Consider This Before You Transfer

Reader Comments
Back to blog

Is it worth it to transfer from a school ranked 20 to Nyu or Columbia if you have graded on to law journal at the home school, but I would rather practice in the NYC market than the home market? What are the drawbacks?

M of GA 11:48AM July 04, 2011

I received 70% scholarship at a T2 (close to T1) and finished my first year but I did not do too well (top 40%) and lost scholarship. Now I have to make a decision to either to continue attending my school with paying full tuition or dropping out and reapplying as 1L. My school is well known regional school but in this economy paying full tuition for T2 school seems too risky.
I do have wishful thinking that if I take LSAT again I can do better (as I did not have enough time to prepare last time) and if I do, I can get into T1 schools, hopefully with scholarship also (but I would'nt mind paying full tuition for top15~20).
I have no idea if reapplying to lawschools as 1L after completing 1st year even works, and if it does, it is a good idea at all (do schools even care?).
If anyone has any info, insight, comments, please feel free to enlighten this troubled rising 2L here. Thanks!!

reapply of CA 1:28AM July 02, 2011

transferring is all about your clas rank. at most t4s the curves are awful (they try to fail the bottom 15 to 30% out) so I imagine you are in the top 25%. TRANSFER, GET OUT OF THERE ASAP! with your scholarship people will know that you are smart but its not worth the hassle and attitude you will get from people later on. I would get the heck out of dodge if I were you. I am so sorry you are stuck in a rut ut it sounds like you tend to kick utt everywhere. good luck!
I went to Cooley on scholarship and even my friends in the top third had a nightmare of a time trying to get ANY jobs. Besides the public defender's office, people are not as likely to hire t4 grads (and do you really want to be a public defender? I wouldn't! its a great career and rewarding but soooo stressful!)
I dropped out of cooley and because it is ranked so low I am actually restarted after 1 year of classes. I am so glad I am, people are such snobs about law school rankings and its totally pointless! GOOD LUCK WITH EVERYTHING I WISH YOU THE BEST!

I survived cooley, T1 now :) of MI 11:03AM March 31, 2011

I transferred law schools and found that, at least in my experience, there were more drawbacks than benefits. That might have been because I'm risk-averse and went to a slightly lower-ranked (though still T1) state school rather than jumping bigger and incurring the debt to go to the private Top 20 school I was also accepted to.
For anyone interested, I discuss the pros and cons more in depth here: http://lawschooltransplant.com/2011/01/23/to-transfer-or-not-to-transfer/

Law School Transplant of GA 8:35PM February 01, 2011

I transferred from a bottom of the barrel tier 4 in to a top 30 program and I can say that not only is the prospect of a more elite job better within grasp, but also the faculty and teaching style is better and deeper with greater resources. I love my new program, where there is no longer a flurry of hung over "passes" by students who care more about drinking and partying than their careers. A lot of lower end schools my friends goto see the same "woo we're still in college" atmosphere rather than enlightened academics which should permeate the program.
Transferring is an awkward process, to be honest, but it is well worth the risk if you earn the grade

J.E.G. of IL 2:48AM January 30, 2011

I'm currently enrolled in a tier 4 law school in Florida. My first semester grades put me at a 3.3 gpa. I'm from St. Louis and I came down here because I was offered a significant scholarship. Now that I have a semester under my belt, I feel that I need to transfer because I don't want to be stuck in Florida upon graduation (this university is very regional). The scholarship is great, but is a law degree from a tier 4 worth anything in today's market? I understand there are pros and cons to transferring, therefore I'm torn. I enjoy it here, but my future is more important than my next two years. Is a 3.3 gpa at a tier 4 enough to transfer to a top 100? What steps do I need to take in order to transfer at the end of this year? If anyone has comments, suggestions, or advice I'd love to hear it!

