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[jarofsoup]

Sorry for the cryptic title.

I haven't formally accepted yet, but I will be accepting an offer for transfer next week.

During my first year in school, I was able to make friends through organization membership, so that's not an issue.

My two biggest concerns:
1. How do you build relationships with faculty? This came pretty naturally for me with my LRW professor during 1L, but beyond that... I don't have any skills. I only ever visit office hours when concepts are frightening. I'm also attending a much higher ranked school where the faculty could potentially be more focused on publishing than building relationships with students.

I guess question 1 is basically ... how the fuck do I network without being irritating?

2. Are all law school doctrinal courses essentially the same? As I said, the school I'm going to is much higher ranked than my previous one. Would that impact the way courses are taught, would you think? I mean, clearly the substantive stuff is all the same, but I'm concerned about being "the idiot" because I haven't had a full year of this particular law school's "style" of teaching under my belt. Is this a thing, or am I just being paranoid because I'm the new kid?

3. If anyone was a transfer student, I would like to hear what you felt the pros/cons were of ... well, being a transfer student (I'm not talking about tuition).

Congrats...I am also making a leap up the USnews ranking to the top 20 so this thread is relevant to my interests.

[myuniverse]

Sorry for the cryptic title.

I haven't formally accepted yet, but I will be accepting an offer for transfer next week.

During my first year in school, I was able to make friends through organization membership, so that's not an issue.

My two biggest concerns:
1. How do you build relationships with faculty? This came pretty naturally for me with my LRW professor during 1L, but beyond that... I don't have any skills. I only ever visit office hours when concepts are frightening. I'm also attending a much higher ranked school where the faculty could potentially be more focused on publishing than building relationships with students.

I guess question 1 is basically ... how the fuck do I network without being irritating?

2. Are all law school doctrinal courses essentially the same? As I said, the school I'm going to is much higher ranked than my previous one. Would that impact the way courses are taught, would you think? I mean, clearly the substantive stuff is all the same, but I'm concerned about being "the idiot" because I haven't had a full year of this particular law school's "style" of teaching under my belt. Is this a thing, or am I just being paranoid because I'm the new kid?

3. If anyone was a transfer student, I would like to hear what you felt the pros/cons were of ... well, being a transfer student (I'm not talking about tuition).

Congrats...I am also making a leap up the USnews ranking to the top 20 so this thread is relevant to my interests.

I'm here for the same answers.

[canesfan1986]

Sorry for the cryptic title.

I haven't formally accepted yet, but I will be accepting an offer for transfer next week.

During my first year in school, I was able to make friends through organization membership, so that's not an issue.

My two biggest concerns:
1. How do you build relationships with faculty? This came pretty naturally for me with my LRW professor during 1L, but beyond that... I don't have any skills. I only ever visit office hours when concepts are frightening. I'm also attending a much higher ranked school where the faculty could potentially be more focused on publishing than building relationships with students.

I guess question 1 is basically ... how the fuck do I network without being irritating?

2. Are all law school doctrinal courses essentially the same? As I said, the school I'm going to is much higher ranked than my previous one. Would that impact the way courses are taught, would you think? I mean, clearly the substantive stuff is all the same, but I'm concerned about being "the idiot" because I haven't had a full year of this particular law school's "style" of teaching under my belt. Is this a thing, or am I just being paranoid because I'm the new kid?

3. If anyone was a transfer student, I would like to hear what you felt the pros/cons were of ... well, being a transfer student (I'm not talking about tuition).

From what I gathered from my professors, here is the answer to 2:

The higher ranked the school, the more well respected the professors are. They are leaders in their field. Basically they want to talk about whatever the hell they feel like talking about, which usually is what they're working on at the moment. The black letter exam-type stuff you can get from a hornbook or equivalent, and you'll have to because that's what they'll test you on. The professors were pretty confident that if you did really well at the school you're at, you'll be successful when you move up because you "get it." You may not be as highly ranked as you were, but you'll hardly be the "idiot."

[Dayan114]

Sorry for the cryptic title.

I haven't formally accepted yet, but I will be accepting an offer for transfer next week.

During my first year in school, I was able to make friends through organization membership, so that's not an issue.

My two biggest concerns:
1. How do you build relationships with faculty? This came pretty naturally for me with my LRW professor during 1L, but beyond that... I don't have any skills. I only ever visit office hours when concepts are frightening. I'm also attending a much higher ranked school where the faculty could potentially be more focused on publishing than building relationships with students.

I guess question 1 is basically ... how the fuck do I network without being irritating?

2. Are all law school doctrinal courses essentially the same? As I said, the school I'm going to is much higher ranked than my previous one. Would that impact the way courses are taught, would you think? I mean, clearly the substantive stuff is all the same, but I'm concerned about being "the idiot" because I haven't had a full year of this particular law school's "style" of teaching under my belt. Is this a thing, or am I just being paranoid because I'm the new kid?

3. If anyone was a transfer student, I would like to hear what you felt the pros/cons were of ... well, being a transfer student (I'm not talking about tuition).

