T50.

Welp, going to Harvard, so that's that.

Ha! Good job on the PT to FT transfer. *high-five*

xfer999 wrote:Ha! Good job on the PT to FT transfer. *high-five*

LOL thank you! *high-five*

rpupkin wrote:

Hi rpupkin, just wanted to update you!

Anonymous User wrote:

xfer999 wrote:Ha! Good job on the PT to FT transfer. *high-five*

LOL thank you! *high-five*

rpupkin wrote:

Hi rpupkin, just wanted to update you!

Wow! Congrats!!

Although it's pretty niche, it could be useful, or maybe just mildly interesting, to start an unofficial list of schools which have accepted PT transfers. If you happen to be interested in compiling such a list, send me a PM and I can send you my handful of schools from a few years ago. There have been other PT transfers on this forum who might also have anecdotes.