Transferring law schools?

REALLYTRYINGHERE

I'm looking into two schools but one of them I'm not entirely sure I will get into (I have yet to break 150 on a PT, I've only gotten a 150 in BR and I take exam in JAN, fml). Anyway, there's one school that I'm not entirely sold on because it's a T4 (Widener Law) but I sense that I can get manage to get into it (MAYBEEEEEE) but, I'd love to go to Drexel Law. Assuming I get into Widener and not Drexel, what are you thoughts on transferring after 1L? I've been wanting to go to law school since 2018 and here I am, REALLY TRYING STILL...thoughts?

VerdantZephyr

I think, if you are not relying on financial aid anyway and believe that you could be a very strong student at one school than transferring would be an excellent option if you can perform well enough in your class to convince them to give you a spot. Are your other academic records strong? Do you typically do well on essay tests? Are you interested in practicing in Delaware? I would say if you do not want to practice law in Delaware Widener is not a good choice. Their bar passage and employment numbers are both quite low and while they do place the majority of their graduates into positions in Pennsylvania you would be much better off going to a school in PA.

I presume you want to live/practice in the general NJ/PA/DE area. I would look over all of the options in the area and expand your list of schools. There are a lot of schools there. https://www.pabar.org/site/Public/mscfaqschools
Duquesne is ranked between Drexel and Widener and while it is not in the Philly metro it is a PA school with much better bar and employment numbers than Widener. It also, while ranked lower, has similar employment and much better bar passage compared to Drexel (Duquesne 1st time bar passage 86% Drexel 79.6% PA average 76.8%). It is slightly better for the employed at graduation numbers (Duq 43.3% to Dre 41.1%) and even more slightly behind for employed 10 months after graduation percentage (82.5% to 83.7%). Tuition is only 600 dollars different. All in all I think that Duquesne, while easier to get into, offers a better degree because of their much better bar passage while being similar everywhere else. Duquesne's median LSAT is only 152 while Drexel's is 157. In fact, Rutgers, ranked 76th, has a lower median LSAT at 156 and is a considerably better ranked school than Drexel with much better employment numbers. Bar passage, since one mostly filters into the NJ bar and the other the PA is harder to compare, it looks like Rutgers performs slightly worse than the NJ state average while Drexel performs basically equal to the state average. I would guess that if you compared Rutgers PA bar passage rate it would be similar or better than Drexel's.

All that said, those are only likely targets I found in the NJ, DE, PA area. If you are open to practicing outside that you could have a lot more options. I would encourage you to apply broadly in general, but certainly consider Duquesne if possible.

VerdantZephyr

Go ahead and take a shot at other PA schools too.

https://www.ilrg.com/rankings/law/1/asc/LSATMed?utf8=✓&name=&state=PA&commit=Search

You might be a long shot but you miss all the shots you do not take.

Pittsburgh median 158. Villanova 159. Penn State University Park 160. Penn State Dickinson 161.

VerdantZephyr

Also, January is a long way off. You can certainly improve considerably between now and then on the LSAT and become a much stronger applicant. Have you fool proofed LG yet? If not you should be able to improve there a good bit between now and January.

REALLYTRYINGHERE

@VerdantZephyr Thank you so much. I agree. I'm kind of trying to figure the schools out but it's hard with no guidance. I will absolutely apply to Drexel and Temple and as many PA schools that aren't in my reach. My undergrad GPA is a 3.5, cum laude, honor societies in both majors etc etc etc (didn't come easy since I'm not naturally gifted ) My best LG score is a -5. I'm looking to get an accommodation for LSAT because I have pretty bad anxiety to the point that I can't breathe and I know it's affecting my score when I take PT's because my BR's show me what I'm capable of. Anyway, I haven't gotten down the LR but my thought it to focus on both LG and RC which are my best and cross my fingers in hopes that I can get it down by test day. Of course I'll review the LR in hopes that it will help but I'd love to work on at least two sections and hope for the best.

VerdantZephyr

I think that accommodations would be a big help for you. I also think it's going to be a better idea to focus on where you are weaker rather than RC. LR and LG are much easier to improve than RC. It's very difficult to substantially change your RC score in a short time. Drill LG until you can -0 a section. Use the fool proof method you can find discussed on this site. Then work on LR. Sufficient versus necessary conclusions and things like that. If they don't make sense just keep studying them until they do. If you can get to -1 on LG test day and improve your LR score a few points you can get that score up. Have you done the core curriculum?

REALLYTRYINGHERE

@VerdantZephyr So I started with LR but it really dragged and I wasn't grasping it, so I took a break and moved onto LG which I actually love doing although to an extent, I suck. I will actually take your advice...I have Loophole by Cassidy that was recommended. So to you answer your question, I have not finished it mainly because I skipped LR, completed LG, started RC. But I will go back to LR while doing loophole. How should I go about going LG while doing LR? I want to make sure I don't forget LG's while doing LR.

VerdantZephyr

You don't forget really. You can work on a LG game a day as you do LR just to keep it fresh. At some point though you should fool proof LG until you go -1 or -0 most of the time. That might take a few weeks but it's worth it