Chances of Transferring and should I transfer? Forum

[ryns61]

My school, an upper T2 (#50-70) in the south, recently made the decision to make its spring semester mandatory p/f.
Last semester, I got a 3.83 and was ranked in the top 2%. I would like to transfer to Harvard, Columbia, Virginia, or Penn. I'd like to get a federal appellate clerkship out of law school, work for the DOJ/CIA, and eventually work in academia. Let me know if y'all have any further clarifying questions!

[cavalier1138]

I'd like to get a federal appellate clerkship out of law school, work for the DOJ/CIA, and eventually work in academia. Let me know if y'all have any further clarifying questions!

Please be aware that these would be extremely difficult goals to attain even if you had your current GPA at HYS.

You can take a shot at transferring to the T13; your current standing seems good enough to give you a fighting chance. Just don't assume that your career path won't end up looking more like biglaw-->maybe a clerkship-->back to biglaw-->line AUSA in a less competitive district.

[decimalsanddollars]

Quick rundown of some general transfer advice:

Look at the ABA Standard 509 forms for the schools you're considering, as well as other schools in the T14 that aren't currently on your list. Some take surprisingly large transfer classes---especially Harvard, Columbia, NYU, and Georgetown---and some take very few transfers (UVA, Duke, Cornell). Virginia took no transfers this past year. Consider focusing your applications on schools that are transfer-friendly; that includes schools that typically take students with your GPA.

Circuit clerkships right out are difficult for any law student to get, and transfer status may make it slightly harder. Many judges hire 2 years out; for those judges, you should focus on which among them have hired from your current school in the past (and start bugging the career office now). For judges that hire on the Plan, you'll probably need to be very well-credentialed to be competitive, so I recommend pursuing write-on competitions at target schools, making sure that transfers are eligible to write onto law review at each school. Academia is difficult even for well-credentialed YHS grads, and you will need to keep climbing (probably significantly) to have a remote shot.

Cosign what Cav said about your chances and your most likely career path. If you know you want DOJ/CIA, highly recommend you also look into and consider district court clerkships and Honors programs. Dist ct => COA => Honors is probably your best bet toward that end.

[nixy]

The other thing to keep in mind is that “eventually academia” doesn’t work that well in that academia cares only about publishing and the longer you are out and practicing, the less desirable a candidate you are, generally. (Unless you mean adjuncting or doing some kind of practical education like running a clinic.) Even if you want to get some practice experience before looking to academia, you really need to have an academic plan in place from the beginning.