TJ of FL 10:44PM January 15, 2011

I transferred from a 3rd tier school in Chicago to a 1st tier school in Chicago. There were definitely some downsides to transferring. It was hard to meet people/make friends at the school I transferred to, and I had to start over with a 00.00 GPA. However, the benefits WAY outweighed the burdens. First, I was BLOWN AWAY at the difference in the faculty. I saw a level of expertise and care for students at the school I transferred to and ended up graduating from that made the professors at my 1L school look like kindergarten teachers. Second, I had more opportunities -- for example at my 1L school you had to be in the top 10% to even get an opportunity to write on to law review. At the school I transferred to, everyone, including transfers, had the opportunity to write on. I was lucky enough to receive a position and to become an editor my 3L year, which did wonders for my resume. I also have a job now, which I'm confident I wouldn't have had if I had stayed at my 1L school. Finally, I am a firm believer that ranking. truly. matters. Maybe the difference between #20 and #30 doesn't matter; however, if you are at a 3rd or 4th tier school and you transfer anywhere into the 1st tier, I think it's a huge difference.
I am not saying that transferring automatically works miracles for everyone (or for anyone). I worked hard my 1L year and I continued to work hard in the years following. I could have even worked much harder. That being said, I think my grades/extracurriculars did a lot more for me than the same credentials would have done if I had stayed at the same school, especially in today's volatile job market. Based on my experience, I would highly recc. transferring to anyone who is at lower tier schools.

guest of IL 4:21PM January 13, 2011

I went to a bottom tier law school because location was important to me. I was originally wait-listed at a top tier law school. I was able to transfer after my first year. At my first law school, I did well and walked onto law review. I wrote on law review at my second school and was also on moot court at my second school.
I was at a disadvantage during interviews at the better law school, but it did work out for me. I always felt just a little out of place, even though I excelled. The interviewers seemed to make a point that I came from a lesser law school.
A degree from a top tier vs. bottom tier law school makes quite a bit of difference in my credibility now, but it really didn't make me a better lawyer. I am now a solo, and in hindsight, I don't think it had the impact that I thought it would. I never landed a big firm job that I wanted, but I now make more money than I ever thought I would. I have a niche practice that has nothing to do where I went to school. I also have a much better lifestyle and job that I could have dreamed of. But I don't think where I went to law school played that big a part. It did help me with a job right out of law school, but the later success was related less to where I went to law school than a bit of luck and effort.
In sum, transferring is far from a guarantee of success. It worked out okay for me, but I can't say it was really huge. If you work hard and make good decisions, you may excel. If you go to a lower-tier school, you'll probably have to work a bit harder and be more creative and look outside traditional routes to success for attorneys.

TP of VA 12:25PM January 10, 2011

I transferred from St. Mary's University School of Law to the University of Texas at Austin School of Law. My experience was similar to that of other commenters here. I missed my Section at St. Mary's after transferring, and never made the same tight connections at UT. I still feel more connected, after graduation, to my fellow Section members at St. Mary's than I do to anyone at UT. The quality of the teaching at St. Mary's was better, but the caliber of the students was much higher at UT.

MM of TX 2:04AM January 08, 2011

I transferred from a top 30 to a top 5 law school.
There were significant drawbacks -- (i) I left a lot of friends behind and cliques were well established in my new school and hard to crack, (ii) during OCI, most of the interviewers were alums of my new school and didn't see me as one of them, and (iii) I had to write on to law review while looking for a place to live and doing OCI (after 2 days I gave up the write-on effort). I didn't get the job I wanted as a second year, but I got a job, and things took off from there.
As a transfer, second year was another first year. I had to prove myself again. As a result, I outworked my classmates, most of whom were focused on jobs and journals and not classes. I did very well in my new school -- even better than my first year -- and the faculty noticed. The professors at my new school were very well connected, and one of them helped me get a highly presigious clerkship. Once I got the clerkship, my career took off.
Transferring was a huge plus for me, but it just gave me an opening, I still had to do a lot of work after the transfer to make it worthwhile

jp of PA 11:32AM January 05, 2011