Has anyone successfully "un-transferred"? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Anon because I haven't yet broached this with anyone "official" at my school...

I'm a 2L transfer and I am extremely unhappy at my transfer school. I don't want to give away too much but it's one of the top 5 and unquestionably the jump (from a T1) is, on paper, a massive boon for my legal career. However, I'm not happy here - either at the school itself or in the city. I expected, from what other people have said in the past, not to be impressed by the quality of education. Or, at least, not to notice any increase in quality. I've found that to be true. I didn't expect to feel completely like a fish out of water. It's really clear to me that these are not "my people." Now, it might be worth suffering through it for the career boost and I'm not planning on making any rash decisions. However, if I am going to make a change, I want to get a sense of my options. The most obvious is going back to my old school. Has anyone done this? My guess is they'd treat my time at my new school as if I had been a visiting student. I also wonder if there are schools I can transfer to for Spring semester. I understand that would likely mean graduating late, but I can accept that. Has anyone had an experience with this option?

[nixy]

I don’t have personal experience with this, but I think most schools do have a residency requirement (you have to spend 2 years at the school to graduate). I don’t know if transfers are exempt from this, but it could complicate things. I would find out if you can be a visiting student elsewhere during 3L, and if so, stick it out for the rest of the year (things might also get better - you haven’t been at the new school very long). I’ve never heard of anyone doing a spring transfer - some schools have a spring start for 1Ls but that probably wouldn’t work here (and most of those aren’t great).

It does seem like if your old school would take you back, moving back there for spring would make sense. But my question is, what are your career goals? Will it make a difference which school you graduate from? Did you do OCI, for instance?

[Anonymous User]

I don't think I can be a visiting student as a 3L because of the residency requirement. I can ask though. Re: transferring for spring, my assumption is that IF I can do that, I'd have to graduate late (December not May) in order to fulfill the residency requirement.

My long-term career goals are unclear. Short-term, my plan is to work at a firm. I did OCI and I have a 2L summer job lined up. I would plan on letting them know of the change and hope they wouldn't rescind the offer. Given my lack of clarity for the long-term, I imagine the change may well affect my career outcomes. Doors that are currently open may not be. I think I'm willing to accept that in exchange for not being miserable for 2 years.

[QContinuum]

I didn't expect to feel completely like a fish out of water. It's really clear to me that these are not "my people."

Harvard and Columbia are huge schools. Even Yale and Stanford aren't so tiny that anyone should find it impossible to find even a few people they "click" with. I don't know if you were maybe exceptionally social/well-liked at your old school, but most law students IME - or, at least, at my T13 - only have a few "close" law school friends. It shouldn't be that impossible to find 2 or 3 people you get along with, even if they don't end up making the shortlist for your best man/woman down the road or whatnot.

Each of these law schools is also part of a wider university community where you can look for friends. I know some of my classmates used to socialize mostly with the b-school kids, or grad students, or whatnot.

[cavalier1138]

I didn't expect to feel completely like a fish out of water. It's really clear to me that these are not "my people."

Harvard and Columbia are huge schools. Even Yale and Stanford aren't so tiny that anyone should find it impossible to find even a few people they "click" with. I don't know if you were maybe exceptionally social/well-liked at your old school, but most law students IME - or, at least, at my T13 - only have a few "close" law school friends. It shouldn't be that impossible to find 2 or 3 people you get along with, even if they don't end up making the shortlist for your best man/woman down the road or whatnot.

Each of these law schools is also part of a wider university community where you can look for friends. I know some of my classmates used to socialize mostly with the b-school kids, or grad students, or whatnot.

I co-sign all of this. Hurting your long-term career prospects because you don't like some of your classmates is absurd. Even assuming that literally every student at this school is "not your people," (again, there's no way that's true) you'll survive.

[QContinuum]

I co-sign all of this. Hurting your long-term career prospects because you don't like some of your classmates is absurd. Even assuming that literally every student at this school is "not your people," (again, there's no way that's true) you'll survive.

I also just wanted to add that there is a particularly strong feeling of camaraderie during 1L, due to assigned sections and assigned classes. That naturally dissipates during 2L/3L because people are no longer assigned to the same sections/classes. So even if you had stayed at your old school, you would very likely have felt more isolated during 2L/3L. (That was the case for me and for pretty much all of my friends, and none of us transferred.)

[notinbiglaw]

I co-sign all of this. Hurting your long-term career prospects because you don't like some of your classmates is absurd. Even assuming that literally every student at this school is "not your people," (again, there's no way that's true) you'll survive.

I also just wanted to add that there is a particularly strong feeling of camaraderie during 1L, due to assigned sections and assigned classes. That naturally dissipates during 2L/3L because people are no longer assigned to the same sections/classes. So even if you had stayed at your old school, you would very likely have felt more isolated during 2L/3L. (That was the case for me and for pretty much all of my friends, and none of us transferred.)

This.

My personal experience is by 2L people sort themselves into classes, jobs, and extracurriculars (law review and what not) and you will just lose contact with a lot of people who are just on different career paths/trajectories.

[Anony1234]

Anon because I haven't yet broached this with anyone "official" at my school...

