Transferring Law Schools Forum

[suzyladeeda]

Hi everyone. I'm graduating from Ithaca College this year and from the way it looks now, I'll be attending New England Law in the fall. I didn't do so great on my LSAT, which is due to my lack of preparation, and the GPA i applied with was a 3.4 (my gpa at the end of freshman year was a 2.2, a result of more irresponsibility). I've applied and gotten rejected from: Loyola Chicago, American, Suffolk (I was very surprised about this one ), Rutgers Newark, Hofstra and gotten waitlisted at the University of Maine. I'm still waiting to hear back from Seton Hall, Brooklyn and Drexel. In the event that I end up going to NESL, would I have a chance of being accepted to a higher ranked school if I make law review and all? I'm from NJ so the tuition cost of Rutgers was favorable. Yet, ultimately I want to live and work in Boston. Any advice?

[bk1]

Why not retake the LSAT and reapply next cycle?

[A'nold]

I never trash people for hoping to transfer, but in this case I'd say it is way too risky. For one thing, BU and BC are not very transfer friendly. For another thing, New England Law has a pretty crappy reputation and if you can help it (i.e., you said you didn't prepare for the LSAT so you could, I guess, prepare more and reapply?) you shouldn't attend, unless you have some very specific plans, which, by the look of your smattering of applications, it seems like you are being pretty random. Also, why do you think you will be at the top of the class? There can sometimes be legitimate reasons to expect to be somewhat high in a class, but if you say something like "I'm going to outwork everyone" then that is definitely not reason enough to assume you will out perform your classmates.

I mean, if someone had like a 2.0 GPA but got a 179 LSAT and took a full-ride to like Whittier, I'm pretty sure they will destroy the curve, considering most of the class fail the bar.

[suzyladeeda]

Why not retake the LSAT and reapply next cycle?

Good point. I took the LSAT in September and felt too exhausted to take it during the academic year. I kept hearing "if you don't go immediately, you'll never go back to school" a lot and it annoyed me because I've always been motivated by school & would go back, yet I kind of jumped into this quickly. ANYWAY. I've thought about waiting but i'm not sure. Do some schools waive the application fee if you've applied there the previous year?

[suzyladeeda]

delete.

[bk1]

Why not retake the LSAT and reapply next cycle?

Good point. I took the LSAT in September and felt too exhausted to take it during the academic year. I kept hearing "if you don't go immediately, you'll never go back to school" a lot and it annoyed me because I've always been motivated by school & would go back, yet I kind of jumped into this quickly. ANYWAY. I've thought about waiting but i'm not sure. Do some schools waive the application fee if you've applied there the previous year?

I don't agree with the "if you don't go immediately thought." Taking the LSAT this June or October means you will be sending applications out in barely more than half a year. If you feel that you can do significantly better on the LSAT the second time around I think this will get you closer to the schools you want to attend than going with the transfer mentality. While it may be your intention to transfer, most people do not get this chance and are stuck at the same school for 3 years. The conventional wisdom is don't go to a school you wouldn't be okay with graduating from.

I don't know if schools waive the fee if you've applied previously, but if it is due to economic circumstances I know you can send the reasons to most schools asking for a fee waiver.

[A'nold]

I never trash people for hoping to transfer, but in this case I'd say it is way too risky. For one thing, BU and BC are not very transfer friendly. For another thing, New England Law has a pretty crappy reputation and if you can help it (i.e., you said you didn't prepare for the LSAT so you could, I guess, prepare more and reapply?) you shouldn't attend, unless you have some very specific plans, which, by the look of your smattering of applications, it seems like you are being pretty random. Also, why do you think you will be at the top of the class? There can sometimes be legitimate reasons to expect to be somewhat high in a class, but if you say something like "I'm going to outwork everyone" then that is definitely not reason enough to assume you will out perform your classmates.

I mean, if someone had like a 2.0 GPA but got a 179 LSAT and took a full-ride to like Whittier, I'm pretty sure they will destroy the curve, considering most of the class fail the bar.

Oh no, I didn't mean to make it seem like I expected to be at the top of my class. I know law school is competitive within itself so I was wondering if I happened to achieve a high rank, what the likelihood of it helping my application would be, didn't mean to sound like brat.

No, I hope you didn't think I was being snarky, I was actually curious. I felt like I was going to be at the top for various reasons and it happened, but many on here would say that it is just luck. Anyway, I truly have heard some pretty bad things about that school and if you really think you could do better on the LSAT I think you owe it to yourself to go to a school you'd be proud of that gives you a decent chance at a good job. Good luck!

[TTH]

I never trash people for hoping to transfer, but in this case I'd say it is way too risky. For one thing, BU and BC are not very transfer friendly. For another thing, New England Law has a pretty crappy reputation and if you can help it (i.e., you said you didn't prepare for the LSAT so you could, I guess, prepare more and reapply?) you shouldn't attend, unless you have some very specific plans, which, by the look of your smattering of applications, it seems like you are being pretty random. Also, why do you think you will be at the top of the class? There can sometimes be legitimate reasons to expect to be somewhat high in a class, but if you say something like "I'm going to outwork everyone" then that is definitely not reason enough to assume you will out perform your classmates.

I mean, if someone had like a 2.0 GPA but got a 179 LSAT and took a full-ride to like Whittier, I'm pretty sure they will destroy the curve, considering most of the class fail the bar.

Oh no, I didn't mean to make it seem like I expected to be at the top of my class. I know law school is competitive within itself so I was wondering if I happened to achieve a high rank, what the likelihood of it helping my application would be, didn't mean to sound like brat.

No, I hope you didn't think I was being snarky, I was actually curious. I felt like I was going to be at the top for various reasons and it happened, but many on here would say that it is just luck. Anyway, I truly have heard some pretty bad things about that school and if you really think you could do better on the LSAT I think you owe it to yourself to go to a school you'd be proud of that gives you a decent chance at a good job. Good luck!

If you were top 5% at NESL, you'd be able to transfer somewhere, but you're better off retaking the LSAT. A 3.4 GPA is good enough that you can have options in the T1 with a good score.

[shock259]

The age old adage on TLS is "don't go to a school that you wouldn't graduate from." Transferring is an option for some, but grades can be unpredictable. LSAT scores, on the other hand, are quite predictable (yay standardized tests). I think the easier and more natural choice is to develop a study plan, take 3ish months (see the LSAT Prep forum), and destroy the October LSAT. You can apply to schools right away and you will be set to go in 2011. At the least, you can put yourself in a better position to transfer (higher ranked school), and at best, you can get yourself into one of the schools that you would have been intent on transferring to.

Best of luck to you. You seem like a good guy.

[yabbadabbado]

Never count on being able to transfer. Retake LSAT.

[Bert]

I also think retaking is a better idea than settling on NESL. As for the "if you don't go immediately, you'll never go back to school" part, it really depends on the person. There are quite a few of us on TSL who are several years out of undergrad and we are all going back to school. Yes, it is a little more complicated than if we were to have gone right away, but the time off can be rewarding.

[jwells]

I would suggest to start studying a little everyday, RIGHT NOW, and take the September LSAT. I took 2 years off between UG and Law School and had no problem going back because going to law school is really what I want to do. Transferring, I hear, is not only very difficult and risky, but also very expensive (applying again, relocation again, etc).