Does applying & being rejected lessen my chances of being accepted as a transfer student?

inactive

Hey 7Sagers! Another question was emailed to me that I think you could help with! Here it is:

I just took the LSAT on Sept. 27th, and unfortunately, I don't think I did as well as I would like. I have the GPA and Resume of a top 10 law school student, but my LSAT score is just not on the mark.

The reason I am e-mailing you is because I would like to know more about transferring law schools. I would love to attend a top 10 school (NYU, UC-Berkley, etc), but I feel my chances of acceptance are just too low. However, I have heard of students transferring into top 10 schools by succeeding their first year at a reputable law school with a high GPA and class rank.

Do you know if applying and being rejected from one of the above mentioned schools lessen my chances of being accepted as a transfer student? Is there a way to do this strategically (i.e. not apply to these top 10 schools but transfer) ?

LSATisland

I don't think it will lessen your chances.

joegotbored-1

I agree with my island friend above but I don't think you should go this route.

I think you probably have a better chance of being admitted if you retake and do better the second time around. The number of applicants applying at transfer is smaller, but so is the number of available seats. If there is nothing preventing you from retaking in December, and you think your September score was not representative, I think you'll be better served by a retake.

I think you should only start law school in a place you'd be comfortable finishing law school. Doing well enough in your classes to transfer as a top student may be harder than you think (grading curves are apparently not very friendly) and for the price of all this stuff, you want to make sure that if your can't transfer to your preferred T10 school that you can still afford/enjoy your starting school.

Also, depending on your LSAT...mid 160s let's say, if you have a high GPA, like a 3.8 or something crazy like that, schools outside the T14 will throw discounts at you like no one inside the T14 will. It might be worth considering a full ride tuition discount over a T14 brand name.

Just some thoughts to distract you from your original question about transfer

Other pages to consider:

http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/get-in-law-school/2011/01/03/consider-this-before-you-transfer (Makes a good point about the 2 year residency requirement limiting certain options - same as dual degree requirement at most schools; also mentions other possible difficulties)

http://www.top-law-schools.com/advice-for-transferring.html (super good read from TLS that shows recent transfer numbers which you can double check against NYU/Boalt websites for decency and also includes pros and cons)

Bon chance!