I'm a 2L transfer and I am extremely unhappy at my transfer school. I don't want to give away too much but it's one of the top 5 and unquestionably the jump (from a T1) is, on paper, a massive boon for my legal career. However, I'm not happy here - either at the school itself or in the city. I expected, from what other people have said in the past, not to be impressed by the quality of education. Or, at least, not to notice any increase in quality. I've found that to be true. I didn't expect to feel completely like a fish out of water. It's really clear to me that these are not "my people." Now, it might be worth suffering through it for the career boost and I'm not planning on making any rash decisions. However, if I am going to make a change, I want to get a sense of my options. The most obvious is going back to my old school. Has anyone done this? My guess is they'd treat my time at my new school as if I had been a visiting student. I also wonder if there are schools I can transfer to for Spring semester. I understand that would likely mean graduating late, but I can accept that. Has anyone had an experience with this option?

At the risk of sounding insensitive - just tough it out. It's only three more semesters, you'll be gone over the summer and holiday breaks, and you're not obligated to stick around your school on weekends. Get out of town if you need to. You probably don't even have Friday classes at this point. Law school is much shorter than people realize (it's just 16-week blocks of classes and you're free the rest of the year). The cost of jumping to another school seems extremely high and unwise.

If you're at Columbia (or potentially other schools), check out DC externship options. You might have the option to get class credit for doing a full-time externship at a government agency during the 3L fall semester. Columbia definitely offers this option. That should alleviate the issue for at least one of the three semesters you have left without disrupting much.

[nixy]

I co-sign all of this. Hurting your long-term career prospects because you don't like some of your classmates is absurd. Even assuming that literally every student at this school is "not your people," (again, there's no way that's true) you'll survive.

I also just wanted to add that there is a particularly strong feeling of camaraderie during 1L, due to assigned sections and assigned classes. That naturally dissipates during 2L/3L because people are no longer assigned to the same sections/classes. So even if you had stayed at your old school, you would very likely have felt more isolated during 2L/3L. (That was the case for me and for pretty much all of my friends, and none of us transferred.)

I actually kind of found the opposite, but it was mostly because I did all the activities 2L/3L that you can't really do 1L, so met people through law review/moot court/clinic/interning etc. I commuted to my school so didn't really do the traditional social scene, but getting to know people through ECs worked for me. Obviously this will depend on school culture though (my school had a fair number of commuters and non-KJDs, so the social scene was maybe more varied than at some places). But if you have the chance to join things, that might help.

[nealric]

Anon because I haven't yet broached this with anyone "official" at my school...

I'm a 2L transfer and I am extremely unhappy at my transfer school. I don't want to give away too much but it's one of the top 5 and unquestionably the jump (from a T1) is, on paper, a massive boon for my legal career. However, I'm not happy here - either at the school itself or in the city. I expected, from what other people have said in the past, not to be impressed by the quality of education. Or, at least, not to notice any increase in quality. I've found that to be true. I didn't expect to feel completely like a fish out of water. It's really clear to me that these are not "my people." Now, it might be worth suffering through it for the career boost and I'm not planning on making any rash decisions. However, if I am going to make a change, I want to get a sense of my options. The most obvious is going back to my old school. Has anyone done this? My guess is they'd treat my time at my new school as if I had been a visiting student. I also wonder if there are schools I can transfer to for Spring semester. I understand that would likely mean graduating late, but I can accept that. Has anyone had an experience with this option?

At the risk of sounding insensitive - just tough it out. It's only three more semesters, you'll be gone over the summer and holiday breaks, and you're not obligated to stick around your school on weekends. Get out of town if you need to. You probably don't even have Friday classes at this point. Law school is much shorter than people realize (it's just 16-week blocks of classes and you're free the rest of the year). The cost of jumping to another school seems extremely high and unwise.

Cosigned. Your classmates may not be "your people", but they won't be your classmates for long. Transferring to any institution is hard because social circles tend to be already ingrained by the time you arrive. It may just be that you are having a harder time finding the folks you click with because those folks are already off doing their own thing.

[lawfullyyourz]

I didn't expect to feel completely like a fish out of water. It's really clear to me that these are not "my people."

Harvard and Columbia are huge schools. Even Yale and Stanford aren't so tiny that anyone should find it impossible to find even a few people they "click" with. I don't know if you were maybe exceptionally social/well-liked at your old school, but most law students IME - or, at least, at my T13 - only have a few "close" law school friends. It shouldn't be that impossible to find 2 or 3 people you get along with, even if they don't end up making the shortlist for your best man/woman down the road or whatnot.

Each of these law schools is also part of a wider university community where you can look for friends. I know some of my classmates used to socialize mostly with the b-school kids, or grad students, or whatnot.

I co-sign all of this. Hurting your long-term career prospects because you don't like some of your classmates is absurd. Even assuming that literally every student at this school is "not your people," (again, there's no way that's true) you'll survive.

SORRY I'M LATE TO THE PARTY

I have to also co-sign! I transferred to GULC & I didn't know anyone in DC. Today, I have 1 really close GULC friend here (took a spring break trip together!) + many friends/acquaintances at GULC too.

But, honestly, my 2L transfer year -- I didn't make much of an effort AT ALL. I was on journal, but barely went to any school events. I wasn't really part of any orgs. It seemed like everyone already had their "group." I felt alone. Thankfully, I had a great non-law school roommate so that helped me a bit, but I realized I was the one socially distancing myself.

I did a complete 180 this year as a 3L. Okay...I didn't go to law school to make friends (and didn't transfer to do that either), but I wanted to be able to have convos with people at school, go to Barrister's and have people to talk to, etc.

My advice? Please give it time. Join an org you really care about + make sure you are making an effort to be social! That is by far my biggest regret. Sending you hugs!

[Anonymous User]

OP here - thanks for all the feedback. I had reluctantly semi-decided to stick it out as the semester opened. Now that we're dealing with COVID-19, it's probably for the best.