Removing your 1L school from your resume/LinkedIn? Forum

[NoDayButToday]

.

[chuckbass]

At what point is it acceptable at remove your 1L school from your resume/LinkedIn if you transferred up?

My new school doesn't allow us to put our rank on our resume (not sure if the school even ranks?), and I'm already on a journal / involved in some activities at my new school. Is this enough information for my new school to bump off my 1L school to make space or will employers (PI/Gov) want to know that I transferred?

From what I've heard you leave it on until you graduate, and then you can take it off. I think some schools differ in what they want you to do, but I've heard that from several people and I know that is what my school specifically wants us to do.

[NotMyRealName09]

This seems deceitful. If you leave it off, you know you're leaving the impression that 100% of your legal education came from one school, when in fact 1/3 of it came from somewhere else. Don't be ashamed of your path - own it, it's yours, it is who you are, it got you to where you are now. Don't put on airs, that's douchey.

[Companion Cube]

This seems deceitful. If you leave it off, you know you're leaving the impression that 100% of your legal education came from one school, when in fact 1/3 of it came from somewhere else. Don't be ashamed of your path - own it, it's yours, it is who you are, it got you to where you are now. Don't put on airs, that's douchey.

I see what you're saying, but I don't think it's that big of a deal to leave off your 1L school, much less deceitful. It's not like people who transfer from a community college to a 4 year institution (or from one regular college to another) are expected to list their original school on their resume. I don't see why it should be any different for law school.

[Leonardo DiCaprio]

the TTT school you transferred from should always be worn as a scarlet letter. it would be deceiving to erase it off your resume.

[ex_nunc]

To me, this is a temporal distinction. Your degree is (or will be) from the school that you transferred to. But resumes are chronologies. You studied law for three years, one of which was somewhere other than your degree-granting institution. Omitting that fact leaves a gap in your resume. Mid-career, that might not matter. But at this point, in my opinion, it does.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Many people have posted here pretty consistently about leaving the 1L school off the resume after graduation, but not before. I have seen a number of firm bios where people do include their 1L school, but given that resumes are always selective documents, I'm not sure why leaving the original school off once you graduate would be a big deal. You're not listing everything you've ever done (that would be a terrible resume), you're listing where you got your J.D. from. You get the J.D. from the school you transferred to.

I think a lot of people leave it on because people who transfer tend to be people who earned various awards during 1L, and there isn't a good way to include those things without including the original school. But I'm sure at some point booking torts doesn't really matter anymore (it always looks weird to me when partners' bios list the book awards they received during law school).

But mostly I would defer to what actual transfers have been told to do by the school they've transferred to.

[seashell.economy]

This seems deceitful. If you leave it off, you know you're leaving the impression that 100% of your legal education came from one school, when in fact 1/3 of it came from somewhere else. Don't be ashamed of your path - own it, it's yours, it is who you are, it got you to where you are now. Don't put on airs, that's douchey.

I see what you're saying, but I don't think it's that big of a deal to leave off your 1L school, much less deceitful. It's not like people who transfer from a community college to a 4 year institution (or from one regular college to another) are expected to list their original school on their resume. I don't see why it should be any different for law school.

Wait - I though you *were* supposed to list your CC if you were a two-year transfer?

[Companion Cube]

This seems deceitful. If you leave it off, you know you're leaving the impression that 100% of your legal education came from one school, when in fact 1/3 of it came from somewhere else. Don't be ashamed of your path - own it, it's yours, it is who you are, it got you to where you are now. Don't put on airs, that's douchey.

I see what you're saying, but I don't think it's that big of a deal to leave off your 1L school, much less deceitful. It's not like people who transfer from a community college to a 4 year institution (or from one regular college to another) are expected to list their original school on their resume. I don't see why it should be any different for law school.

Wait - I though you *were* supposed to list your CC if you were a two-year transfer?

I guess maybe. I wouldn't know. But I don't think so.

[Ohiobumpkin]

Wouldn't your transcript reflect your time at your original LS? So leaving it off your resume isn't really hiding it, but rather not cluttering your resume.

[ScottRiqui]

Wouldn't your transcript reflect your time at your original LS? So leaving it off your resume isn't really hiding it, but rather not cluttering your resume.

That's how I feel about it. If you're wanting to keep it in to avoid a gap in the "Employment" section of your resume, that's one thing, but the "Education" section on mine just lists degrees conferred, the schools that granted them, and the dates. 20+ years later, I don't see the need to point out that I started at one undergrad and finished at another.

[cron1834]

the TTT school you transferred from should always be worn as a scarlet letter. it would be deceiving to erase it off your resume.

[Nekrowizard]

I got a ton of awards and other stuff at my 1L school, and my transfer was a very marginal move up the rankings. Can I keep my 1L school on there forever, or does that seem try-hard?

[chuckbass]

I got a ton of awards and other stuff at my 1L school, and my transfer was a very marginal move up the rankings. Can I keep my 1L school on there forever, or does that seem try-hard?

Doesn't seem like there's a reason you couldn't keep it on.

[kartelite]

There's no reason to keep it on if you don't want to (unless your school has a policy or something, but that wouldn't apply to LinkedIn). I transferred in undergrad (same tier school and identical GPA to the .01), haven't listed it in at least 10 years and no one's ever said anything about it if it came up later I'd gone to the first school for two years. In my case I already have four graduate degrees on my CV crowding out my experience section, but if you're listing a bunch of activities, honors or whatever and someone brings it up just say you wanted to fit on the most relevant stuff and adding another school where you only spent one year would limit your ability to do that. The only reason to have a transferred-from school is to fill up white space if you have a sparse CV, if it was a higher-tier school (like if you transferred for personal reasons), or if you have accomplishments there you want to highlight. Never feel obligated to put it on though.

[Nebby]

Leave it on until you graduate, and then you can take it off.

[Manali]

I left my old school off my resume and Linkedin, but I mention that I am a transfer in the unofficial transcript I submit to employers. I've asked numerous faculty and administrators at my school about this and their answers wildly differ.