When to transfer if you're PT Forum

[rdcws000]

Quick disclaimer. I am not banking on a transfer. I am perfectly happy with the school I am attending this fall. There is a higher ranked school in town that also happens to cost slightly less however, so I just have a basic question about transfers.

I am attending PT this fall, which means at the end of my first year I have not actually completed the 1L curriculum. In fact, for next fall's admissions deadline I would only have received one semester's worth of grades from my school. The school I would consider transferring to states on their website they will only accept transfers who are in the top 10% of their class at their current school. In order to meet this requirement would they consider my GPA on the 1 semester, or would I need to actually complete the entire 1L curriculum (about halfway through my 2nd year), and then wait til 2012 to apply?

[rdcws000]

I hate to shamelessly bump this, but I promise only to do it once.

Someone has got to know something about this. Has anyone transferred as a PT student? Is it even possible? I'm serious about the question, not just making conversation. Does anyone have info?

[CanadianWolf]

The best source for an answer to your question is the office of admissions at the targeted law school.

[rdcws000]

I have read their info and all of their FAQ's on transfers, they just don't answer the question specific to timing of PT transfers.

I could take this to mean that PT is not allowed to transfer in. I will call the admissions office if no one chimes in, but I was hoping to hear from someone who had done it instead of the admissions office canned responses.

[dbgonzal]

I would love to hear more on this as well.

I have called a few schools and read up on this subject on their websites and the general consensus is it's a credit issue. You need to have a minimum amount of credits to transfer, but you also can only take a max. 27-30 credits with you from your previous school when you transfer (depending on the school).

Some schools like Georgetown and GWU have Spring start which would allow you to transfer in after you finish your core curriculum in 3 part-time semesters, but I have also heard if you don't finish your core classes you will just have a class or two with 1L's at the school you transfer to.

Like I said I would love to hear about this from someone that has had experience with transferring from a part-time program as that is what I would like to have the opportunity to do.

I hope this helped

[dbgonzal]

I forgot to mention this. I am going to a part-time program and at the end of my first year I will have 21 credits. In order to bump up my credits I am planning on taking a 6 credit study-abroad prgram to give me 27 by the time I transfer for my 2L Fall.

When I called WashU they said as long as my transcripts reflected my 1L year and my summer classes by the first or second week of August then they would accept my request to transfer.

[mardimar]

PTers can transfer at 3 different points:

1. after your first year, however you will have less credits than the full time kids you'll be competing against for spots, which will likely put you at a disadvantage. Most schools caution PTers to obtain 2 LORs from professors (even if the school itself only requires 1). Some schools have a strict credit requirement, which in effect makes it nearly impossible to apply (Penn, NYU, Columbia come to mind).

2. You can additionally transfer after your first semester 2E year (i.e. 1.5 years at old school, and a spring start at new school) to some schools, I know Georgetown offers this option.

3. And lastly, after 2E year (2 years of p/t), however, most full time schools will only transfer the equivalent of a full time 1L, so you'd in effect be losing 10 credits or so (wasted $$, as PTers pay by the credit). ABA mandates that you must do a full 2 years at the new school.

so yeah. there you go. I am applying for transfer after my first year of part-time currently. I've been accepted to Georgetown (PT- Early Action, although I applied for both full and part time) and UVA. T40s/5%. I will be taking Con Law and Property with 1Ls next spring. I'm currently taking summer classes (7 credits), in addition to working, such that I'll have 28 credits by the end of the summer.

I would ask the schools you are interested in attending what their policy is.

HTH

[rdcws000]

Very helpful, thank you.

I'll call the school, I guess i wanted to have a basic idea before I did so I know the right questions to ask.

[dbgonzal]

"I am applying for transfer after my first year of part-time currently. I've been accepted to Georgetown (Early Action) and UVA. T40/5%. I will be taking Con Law and Property with 1Ls next spring. I'm also taking summer classes (7 credits), in addition to working."

Thank you very much for this info. It is extremely helpful. Are you going to be transferring into G-town in the Spring and then take Con Law and Property, or will you be transferring in the Fall to G-town and take Con Law and Property in the Spring.

I was pretty bumbed when I read Virginia's policy on study abroad summer credits...I wonder if any other schools have this policy on summer study-abroad credits?

[dbgonzal]

*Virginia won't accept summer study-abroad credits

[mardimar]

I applied after my 1L year. I currently have 21 credits, and am taking 7 this summer.

I didn't take Con Law and Property as a 1L, therefore, I will be thrown into a 1L section at my transfer school... these particular classes are typically only offered in the Spring, however that depends on the specific school. Don't worry too much about how you will make up the 1L required courses, even transfers coming from full-time schools don't take the courses in the same order.

I forgot to mention in my post above (I will edit shortly), that I was accepted to GULC's part-time program, although I applied for both full and part time.

When I was researching schools, I didn't see a study abroad ban other than UVAs, however, I focused solely on T14. study abroad courses are notoriously easy, so that may not help your cause regardless of the ban. UVA is actually p/t transfer friendly... if you're a resident.

search the transfer forum, there are a couple other PTers trying to transfer to T14 schools. I think one has been accepted to Berk and Mich

[dbgonzal]

Thank you so much for your help.

I was kicking myself in the head initially because I didn't think I would be able to transfer anywhere as a part-time student.

Best of luck to you!

[rdcws000]

I applied after my 1L year. I currently have 21 credits, and am taking 7 this summer.

I didn't take Con Law and Property as a 1L, therefore, I will be thrown into a 1L section at my transfer school... these particular classes are typically only offered in the Spring, however that depends on the specific school. Don't worry too much about how you will make up the 1L required courses, even transfers coming from full-time schools don't take the courses in the same order.

I forgot to mention in my post above (I will edit shortly), that I was accepted to GULC's part-time program, although I applied for both full and part time.

When I was researching schools, I didn't see a study abroad ban other than UVAs, however, I focused solely on T14. study abroad courses are notoriously easy, so that may not help your cause regardless of the ban. UVA is actually p/t transfer friendly... if you're a resident.

search the transfer forum, there are a couple other PTers trying to transfer to T14 schools. I think one has been accepted to Berk and Mich

Thanks a ton mardimar,

One thing I didn't quite get though, is when exactly did you apply, and what criteria did they use to evaluate you? If you applied during the normal deadline for the fall entry, you wouldn't have received grades yet for your spring semester correct?

[mardimar]

For Georgetown EA (also Chicago ED): the deadline is sometime in mid-March. I had all of my first semester grades by then. I found out I was accepted the first week of May (which is reading period at my school for spring exams). EA/ED only considers your first semester performance. Also, the various deposits at GULC are $1200 ($400 2 weeks after notification, and $800 by early june) and are due waaay before other schools begin admitting students. Obviously, Chi is binding.

For Regular Transfer Admissions: I applied in early June. Deadlines are typically 6/15, 7/1 or 7/15, but as with 1L admissions, the earlier the better. When I applied, I had only received one of my grades, and was waiting on 2 others. I updated them as soon as my last grade posted. Most other transfers (FT and PT) are in the same boat, waiting for their grades to post. The schools know this. don't fret. My class rank didn't post until a couple of weeks ago (post 4th of July), for me, this wasn't a problem.

re criteria: I have no idea. Generally, the rank of your current school, your class rank, activities, etc. are what they look at. Schools tend not to look at your UG gpa and lsat, since they know exactly how you did in 1L!