About UCLA LLM transferring to UCLA J.D. Forum

[Dodo and Suga]

Does anyone know the GPA for the UCLA LLM transferring to UCLA J.D.?

[cavalier1138]

Why would you be transferring? Isn't the LLM program only one year?

[QContinuum]

Why would you be transferring? Isn't the LLM program only one year?

Presumably the purpose would be to improve their job prospects in the U.S. To use the example of a school that has a particularly large LL.M. program - every year there are a number of Columbia LL.M.s that seek to transfer into the J.D. program. Columbia LL.M.s' job prospects are night and day different from (worse than) Columbia J.D.s' job prospects.

Of course, even in the J.D. program, lack of U.S. citizenship/green card is a (significant) drag on one's hireability. But it's still a significant boost in odds over being in the LL.M. program.

[cavalier1138]

Why would you be transferring? Isn't the LLM program only one year?

Presumably the purpose would be to improve their job prospects in the U.S. To use the example of a school that has a particularly large LL.M. program - every year there are a number of Columbia LL.M.s that seek to transfer into the J.D. program. Columbia LL.M.s' job prospects are night and day different from (worse than) Columbia J.D.s' job prospects.

Of course, even in the J.D. program, lack of U.S. citizenship/green card is a (significant) drag on one's hireability. But it's still a significant boost in odds over being in the LL.M. program.

Oh, sure. I just didn't understand why they were treating this as a "transfer." Wouldn't they just be applying to the JD program? Or is there actually a transfer process for LLMs to transition to the JD program at their current school?

[QContinuum]

Oh, sure. I just didn't understand why they were treating this as a "transfer." Wouldn't they just be applying to the JD program? Or is there actually a transfer process for LLMs to transition to the JD program at their current school?

If you just apply to the J.D. program, you start from ground zero, with three more years of law school. In contrast, with a transfer before you graduate with the LL.M., I think you get to apply the credits from the LL.M. toward the J.D. (Maybe, as a result, you don't get the LL.M., which is what allows the credits to be used toward the J.D. But that's not much of a loss, since the J.D.'s a more valuable credential than the LL.M. anyway.) Or maybe not all the credits get transferred, but some of the credits. I think that's the advantage - the time and tuition savings. But, not an expert, and could vary from school to school!