From what I gathered from my professors, here is the answer to 2:

The higher ranked the school, the more well respected the professors are. They are leaders in their field. Basically they want to talk about whatever the hell they feel like talking about, which usually is what they're working on at the moment. The black letter exam-type stuff you can get from a hornbook or equivalent, and you'll have to because that's what they'll test you on. The professors were pretty confident that if you did really well at the school you're at, you'll be successful when you move up because you "get it." You may not be as highly ranked as you were, but you'll hardly be the "idiot."

Respectfully disagree. At my T14, doing well was entirely about learning the professor, not the material (which might be a product of professorial ego). Regardless, I would caution OP against thinking success is just a matter of learning BLL.

[canesfan1986]

Interesting to hear the opposite. Can you elaborate on "learn the professor"? BLL is BLL and you argue it for both sides. What else were you tested on that would differ?

[jarofsoup]

Depends on the professor. I say 50% at my school have been ego...I am not at a top 14 but dont tell my law professors that they are rather out of touch with reality.

[Dayan114]

My crim prof, e.g., didn't teach assault. It's certainly useful to learn, but people who mentioned assault on the exam got exactly 0 points for their trouble. Sometimes your prof will teach something that seems wrong, or at least that contradicts what you read in E&Es and commercial outlines. Go with it nevertheless. The other thing that seemed to set exams apart is that some profs really wanted you to state the obvious (and type as much as humanly possible), while others wanted concise exams that left a lot unsaid. Bottom line—learn the prof.

[Reprisal]

1. How do you build relationships with faculty? This came pretty naturally for me with my LRW professor during 1L, but beyond that... I don't have any skills. I only ever visit office hours when concepts are frightening. I'm also attending a much higher ranked school where the faculty could potentially be more focused on publishing than building relationships with students.

I guess question 1 is basically ... how the fuck do I network without being irritating?

Imagine you are dating a member of the opposite sex. You'd like to appear bright and inviting but not smothering. The same principle applies here.

Show up to your professors' office hours a month or two into the semester; long after the gunners have already made their perfunctory appearances and long before the gunners return for exam period. This will show you actually cared enough to remember (or look up) their office hours. Then just talk to them about what the fuck ever. They won't care. They get so few student visitors that they'll be impressed you showed up. You could flat out say that you're only interested in building a relationship for future clerkship letters and they'll most likely still be happy to entertain you.

But if you get the vibe that they're annoyed by your presence, don't drag it out: as soon as you get that feeling say "glad I stopped by, I'll leave you to it, peace." And then don't return unless you've got a legit question. They'll respect that you were smart enough to leave them alone when they wanted to be left alone. That might be enough to get you a rec letter, lol. It'd be like a girl deciding you're below her league (right or wrong) but impressed enough by your awareness of that fact to hook you up with [what she believes are] her [more suitable] friends.

If you continue group memberships, say "hey" to the groups' faculty sponsors. Ditto for journals and moot court. Most faculty sponsors are more open to student visits than their non-sponsor colleagues. And at least you know you'll have a common point of interest.

Aside from that, just ask around about hobbies. If you do something, ask if any of the professors at your school do that thing. If you discover one does through word of mouth, go talk to them about about it. Never know which prof enjoys tennis, golf, political activism, or Dungeons & Dragons until you ask.

2. Are all law school doctrinal courses essentially the same? As I said, the school I'm going to is much higher ranked than my previous one. Would that impact the way courses are taught, would you think? I mean, clearly the substantive stuff is all the same, but I'm concerned about being "the idiot" because I haven't had a full year of this particular law school's "style" of teaching under my belt. Is this a thing, or am I just being paranoid because I'm the new kid?

The two differences I've noticed are (1) that the Socratic method actually works, because students are smart enough to engage with the professor, rather than responding in paralyzed, broken, unstructured rambling and (2) professors are much more likely to blow time discussing their pet issue that they think is ever so important (as mentioned by a previous poster). The best professors are self-aware enough to mention their pet issue but then not burn everyone else's time on something they might not care about.

Don't worry about being an idiot. 20% of your class, at least, will make you sound like Justice Traynor when they open their mouths. The other 80% will speak so well that you'll be glad you transferred to be surrounded by them.

3. If anyone was a transfer student, I would like to hear what you felt the pros/cons were of ... well, being a transfer student (I'm not talking about tuition).

I had no problem getting along with the non-transfers. The class was large enough that people had no clue I was a transfer until I told them, which I was fine saying. They weren't too judgmental, though there was certainly an acknowledgement of difference, but that can be overcome by being a normal person, or by being at least more sociable than the cryptic weirdos who got admitted as 1Ls and whom the other folks have been forced to deal with for a year.

Writing on to a journal can help, because 2Ls respect that achievement. But if it doesn't happen for you, don't assume you're sunk. Everyone knows that transfer write-on is harder, and the social component is more important.

Sport is a great way to meet people. [Coed] Softball, running, soccer, racquetball, squash, swimming...all are good base points to meet like-minded people and friendly competitors.

Just don't monopolize class discussion with dumbass comments, do show up to well attended school events, and don't be afraid to make friends with the small group of kids who extend an olive branch.

Have fun.

[Total Litigator]

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